AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocabulary

Political Map

Map showing all boundaries set up by Humans. Example: A political map of the United States would show The Florida-Georgia Border, the border between the US and Canada, and the Border Between the US and Mexico.

Mashup

Map that uses data from multiple sources. Example: A map of the world might use smaller, older local maps, as well as newer global maps as a mashup.

Ratio

Numerical representation of distances on a map and on Earth's surface. Example: The Ratio between a small map and that of the world would be 1:1,000,000,000.

Scale

A comparison of a unit of the place being studied to the same unit in the world. Example: On a map of the world, the scale would be very large, where as on a map of a city, the scale would be much smaller.

Sense of place

A feeling felt by citizens that distinguishes the particular location from that of another location. Example: Those who live in Washington D.C. would feel a strong sense of place regarding the capital of the United States being located in that area.

Thematic Map

A map demonstrating a particular theme or topic. Example: A Thematic Map of the US, focusing around poverty, would show areas of high poverty and low poverty.

Cartogram Map

A map distorting the areas of real world places to match the degree of the statistic that the particular location demonstrates. Example: A Cartogram Map showing the amount of annual visitors would have America as the largest country on the map.

Physical Map

A map showing all natural features found on Earth's surface. Example: A physical map of the United States would show the Everglades, the Mississippi River, and the Rocky Mountains.

Reference Map

A map that shows where all things are in a specific area, usually used for navigation. Example: A Reference Map of Orlando would show all major roadways, as well as the theme-parks around these road ways.

Chloropleth map

A map that uses different degrees of shading to demonstrate a particular statistic, the darker the color generally means the higher the statistic. Example: A Chloropleth Map of the lights in the United States would have darker coloration in urban areas and lighter coloration in rural areas.

Dot Map

A map using dots to show where a certain phenomena occurs. Example: A Dot map showing lightning strikes in the United States would have more dots in the areas close to the ocean and less in the areas that are in the middle of the country.

Isoline Map

A map using lines to group areas that share a particular characteristic. Example: An Isoline Map showing the amount of apartment buildings in an area would have circles surrounding highly populated areas and slowly begin to grow the further you get from this area.

Graduated Symbol Map

A map using the same symbol of different proportions to demonstrate the presence of a particular phenomena. The larger the object the more that phenomena occurs. Example: A Graduated Symbol Map showing height of buildings would use a building symbol to show the presence buildings and alter the size to match the average height in that area.

Toponym

A name of a location on Earth's surface. Example: The toponym of the grassy marsh found in southern Florida is the Everglades, meaning grass that goes on forever.

Place

A specific point on Earth that is distinguished by one or more different characteristics. Example: The sense of place of Orlando can be distinguished by the extreme amount of tourists and shops applying to tourists that can be found there.

Map

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it. Example: In order to view the entire state of Colorado at one time, you must look at a map.

Perceptual/Vernacular Region

An informal region where all people in that region share a similar sense of place. Example: "The South" in the United States is a perceptual region where most people their share the love for Football and Barbecue, for example.

Cultural Landscape

Anything in a particular area that has been put there, altered, or built by humans. Example: When humans build large results on the coast, that is part of the cultural landscape of that area.

Graphic scale

Bar line showing distance Example: Two units on a graphic might represent 20 miles.

4. Types of Distortion

Shape: An area appears more elongated or squat than in reality Distance: The distance between two places can become increased or decreased Relative Size: The size of different areas will vary. Direction: The way that a continent is pointing may be inaccurate. Example: A map could have totally accurate distance, but may have to sacrifice shape to do so.

Polar Projection

Shows the Earth as if it was a flat circle with the North Pole in the Middle. Pros: Shows accurate Directions Cons: Distorts continent Shapes. Example: Someone who lived near the poles would use the Polar Projection, where as someone who lived near the equator would not.

Geography

Study of where things are and why they are there. Example: Those who study geography look to identify the islands found outside of Australia and the features that each one of these exhibits.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

System that determines exactly where something is on Earth. Example: A GPS system can help to identify your destination, your location and how to get to your destination.

Distance-Decay

The further away two things are, the less likely they are to be connected. Example: Hong Kong and Denver are less likely to be connected than Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Field Observation

The process of going to a particular location to take notes on the area and gather data first-hand. Example: If a botanist wanted to know what kind of plants were growing in the Amazon, they would travel to the Amazon to take notes on these plants.

Regionalization

The process of splitting up a larger area into smaller regions. Example: In the United States, there is the South-East Region, the Mid-West Region, the North-East Region, the West Region and the North-West Region.

Aerial Photography

The process of taking pictures from the air. Example: Aerial Photography is used in many crime scenes as evidence, as well as giving the lawyers a new angle of observation

Map Projections

a way of representing the 3D and round Earth on a flat surface Example: All map projections, rather it be Mercator or Polar, must sacrifice some kind of accuracy to demonstrate the world.

Spatial data

Information about anything regarding the geographic identity of a particular area. Example: The information about the plants in the Amazon would be considered Spatial Data.

Absolute Location

Where something is based on specific coordinates such as Latitude and Longitude. Example: Fenway Park is located at 42.3° N, 71.1° W.

Relative Location

Where something is based on the location of another, pre known location. Example: Fenway Park is 3.6 miles south-east of Harvard University.

Uses of a Map

1. Helps determine the shortest route and avoid getting lost 2. Tells you where something is located in relation to something else 3. Shows distribution of human activities or physical characteristics Example: When trying to locate the nearest gas station, you use a map.

General Information System (GIS)

All of the data about Earth gathered by satellites. Example: Google Maps uses a GIS to portray their extremely specific and lifelike maps.

Formal Region

An area in which everyone or everything there shares a similar characteristic. Ofter a set of laws, therefore classifying states and countries as formal regions. Example: Texas is a Formal Region because it is grouped by borders and everyone living there shares the same set of laws.

Region

An area that all shares one unique characteristic. Example: The tropical region of the world is all hot and humid.

Functional/Nodal Region

An area that is organized around a particular point. Example: Many Egyptian Cities were organized around the Nile River due to the ability for these people to trade using this river.

Remote Sensing

Collecting Data from far away, generally from satellite Systems Example: When a satellite takes a picture of Asia, and then that picture is put to use on a map, remote sensing is used.

Mercator Projection

Demonstrates the Earth as if it was a cylinder. Pros: Continent Shapes are accurate, good for navigation. Cons: Major size distortions closer to the poles. Example: A sailor would use the Mercator Projection, but an advocate for equal size projection would not.

Density

How much of a specific thing is in a particular area Example: The density of an urban area is much higher than that of a rural area.

Distribution

How something is arranged in a particular location Example: Those areas that are arranged in a rectangular pattern would have a geometric distribution.

Pattern

How something is arranged in a specific area. Example: In urban areas, many streets and blocks are arranged on a grid system, classifying these areas as having a geometric pattern.

Human & Environment Interaction

How the Human race uses, changes, and manipulates the rest of the ecosystem to best fit their needs. Example: In the Netherlands, the areas previously covered by water have been drained and are now used for farming, therefore benefiting the farmers in that area.

Time Space Compression

How the development of technology makes the distance less important and ability to connect with people across the globe easier. Example: With technologies like Skype, you can talk face to face with a person all the way across the globe, making the immense amount of space between you insignificant.

Spatial Relationships

How things are related across space. Example: Sydney, Australia is far away from Portland Oregon, therefore their relationship is weaker.

Connection

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space Example: Two corporations need to have a good connection to coordinate trading overseas.

Satellites

Sattelites send and recieve signals and based on their location therefore identifying the location of an object on Earth. Example: A satellite that is directly above Orlando, FL and senses the user directly below them, they know that the user is in Orlando FL.

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)

The creation and organization of geographic data contributed for free by individuals. Example: When creating a map of the community, many of the citizens offer VGI.

Space

The distance between two points on Earth. Example: The space between Providence, RI and Boston MA is small, where as the space between Orlando, FL and Portland,OR is much larger.

Situation

The location of a place in relation to another pre known place. Example: The Situation of Florida would be: south of Georgia, East of the Gulf of Mexico, and West of the Atlantic Ocean.

Globalization

The process in which companies and corporations take their sales and trade to an international scale. Example: McDonalds is a prime example of Globalization due to their locations that can be found in both America and India.

Map Scale

The relationship between a distance on the map and the actual distance on the ground Example: The scale between a map of the community and a map of the world would be very large.

written scale

The relationship between map distance and ground distance in words. Example: The written scale of a small map and that of the world would be: 1 inch is equal to 1,000,000,000 miles.

Cartography

The science of making maps Example: When making a map, you must use Cartography to ensure all of your locations are accurate.

Site

The specific characteristics of a particular place. Example: The site of Florida would be flat, hot, and humid.

Physical Geography

The study of the features of the Earth and why the features are there. Example: A Physical Geographer would study the elevation of the Rocky Mountains.

Human geography

The study of where human activities are and why they are there. Example: Human Geographers have studied the spread of Islam and why or how the religion spreads the way it does.