AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocab and Examples
Spatial
Pertaining to space on the Earth's surface sometimes used as a synonym for geographic
What is the 0 degree longitude called and what city does it cross through?
Prime Meridian and Greenwich, England (a suburb of London, east of London)
What is an example of Sequence Occupant?
Alexandria, Egypt, where Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultural landscapes can be found.
Political Ecology
An approach to studies nature-society relations that is concerned with the ways in which environmental issues both reflect and area issues both reflect and are the result of political and socioeconomic contexts in which they are situated.
Longitude
An imaginary line circling the Earth and running through the poles. Used to determine the location of things by measurement of angular distance, in degrees east or west from the Prime Meridian. (runs north to south but measures east to west)
Latitude (Parallels)
An imaginary line running parallel to the equator that is used to measure the distance North or South from the Equator (they run east-west, bust measure north and south)
What is an example of Contagious Diffusion?
Any illness or outbreak EXCEPT FOR HIV/AIDS
What three types of diffusion fit under the "Expansion" category?
Contagious, Hierarchical, Stimulus
Which map looks all funky because the size of states and borders are all wack?
A Cartogram Map
What is a prime example of Possiblism?
A Greenhouse
Geographic Information System (GIS)
A collection of computer hard-ware and software that permits spatial data to be collected, recorded, stated, retrieved, manipulated, analyzed, and displayed to the user.
Absolute Direction
A compass direction such as North or South
Mercator Projection
A cylindrical map projection presented by Mercator which heavily distorts the poles. Used for Navigation
Stimulus Diffusion
A form of diffusion in which a cultural adaptation is related as a result of the introduction of a cultural trait from another place.
Hierarchical Diffusion
A form of diffusion in which an idea or innovation spreads by passing first among the most connected places or peoples. An urban hierarchy is usually involved, encouraging the leapfrogging of innovations over wide areas, with geographic distance a less important influence.
Cultural Landscape
A geographic area associated with a historic event, activity, person, or exhibiting cultural or aesthetic values.
The 5 Themes of Geography
Developed by GENIP, the five themes of geography are location, human-environment, region, place, and movement.
What is an example of Distance Decay?
France is more likely to have a closer and fore frequent relationship with Germany than it is with China.
Functional Region
A region defined by particular set of activities or interaction that occur within
World Regions
A region of the Earth that has common traits. Ex: Western Europe
Perceptual Region
A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not a physical demarcated entity.
Time Space Compression
A term associated with the work of David Harvey that reflects to the social and physical affects of living in a world in which the time space convergence has a rapidly reached a high level of intensity.
Formal Region/Uniform Region/Homogeneous Region
A type of region marked by a certain degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena.
Geographic Perspective
A way to understand a topic or area using spatial features and relationships.
An example in history of Movement
People migrating across the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia to the Americas.
Spatial Perspective
Refers to the geographic concept of where things happen on Earth and in different spaces
France is on the Northwest border of Spain is an example of...
Relative Location (example)
Scale
Representation of a real world phenomena at a certain level of reduction or generalization (think: how large would my house be)
Vernacular Region
Same as Perceptual Region
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Satellite based system for determining the absolute location of places pr geographic features.
Relocation Diffusion
Sequential diffusion process in which the items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old areas and relocate to new ones. The most common for of relocation diffusion involves the spreading of innovations by a migrating population.
My house is on the latitudes and longitudes (9.45, 7.85)
Site (example)
Atlanta is in the northern part of Georgia and about 250 miles from Savannah
Situation (example)
Contagious Diffusion
The distance-controlled spreading of an idea, innovation, or some other item through local population by contact from person to person -analogous to the communication of contagious illness.
Distance Decay
The effects of distance on the interaction, generally the greater the distance, the less the interaction.
Globalization
The expansion of economic, political, and cultural processes to the point that they become global in a scale and impact. It transcends state boundaries and has various outcomes.
Situation
The external location attributes of a place; relative location or regional position with references to other non local places
Movement
The fifth theme of geography as defined by GENIP. The mobility of people, goods, and ideas across the surface of the Earth.
Location
The first theme of geography as defined by GENIP; the geographic situation of people and things.
Place
The fourth theme of geography as defined by GENIP; uniqueness of a location
Time Space Convergence
The greatly accelerated movement of goods, info, and ideas during the 20th century made possible by technological innovations in transportation and communication.
Fraction of Distance
The increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance.
Site
The internal physical physical attributes of a place, including its absolute location, its spatial character and physical setting.
Absolute Location
The position or place of a certain item on the surface of the Earth as expressed in degrees of latitude and longitude.
Relative Location
The regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places.
Map Projections
The representation on a plane surface of any part of the surface of a celestial sphere.
Human Environment
The second theme of geography as defined by GENIP; reciprocal relationship between humans and environment.
An example of a Perceptional Region
The south
South Pole
The southern most point of the Earth
Diffusion
The spatial spreading or dissemination of a culture element (such as technological innovation) or some other phenomenon such as a disease outbreak.
Expansion Diffusion
The spread of an innovation or idea through a population in an area in such a way that the number of those influenced grows continuously larger, resulting in tan exploding area of dissemination.
What is an example of relocation diffusion?
The spread of the Spanish language and religion to most of Latin america due to colonization.
What is a prime example of Independent Invention?
The start up of farming across many ancient civilizations across the world.
Cultural Ecology
The study of human adaptations to social and physical environments.
Independent Invention
The term for a trait with many cultural hearths that developed independently of each other.
Region
The third theme of geography as defined by GENIP; an area on the Earth's surface marked by a degree of formal, functional or perceptual homogeneity of some phenomenon.
Environmental Determinism
The view that natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life, including cultural development.
Relative Direction
directions such as left, right, back, up, down, based on people's perception of places.
Distortion
The action of giving a misleading account or impression.
Hearth
The area where an idea or cultural trait originates
Cartogram Map
A map in which some thematic mapping variable is substituted for land area and distance.
Azimutha/Polar Projection
A map projection in which a region of the earth is projected onto a plane tangential to the surface, typically at the poles or equator.pol
Robinson Projection
A map that shows the entire world at once
Graduated Symbol Map
A map that use the visual variable of size to represent differences in magnitude of a discrete, abruptly hanging phenomenon like counts of people.
Choropleth Map
A map that uses different shading, coloring or placing of symbols within predefined areas to indicate the average value of property/quality in those areas. (Think Chloroplast bc of color)
Isoline Map
A map where a line is drawn out a map that joins all similar areas together.
Remote Sensing
A method of collecting data or info through instruments that are physically distant from the area/object of study.
Is this an example of a Thematic Map?
Boi the answer is yes.
What view point states that a civilization living in the Americas has a better chance of thriving than one living in Antarctica?
Environmentalism or Environmental Determinism
What is an example of Hierarchical Diffusion?
Fashion goes from designers, to a-listers, and so fourth.
Possiblism
Geographic viewpoint- a response to determinism- that holds that human decision making not the environment, is the crucial factor in cultural development.
How is GIS usually formatted for the user's convince?
In layers
Geospatial Data
Information about a physical object that can be represented by numerical values in a geographic coordinate system.
Example of Fraction of Distance
It costs more to fly from Atlanta to Paris than from Atlanta to Boston.
Landscape Analysis
It helps chat broader strategics and make critical decisions.
Where is the hearth of Christianity?
Jerusalem
Reference Map
Maps that show the absolute location of places and geographic features determined by a frame typically latitude and longitude.
Thematic Map
Maps that tell stories , typically showing the degree of some attribute or movement of a geographic phenomenon.
An example of Globalization
McDonald's expanded into such a global company that its scale and impact on other cultures is huge.
Distance
Measurement of the physical space between two places.
What things use a GPS?
Modern cars, phones, computers, airplanes, modern trains
North Pole
Northern most point of the world.
What is the name of the Parallel at 0 degrees?
The Equator
What is an example Functional Region?
The European Union
What is an example of a Cultural Landscape
The Gettysburg battle field
Give an example of an adaptation through the eyes of cultural ecology.
The Inuit learned to use the entire seal or whale due to the fact that resources are very scarce in the Arctic.
What is a common example of Stimulus Diffusion?
The Maharaja Mac
International Date Line
The line that separates today from tomorrow. It cuts between Russia and Alaska through the Bering Strait and juts out multiple times. For the most part, it stays on the 180 degree line.
Sequence Occupant
The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.
Distribution
This is the frequency or occurrence of something.
In what cases may a Choropleth Map be used?
To describe and compare GDP of different regions