AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocabulary Notes

The study of the interrelationships between people, place, and environment, and how these vary spatially and temporally across and between locations

Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and the Earth as a whole

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features

A place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

This system uses data from satellites to pinpoint a location on earth and help people find their way to a destination

A computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface. It may show many different kinds of data on one map, such as streets, buildings, or vegetation

The spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

The use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that do not constrain resource use in the future

The processes shaping the earth's climate; soils; distributions of plants and animals; landforms, including caves and glacial landscapes; and water, including rivers, lakes, and aquifers

Patterns in data or features, spread over a designated geographic area

Information that describes objects, events or other features with a location on or near the surface of the earth

Any pieces of information that can be displayed using numbers, such as populations, distances, prices, and other measurements

A place's absolute location is its exact place on Earth, often given in terms of latitude and longitude

A description of how a place is related to other places

The number of farmers per unit of farmland

The total number of people divided by the total land area. This is what most people think of as density; how many people per area of land

The science of map-making

The scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map

A map that uses shading to show a pattern of a variable (the darker the shading, the higher the concentration of the variable)

A map projection that fairly accurately shows shape and direction, but distorts distance and size of land masses

A rectangular, equal-area map projection. The map shows the correct sizes of countries, but it also distorts their shape

A map projection showing the poles as lines rather than points and more accurately portraying high latitude lands and water to land ratio

A map only intended for representations of the entire globe. When presented as a flat map, the land masses are unbroken. The flat map is heavily interrupted in order to preserve shapes and sizes

It shows the continents proportionally sized to each other, however its use of distances, directions, and angles are not accurately shown because of distortion

It is considered the most accurate projection for its way of showing relative areas of landmasses and oceans with very little distortion of shapes

A map that shows the spatial distribution of one or more specific data themes for selected geographic areas (Ex: Weather maps, population density maps, geology maps)

A map type that has lines drawn on it connecting data points of the same value

A type of thematic map that uses a point symbol to visualize the geographic distribution of a large number of related phenomena

A map that focuses on the location and names of features, like a political map, road map, or topographic map

A map that distorts the shape of geographic region so that the area directly shows a specific data variable

A type of thematic map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population

Central, wealthy, technologically advanced countries vs. less-developed, poor, and dependant countries

The geographic study of human-environment relationships

Forms superimposed on the physical environment by humans Cultural attributes of an area often used to describe a place (Ex: buildings, theaters, places of worship)

The physical landscape or environment that exists before it is acted upon by human activities

The theory that states that as the distance between two places increases, the interaction between those two places decreases

The theory that the physical environment controls human growth, development, and activities

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives

An area within which everyone shares in a common one or more distinctive characteristics

An area organized around a node or central point

The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse

A force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope

The place from which an innovation originates

The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority to other persons or places

A line following the 180 degree latitude that runs between the South and North Poles and serves as the boundary between one calendar day and the next

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator

The set of curving imaginary lines that run North-South, coming together at the poles. They measure distance (degrees), east or west of the Prime Meridian

A line of 0° longitude that is the starting point for measuring distance both east and west around Earth

A line that runs through the middle of the Earth horizontally, separating the Earth into North and South