AP®︎ Human Geography: Unit 1 Flashcards

A map emphasizing the locations of features to help users locate places or travel between them

A reference map showing governmental units, boundaries, cities, and capitals

A reference map showing natural features such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and coastlines

A reference map showing elevation, relief, and landform shape, usually with contour lines

A map designed to show the geographic distribution, concentration, intensity, or movement of a particular subject

A thematic map that shades predefined areas according to ranges of a variable, especially rates, percentages, ratios, or densities

A thematic map using dots, each representing an occurrence or stated quantity, to show a phenomenon's distribution and concentration

A thematic map that assigns symbols to a limited set of size classes representing ranges of values

A thematic map using lines that connect points of equal value

A thematic map that deliberately resizes geographic units according to a variable rather than actual land area

The relationship between a distance on a map and the corresponding distance on Earth

A large-scale map shows a small area in greater detail; a small-scale map shows a large area in less detail

A mathematical method for transferring Earth's curved surface to a flat plane, inevitably distorting shape, area, distance, or direction

The unavoidable alteration of shape, area, distance, or direction that occurs when Earth’s curved surface is represented on a flat map

A cylindrical conformal projection that preserves local shapes and angles and shows lines of constant compass bearing as straight, but greatly exaggerates area toward the poles

A cylindrical equal-area projection preserving relative area while stretching or compressing geographic shapes

A compromise world projection that balances distortions of area, shape, distance, and direction for general reference

Measured physical separation expressed in standard units such as kilometers or miles

Separation expressed through time, cost, accessibility, effort, or perception rather than fixed physical units

Direction based on a fixed frame of reference, such as cardinal directions or a compass bearing

Direction described in relation to another feature or a locally understood frame of reference

A spatial pattern in which features are concentrated close together

A spatial pattern in which features are spread across an area with substantial separation

A spatial pattern in which features are arranged along a line or narrow corridor

The height of a location above a reference level, usually mean sea level

Information tied to a location, commonly combining spatial or locational information about where something is with attribute information about its characteristics

Qualitative information distinguishes categories or kinds; quantitative information reports numerical values

Data collected directly for a particular investigation, with the investigator controlling at least part of the collection process

Data originally collected by someone else and reused for a new investigation or purpose

Direct collection or verification of information at a location through observations, counts, measurements, surveys, interviews, photographs, field notes, or coordinate recording

Written, visual, or measured records made while investigating a place, including where, when, and under what conditions observations occurred

Population and demographic or socioeconomic information collected through an official government count and linked to geographic areas

A computer-based system that stores, manages, analyzes, and displays geographically referenced data as comparable spatial layers

The United States’ satellite navigation system, commonly used to calculate and record a receiver’s location

Collecting information about Earth’s surface from a distance, without direct contact, using sensors on satellites, aircraft, or drones

Data about Earth’s surface collected by sensors on satellites, often compared across time to detect conditions and change

Web-based or networked platforms that let users search for places, select layers, change displays, obtain directions, examine imagery, and interact with mapped spatial information

Questions asked of people to gather their experiences, knowledge, perceptions, and explanations about places or geographic processes

The use of visible natural features and human modifications as evidence about land use, settlement, culture, and change

Analyzing visible clues in photographs or images, such as shape, pattern, texture, shadow, location, and association, to identify geographic features

A precise position stated within a fixed spatial reference system, such as coordinates or a street address

A position described in relation to other locations, routes, features, networks, travel times, or costs

Latitude measures position north or south of the equator; longitude measures position east or west of the prime meridian

The physical and human characteristics of the specific location where a place is situated

The location of a place relative to other places, features, routes, and networks

The physical extent containing geographic phenomena and the separation and arrangement among them

A location given identity by its physical and human characteristics and the meanings associated with it

Movements of people, goods, money, resources, information, ideas, or influence between locations

The general tendency for interaction between places to weaken as distance, travel time, or cost increases

The reduced effective significance of distance caused by improvements in transportation and communication

The observable arrangement of geographic phenomena across space

The degree to which the spatial distributions of two or more geographic phenomena are related

The reciprocal relationship in which societies depend on, adapt to, and modify the natural environment, which in turn affects later human choices

Using and managing resources and environments to meet present needs without undermining future generations’ ability to meet their needs

An element or process of the physical environment that people recognize as useful

A resource naturally replenished on a human time scale, though it can be depleted if use exceeds regeneration

A finite resource or one that forms too slowly to be replaced on a human time scale

The human purpose for which land is occupied, managed, or altered

The theory that the physical environment controls or determines the development and characteristics of human societies

The theory that the environment creates opportunities and constraints, while societies choose among possible responses

The geographic level at which a pattern or process is studied and data are organized, summarized, or differentiated

Analysis that treats the world as a whole or examines a worldwide system

Analysis that uses regions—such as world regions, groups of countries, states, provinces, or multicounty areas—as its geographic units

Analysis that uses countries as its units, either examining one country as a whole or comparing countries

Analysis focused on small geographic units such as municipalities, villages, neighborhoods, census tracts, streets, or individual sites

An area identified by one or more unifying characteristics or by a pattern of activity

A region defined by one or more shared, observable characteristics that distinguish it from surrounding areas

A region organized around a node and unified by flows and interactions between that node and its surrounding area

A central point in a functional region where activities are concentrated and from which flows and interactions are organized

A region defined by shared beliefs, feelings, identities, or ideas about an area

The limit of the characteristic, activity, or perception defining a region; it may be precise, transitional, overlapping, dynamic, or contested