AP Human Geography Unit 1 Thinking Geographically
AP Human Geography Unit 1 Thinking Geographically
AP Human Geography Unit 1 Thinking Geographically
Vocabulary
● Space: geometric surface of the Earth
● Activity Space: where activity occurs on a daily basis
● Urbanization: the growth and expansion of cities; this includes movement of people to
cities
● Suburbanization: the growth of areas around a city; mostly, there are larger houses, and
suburbanization involves the movement of people to suburban areas
● Globalization: the process by which organizations develop international influence or
operate around the world
● Regionalization: the action of an area being split into regions
● Region: an area; part of a country or the world having definable traits, but not necessarily
having fixed boundaries
● Scale of analysis: can be global, regional, national, or local; geographers analyze various
areas and find patterns to create accurate data
● Interconnections: mutual bond of interaction between two or more things
● Geospatial: relating to data which has to do with location
● Distance Decay: the farther away different places are from a place of origin, the less
likely interaction will be with the original space
● Friction of Distance: when the length of distance becomes a factor that inhibits the
interaction between two points , Ex:( when the combined time and cost of moving a
product prevents it from being sold in far-off locations)
5 Themes of Geography
1. Movement
a. Transportation, communication, and the diffusion of culture, technology, etc.
b. Technology speeds up movement
2. Regions
a. Formal Regions: there are set boundaries with common characteristics like
nationality, language, politics, and economy
b. Functional/Nodal Regions: these are centered around a “node” like a mall, train
station, or business plaza; it is connected with movement
c. Perceptual/Vernacular Region: these exist because of beliefs/values such as the
Upper Midwest of the U.S. or the South; there are differences between people of
different places
3. Human Environment Interaction
a. People impact the environment, and the environment impacts people (ex: man-
made islands)
4. Location
a. Absolute location: this never changes and it is determined through the grid
system of longitude and latitude lines on Earth
b. Relative location: this is location in relation to the landmarks around it (ex: if
you have a water tank near your house, you could say the house right next to the
water tank of Plano or whatever other city)
i. Since relative location changes with the perspectives of people (ex: one
person thinks the place is closer to a gas station rather than next a
preschool) this is situation
5. Place
a. An area of bounded space of some human importance
b. Can be defined by physical traits like climate, weather, mountains, lakes, etc.
c. Can be defined by human traits like religion, language, nationality, population
pyramid, etc.
Site: The physical characteristics of a place (ex: New York City is located on a deep water
harbor next to the Atlantic Ocean)
Situation: The location of an area relative to its surroundings (How is a place related to other
places?)
Toponym: a place’s name; that which can have meaning behind it
Map Projections
● World can not be accurately represented on a flat paper
○ Distortions occur in shape, distance, direction, and area
Thematic maps focus on one certain feature (ex: topographic map, population density map, etc.)
while general purpose maps include multiple themes of geography.
Dr. John Snow used thematic maps to show how cholera in London was connected to the water
system. He overlapped the map of cholera deaths and the public well system. By doing this, he
noticed how more deaths occurred near wells. This is an example of how thematic maps can be
combined to make a more general purpose map.