Upgrade to remove ads
Busy. Please wait.
Log in with Clever
or

show password
Forgot Password?

Don't have an account?  Sign up 
Sign up using Clever
or

Username is available taken
show password


Make sure to remember your password. If you forget it there is no way for StudyStack to send you a reset link. You would need to create a new account.
Your email address is only used to allow you to reset your password. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.


Already a StudyStack user? Log In

Reset Password
Enter the associated with your account, and we'll email you a link to reset your password.

Introduction to Maps

        Help!  

Term
Definition
Human Geography   The branch of geography that studies how human activity affects or is influenced by Earth's surface  
🗑
Globalization   The process by which businesses and other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale  
🗑
Sustainability   The group of practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising the future generations' ability to meet their needs  
🗑
Gender   A general term for the ways in which a society defines the differences between males and females  
🗑
Global citizen   A person who is aware of and understands the wider world and his or her place in it  
🗑
Culture   The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that a society transmits from one generation to the next  
🗑
Infrastructure   The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (such as buildings, roads, and public utilities) needed for the operation of a society  
🗑
Map   A two-dimensional (flat) representation of a geographic area or place  
🗑
Cartographer   A person who makes maps  
🗑
Data aggregation   The process of collecting and organizing large amounts of information  
🗑
Spatial perspective   A geographic perspective that seeks to identify and explain the uses of space  
🗑
Spatial patterns   The placement or arrangement of objects on Earth's surface; also includes the space between those objects  
🗑
Time-distance decay   Also known as the "first law of geography"; the idea that near things are more related than distant things, and interaction between two places decreases the farther apart they are  
🗑
Map symbols   Graphic elements that help organize the information in a map, such as (but not limited to) dots, stars, arrows, squares, and dotted lines  
🗑
Legend   A key to the meaning of the symbols and colors on a map  
🗑
Compass rose   A drawing, usually found on the edge of a map, showing the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) and the map's orientation  
🗑
Absolute direction   Corresponds to the direction on a compass: north, south, east, west, and combinations such as northeast and southwest  
🗑
Map scale   The distance on a map in relation to distance in actual space; for example, 1 inch on a map might indicate a distance of 100 miles in real life  
🗑
Scale   The territorial extent of an idea or object  
🗑
Absolute distance   The distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a foot, year, mile, or kilometer  
🗑
Relative distance   A measurement of the level of social, cultural, or economic similarity between places despite their absolute distance from each other  
🗑
Relative direction   A direction that can be described as position, such as in front of or behind, to the left or to the right  
🗑
Elevation   Distance above sea level  
🗑
Isoline   On a map, a line that connects or links different places that share a common or equal value, such as elevation  
🗑
Topographic map   A graphic representation of the three-dimensional configuration of Earth's surface  
🗑
Reference map   A map that shows geographic locations on Earth's surface, such as the location of cities or oceans  
🗑
Thematic map   A map that emphasizes the spatial patterns of geographic statistics or attributes, and sometimes the relationships between them  
🗑
Choropleth map   A thematic map that shows data aggregated for a specific geographic area, often using different colors to represent different values  
🗑
Cartogram   A map that distorts the geographic shape of an area in order to show the size of a specific variable; the larger the area on a cartogram, the larger the value of the underlying variable  
🗑
Proportional or graduated circle map   A map that uses symbols (such as circles or dots) of difference sizes to represent numerical values  
🗑
Dot density or Dot distribution map   A map that uses dots to represent objects or counts; the dot can represent one object (a one-to-one dot density map) or it can represent a number of objects (a one-to-many dot density map)  
🗑
Map projection   A method for representing the surface of Earth or a celestial sphere on a plane (two-dimensional) surface; all map projections distort some aspect of Earth's surface  
🗑
Mercator projection   A map projection that is useful for navigation because the lines connecting points on the map represent the true compass direction; however, landmasses become increasingly distorted the farther away they are from the equator  
🗑
Peters projection   A map projection that shows all landmasses with their true areas but distorts their shapes  
🗑
Goode homolosine projection   A map projection that avoid shape distortion and the restrictions of a rectangular map by creating "interruptions" in the maps continuity; in each section, map projection regions are shown "equally", like an orange peel being laid out on a flat surface  
🗑
Polar projection   A map projection that looks down at Earth from the perspective of one of he poles (North or South)  
🗑
Robinson projection   A map projection that attempts to create the most visually appealing representation of Earth by keeping all types of distortion relatively low over most of the map  
🗑
Census   An official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details about individuals, such as age, sex, and race  
🗑
Fieldwork   Learning and doing research involving first-hand experience, which takes pace outside the classroom setting  
🗑
Absolute location   A precise position on Earth's surface  
🗑
Latitude (lines)   The invisible horizontal likes circling Earth parallel to the equator; latitude is the degree of distance north or south from the equator, which is at 0 degrees, as far as the poles, which are at 90 degrees  
🗑
Longitude (lines)   The invisible vertical lines on Earth's surface that mark imaginary circles connecting the North Pole with the South Pole  
🗑
Prime meridian   The zero-degree longitude line that runs through Greenwich, England; also known as the Greenwich Meridian  
🗑
Global Positioning System (GPS)   A system of 24 satellites that orbit Earth twice daily and transmit radio signals Earthward; the basis for many map-based apps that provide directions on how to get from one place to another  
🗑
Geographic information system (GIS)   A software application for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface; allows the rapid manipulation of geospatial data for problem-solving and research  
🗑
Remote sensing   The scanning of Earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain information about it  
🗑
Aerial photgraphy   Remote-sensing photography that produces fine-grained, high-resolution, highly detailed images  
🗑
Satellite imagery   Images of Earth's surface gathered from sensors mounted on orbiting satellites; these sensors record in both the visible and non-visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing humans to view patterns and processes that are both visible and invisible to the naked eye  
🗑
Relative location   The position of one place (or person) in relation to the position of another place (or person)  
🗑
Space   The areas we occupy as humans; it has no value until the people wo occupy it make it their own  
🗑
Place   How we modify space based on who we are as a group of people  
🗑
Cultural landscape   The built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting Earth - farm fields, cities, houses, and so on - and the meaning, values, representations, and experiences associated with those forms  
🗑
Time-space compression   The decreasing distance between places, as measured by travel time or cost; often summarized by the phrase "the world is shrinking"  
🗑
Interdependence   The ties established between regions and countries that over time collectively create a global economic system that is not necessarily based on equality  
🗑
Geographic processes   The physical and human forces that work together to form and transform the world  
🗑
Diffusion   The pattern by which a phenomenon such as the movement of people, or their ideas, technologies, or preferences, spreads from a particular location through space and time  
🗑
Independent invention   Occurs when the same or a very similar innovation is developed at the same time in different places by different people working independently  
🗑
Expansion diffusion   Occurs when ideas or practices spread throughout a population, from area to rea, in a snowballing process,, so that the total number of knowers or users and the areas of occurrence increase  
🗑
Hierarchical diffusion   Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing other persons, communities, or rural areas  
🗑
Reverse hierarchical diffusion   Occurs when ideas leapfrog from a lower level of a hierarchy to a higher level  
🗑
Contagious diffusion   The wavelike spread of ideas in the manner of a contagious disease or forest fire, moving throughout space without regard for hierarchy  
🗑
Stimulus diffusion   Occurs when a specific trait is rejected, but the underlying idea is accepted  
🗑
Relocation diffusion   Occurs when individuals or groups with a particular idea or practice migrate from one location to another, thereby bringing the idea or practice to their new homeland  
🗑
Friction of distance   The inhibiting effect of distance on the intensity and volume of most forms of human interaction; time-space compression diminishes friction of distance  
🗑
Ecology   A biological science concerned with studying the complex relationships among living organisms and their physical environments  
🗑
Cultural ecology   The study of the interactions between societies and their local environments  
🗑
Ecosystem   A territorially bounded system consisting of the interaction between humans and the environment  
🗑
Environmental perception   The mental images that comprise humans' perception of nature; environmental perception many be accurate or inaccurate  
🗑
Natural hazard   A physical danger present in the environment, such as a flood, hurricane, volcanic eruption, and earthquake  
🗑
Tsunami   A huge ocean wave produced by the displacement of a large volume of water, often caused by an earthquake  
🗑
Natural resources   Materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain  
🗑
Nonrenewable resources   Natural resources that are available on Earth in finite quantities and will eventually be used up  
🗑
Renewable resources   Natural resources that Earth will naturally replenish over time  
🗑
Greenhouse gases   Compound in the atmosphere from fossil-fuel combustion, such as carbon dioxide, that absorb and trap heat energy close to Earth's surface  
🗑
Greenhouse effect   The global warming trend caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide  
🗑
Environmental determinism   The belief that the physical environment is the dominant force shaping cultures and that humanity is a passive product of its physical surroundings  
🗑
Possibilism   The belief that any physical environment offers a number of possible ways for a society to develop and that humans can find ways to overcome environmental challenges  
🗑
Global scale   Geographic scale that looks at geographic phenomena across the entire world  
🗑
Regional scale analysis   Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a particular region  
🗑
National scale analysis   Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic phenomena within a specific country  
🗑
Local scale analysis   Geographic scale that identifies and analyzes geographic within a state or province, a city or town, or neighborhood  
🗑
Glocal perspective   Geographic perspective that acknowledges the two-way relationship between local communities and global patterns, emphasizing that the forces of globalization need to take into account local-scale cultural, economic , and environmental conditions  
🗑
Region   A geographical unit based on one or more common characteristics or functions  
🗑
Formal region   A geographical area inhabited by people who have one or more traits in common  
🗑
Border zone   A region where cultural markers overlap and blend into a recognizable border culture  
🗑
Functional region   A geographic area that has been organized to function politically, socially, culturally, or economically as one unit  
🗑
Nodes   Central points where the functions of a functional region are coordinated and directed  
🗑
Metropolitan area   An area composed of a heavily populated urban core and its less populated surrounding areas  
🗑
Perceptual/vernacular region   A geographic rea that is perceived to exist by its inhabitants, based on the widespread acceptance and use of a unique regional name  
🗑
Mental map   A personal representation of a portion of Earth's surface  
🗑
Sense of place   How a person feels about a particular place and why it's important to him or her  
🗑
Activity space   Where a person goes and what he or she does on a day-to-day basis  
🗑
Regional identity   The awareness of belonging to a group of people within a region  
🗑
Contested boundaries   Boundaries that are disputed for religious, political, or cultural reasons  
🗑
Regional analysis   The process of examining patterns and processes within and between regions at multiple geographic scales (local, national, regional, and global)  
🗑


   

Review the information in the table. When you are ready to quiz yourself you can hide individual columns or the entire table. Then you can click on the empty cells to reveal the answer. Try to recall what will be displayed before clicking the empty cell.
 
To hide a column, click on the column name.
 
To hide the entire table, click on the "Hide All" button.
 
You may also shuffle the rows of the table by clicking on the "Shuffle" button.
 
Or sort by any of the columns using the down arrow next to any column heading.
If you know all the data on any row, you can temporarily remove it by tapping the trash can to the right of the row.

 
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.

  Normal Size     Small Size show me how
Created by: sstiles08
Popular AP Human Geography sets