✳ What is Human Geography?

✳
Name: ------ Date: August 19

Topic: AP Human Geography Unit One

Essential Question: What is Human Geography

Notes

Definition
- There are two different types of geography:
- Physical Geography- study of the environment that we are
in.
- Human Geography- study of the events and processes that
have shaped how humans have adapted to the earth.

- Geographers study how people organize themselves socially,

politically, and economically and what impact they have on our
earth.

5 Themes of Geography
- Location
- Absolute Location: Exact location of an object using
latiduage (horizontal) and longitude (vertical lines).
- Relative Location: Based on human perceptions.
- Place (Where somewhere is like)
- 2 Types of Characteristics
- Human Characteristics: What the People are Like
- Physical Characteristics: Landscapes
- Site: Referring to the physical characteristics and
absolute location.
- Situation: A place’s connections to other places like.
 Things associated with the area.
- Space: The area between two or more things on Earth’s
surface.
- Density: the number of things (people, animals or objects)
in a certain area.
- Movement/Flow
- Pattern: How things are arranged in a particular place and
how they are connected/similar.
- Distance Decay: How distance affects interaction. The
further away from a distance or event, the less it will
affect you.
- Friction of Distance: the concept that states that
someone will not go farther than it needs to.
- Time Space Compression: the process causing the relative
distance between places to shrink.
- Human Environment Interaction
- H/E: how we impact and are impacted by the environment
- Sustainability: The use of the earth’s land and natural
resources that ensures they will be used in the future.
- Sustainable Development: meeting the needs of the present
without compromising the future.
- Regions
- Formal Region: An area that has one or more shared traits
in it’s clearly defined boundaries. Can be political or
physical boundaries.
- Functional Region: An area organized by it’s function
around a focal point or a..
- Node: Metro rail, subway, school district, etc
- Perceptual/ Vernacular Region: a type of region that
reflects a person’s viewpoint of an area.

Types of Maps
Who makes maps?
- Cartographers are people who make maps.
- Absolute Distance: A distance that can be measured using a
standard unit of length.
- Relative Distance: Is described using other criteria such
as time or money. If it is used before the measure it is
relative. Ex. about 10 minutes away.
- Absolution Direction: Cardinal Directions (North, South,
 East, West)
- Relative Directions: Based off people’s perceptions (Left,
Right, Up, Down, Front, Or Behind)
Map Scale
- Large Scale Map: Zoomed in look of an area. Ex map of
Charlotte.
- Medium Scale Map: Zoomed father out. Ex Map of SC
- Smaller Scale Map: Zoomed into a smaller area.
Types of Maps
- Reference Maps:
- General Purpose
- Generalized Geographic Data
- Focus on location.
- Physical Map:
- Shows physical land features.
- Political Map
- Shows political boundaries.
- Thematic Maps
- Display a specific topic.
- Cartogram Map is distorted to Indicate the value of a
specific topic.
- Choropleth Maps uses colors to indicate value (can
generalize a whole area).
- Tell a story of the area.
- Ex. Migration, Rainfall, Political Etc.
- Isoline Map has lines that represent a value.

Map Projections
- Difference Between Globe vs Map
- Maps are 2 dimensional which will always cause
distortion!
- Projection: 2 dimensional representation.
- Areas which Projections Distort:
- Shape
- Area
- Distance
- Direction
- How to Make the World Flat
- Cylindrical (Compromise)
- Compromising all four.
 - Shows the Entire World
- Pretty Accurate around the equator
- Relative Location of Land Masses.
- Becomes disordered as you reach the poles.
- Conical
- Shows shape fairly accurately
- Used to show land masses that extend over
large areas.
- Distorts land masses at the edges.
- Azimuthal/Planar (same thing)
- Preserves direction
- Distorts Shape and Area
- Only shows one Half of the Earth

Important Projections to Know

- Mercator (Cylindrical)
- Advantages
- Useful for navigation because it shows accurate
directions
- Disadvantages
- Famous for its disorition.
- Increases distortion towards the poles.
- Robinson
- Advantages
- Globe like appearance
- Tries to balance projection errors and minimize
distortion
- Disadvantages
- Distorts area, shape, distance, and direction
Summary: