AP Human Geography Notes- Unit 1

1. AP Human Geography Notes- Unit 1 Intro Parts taken from the 2012 AP Princeton Review Human Geography

2. Geography • the scientific study of the locationof people and activities across Earth, and the reasons for their distribution. • it is the study of spaceand place

3. Place • Space refers to the geometric surface of the earth • Place is an area of bounded space that is viewed as significant • When this is recognized, we assign a toponym (place name) • Places change over time • Sequent occupancy- the succession of groups and cultural influences throughout a place’s history • Place specificity • EX: the place specificity of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a complex mix of multiple Native American, Spanish colonial, and modern American influences based on past and current societal influences

4. Geography vs. History • Geographic Questions: Geographers ask wherethings are and why they are there. Just like how historians ask when. • Historians organize information by time and geographers organize information by place. Historians study human activities through time (chronology), whereas geographers study the arrangement of human activities in space.

5. Geography’s Sub Disciplines • Physical geographystudies where and why natural forces occur (e.g. climates, landforms and types of vegetation) • human geographyis the study of where and why human activities occur (e.g. religions, businesses, cities).

6. Scale • Scale is the relationship of an object or place to the earth as a whole • Two types of scale • Map Scale • The ratio of distance on a map to actual distance • Relative Scale • Also known as the scale of analysis • Describes the level of aggregation • The level at which you group objects together for examination • Example: 1:54,000; 1 cm equals 3,000 m

7. Maps

8. Map: a two-dimensional model of Earth’s surface. • Cartography: the science of map making. • Early Maps: • The earliest known maps were drawn on Babylonian clay tablets2300 BCE. • Aristotlefirst demonstrated that the Earth was round. • The Greek Ptolemymade numerous maps that weren’t improved on for more than a thousand of years.

9. Map Types • See PDF and Pwpt quiz • Reference and Topographic Maps • Thematic Maps • ChoroplethMaps • Isoline Maps • Dot Density Maps • Flow-line (aka Isoline) Maps • Cartograms

10. Mental Maps • Quickly draw a map of Tainan. • Then compare your map with your neighbors. • Would you be able to navigate using your map? • What about with your neighbor’s map? • Can you make scientific measurements with your map?

11. Topographic Maps • Show the contour lines of elevation • Highly accurate in location and topography • Used for engineering surveys and land navigation

12. Map Analysis: TODALSIGS Title: is there a label describing what the map shows? Orientation: which way is north? Does the map have an orientation symbol such as a compass rose? Date: is there a date?Is the map still accurate? Author: is there an author listed? Why was it made? Legend: Is there a legend (key) to aid in reading the map? What symbols are included? Scale: Is there a scale to read distances? What distance does a unit of measure represent on the map? Index: Is there an alphabetical list of places shown on the map and a grid to help locate them? Grid: Does the map have a set of intersecting lines that aid in identifying locations? What are they? Source: Where did the information contained in the map come from?

13. Projections • Also see the map projections PDF • Why do maps distort the Earth’s surface? • A map projection's level of accuracy is based upon four concepts • Area preservation • Shape preservation • Distance preservation • Direction preservation

14. Why do maps distort the Earth’s surface? • Unfolding the Earth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1xXTi1nFCo

15. Goode Homolosine projection orange peel map

16. Conformal Projections • Attempt to maintain the shape of polygons on the map • Downside= distorts the relative area from one part of the map to another • EX: Mercator projection • Distorts Greenland’s size (area)

17. Equal-area Projections • Attempt to maintain the relative spatial science and the areas on the map • These projections can distort the shape of polygons • EX: Lambert Projection • Distorted size of northern Canadian islands

18. Other Projections • Some map projections attempt to balance area and form • EX: RobinsonProjection (top) balanced distortions • EX2: Goode’shomolosineprojection (bottom) minimizes distortions, but creates a disjointed map

19. Location..(Location, Location) Absolute Location Relative Location

20. Absolute Location • Absolute location describes a place using coordinates such as latitude and longitude • Latitudeand longitude degrees can be divided into 60 minutes (‘), and minutes can be divided into 60 seconds (“). • Example: Mt Everest summit is at 27° 59' 18'' N; 86° 55' 31'' E (latitude, longitude; right and up). • Equator is 0O Latitude • North and South Poles are 90O latitude • Prime Meridian is 0O longitude and runs through the royal observatory in Greenwich, England. The development of a method to determine longitude overcame the greatest obstacle to sea navigation and exploration.

21. Latitude and Longitude Lab • Google Earth: virtual globe • Download topo maps from: • http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/maps/TopoView/ • Handout: physical globe, atlas and maps

22. Time Zones • Divided up into 15time zones around the world • Because 360(degrees in a rotation)/24(hours in a day)= 15o of longitude • Dividing lines between time zones often follow political boundaries, and can occasionally follow local area divisions • Were created during the era of transcontinental railwaysin the 19th century to standardize time across long east-west train lines.

23. Site and Situation • Site: is the physical characteristics of a place (e.g. climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation). • Example: Singapore is a good defensive site, because it is an island with a central hilltop. • Situation: is the location of a place relative to other places. • Example: because of Singapore’s location at the Strait of Malacca, which is the major passageway for ships travelling between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, Singapore has become a center for trading.

24. Distance part 1 • Distance can be regarded in both absolute and relative terms like scale and location • Linear absolute distance can be measured as Euclidean distance, the straight line of distance from one point to another • Geographers often use the concept of distance decay to explain relative distance

25. Distance part 2 • Distance decay is a concept that states the further away different places are from a place of origin, the less likely interaction will be with the original place • Relative distance is expressed by the principle of Tobler’s Law which states that all places are interrelated, but closer places are more related than further ones • friction of distanceis based on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome distance. Because of this "friction," spatial interactions will tend to take place more often over shorter distances; quantity of interaction will decline with distance. • EX: When the time and cost of moving a product prevents it from being sold in far away locations

26. Space-Time Compression • Space-Time Compression is the decreased time and relative distance between places • Technology can reduce the relative distance between places • Transportation such as airplanes or trains can reduce travel time between two distant points and, as a result, increase their interaction • The Internet can also influence space-time compression. I am able to communicate with my friends in Australia via Facebook. Without Facebook, my interaction with these friends would be limited

27. Spatial Interactions:when places are connected through a network e.g. roads, phones, etc. Pattern Diffusion Patterns Density Central Places Core and Periphery

28. Landscape Analysis • Mt St Helens Landsat images • http://changematters.esri.com/compare

29. Pattern • Various Terms • Cluster- objects are grouped together on the earth’s surface • Agglomeration- when clustering occurs purposefully around a central point or an economic growth pole • Random pattern- no reason for a particular distribution of a spatial phenomenon • Scattered- objects that are normally ordered but appear dispersed • If a pattern is in a straight line it is linear and if it is wavy it is sinuous(think sine curve)

30. Land Survey Patterns • Have an effect on the property lines and political boundaries of states and provinces • Different types of land survey patterns • Metes and Bounds • Township and Range • Long lots

31. Metes and Bounds • Developed in Europe centuries before the US used this method. • land surveys (until the 1830s) used natural landmarks and compass bearings to divide the land into metes and bounds.

32. Township and Range • After the 1830s, new technology allowed surveyors to divide the land based on lines of longitude and latitude • This produced the geometric shape to many western states of the United States • Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming etc…

33. Long Lots • Former French colonial areas such as Quebec and Louisiana have long-lot patterns • These have a narrow frontage along a road or waterway with a long lot shape behind

34. There are various ways and patterns in which human phenomena diffuse spatially or spread across the earth’s surface Most often we examine how culture, ideas, or technology spread from a point of origin to other parts of the world. That point of origin or place of innovation can be called a hearth. Diffusion Patterns

35. Relocation Diffusion • Begins at a point of origin and then crosses a significant physical barrier, and later relocates on the other side • Can often influence and modify the items being diffused

36. Expansion Diffusion • Originates in a central place and expands outwards in all directions. • Distance does not have to be equal in all directions • Three types of expansion diffusion: • Hierarchical • Contagious • Stimulus

37. Hierarchal Diffusion • Originates in a first-order location and later moves to second-order locations, which move to tertiary-order locations, which move to… • Endless cycle

38. Contagious Diffusion • Begins at a point of origin, then moves outward to nearby locations, especially on adjoining transportation lines

39. Stimulus Diffusion • A general or underlying principle diffuses and then stimulates the creation of new products or ideas even if the characteristic itself doesn’t diffuse.

40. Diffusion Web Inquiry • The Olympic Games handout • http://www.olympic.org/

41. Density • Number of objects(e.g. people, houses, cars, etc.) in a given area (square unit of distance, e.g. km2 or square miles) is known as arithmetic density • Agricultural density is the people per square unit of land actively under cultivation • Physiologic density measures the number of people per square unit of arable land

42. Central Places • Central Places are any node of human activity • Most often the centers of economic exchange • Markets are often located at transportation nodes • Central Place Theory • Developed in the 1930s by a German geographer Walter Christaller • In the model, city location and the level of urban economic exchange could be analyzed using central places within hexagonal market areas which overlapped each other

43. Core and Periphery • Many different regional, cultural, economic, political, and environmental phenomena and human activities display some sort of core and periphery relationship • A country’s capital is the core of its political landscape • The core does not have to be in the center of the peripheral landscape

44. Models • A model is an abstract generalization of reality. Geographers use models to explain patterns, make informed decisions, and predict future behaviors. Models give us a way to picture geographical patterns that are normally not visible to the human eye • Spatial models attempt to show the commonalities in pattern among similar landscapes • Urban models try to show how different cities have similar spatial relationships and economic or social structures • Non-spatial models • Demographic transition model uses population data to construct a model of dynamic growth in normal scale populations without reference to space

45. Gravity Model • Used to calculate transportation flow between two points, determine the area of influence of a city’s businesses, and estimate the flow of migrants to a place. • locationA’s population xlocationB’s population distance2

46. Geographic Technology • Geographical Information Systems(GIS) • Global Positioning Systems(GPS) • Remote Sensing • Aerial Photography • Online maps (Google Maps, Google Earth, etc.)

47. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) • Uses one or more data layers in a computer program capable of spatial analysis and mapping • Data layers are numerical, coded, or textual data that is attributed to specific geographic coordinates or areas • Data between layers can be analyzed spatially • Used when calling 911

48. Global Positioning Systems(GPS) • Utilizes a worldwide network of satellites • A GPS receiver is able to triangulate a coordinate location and display map data for the user • Used for navigation (where?)

49. Remote Sensing • Aerial photography and satellite-based remote sensing make up a large amount of the geographic and GIS data used today • Aerial photographs have been used since the 1800s • Remote sensing satellites have been used since the 1970s • Remote sensing can record data from the earth’s surface • Data not only includes visual light wavelengths, but infrared and radar information • Commonly used by local governments to record property data and set tax assessments • Aerial photographs can also be used to revise topographic map data without sending out a survey team to gather new data • Infrared satellite imagery is commonly used to determine the health of vegetation on the earth’s surface • Helps to maintain stable prices for farm goods such as milk, eggs, and bread

50. Sources of Geographical Data • The field (surveying) • Census data (and other polls, surveys and questionnaires) • Online databases • Remote sensing (aerial photos, satellite images, weather balloons, etc.)