As we dive into this first unit, the most important concepts you should keep in mind is that geographers focus on the why of where to analyze maps and other forms of data, and that geography is about how all places are interconnected. Keep that in mind as we go through these basics explained in CollegeBoard's AP guide.
Intro to Maps
Always remember that there are two generalized kinds of maps:
reference maps & thematic maps.
Reference Maps are informational because they show physical & man-made features and are topographical (they show boundaries & names of places). Some examples of reference maps are subway, city, mall, or even evacuation maps.
Thematic Maps describe a story, indicated by the title of the map, as they display the density & distribution of quantitative data (P.S. they're used as 'visual stimuli' for many exam questions).
Here are the 6 Key Ways to Map Geospatial Data:
Choropleth Maps use colors and/or shading to represent quantifiable data and are very good at showing density, but not distribution. Remember that generally darker means more.
Dot/Distribution Maps have (you guessed it) dots, and each one represents a value in its approximate location. One downside of these maps is that they're not the best choice to display areas of concentration/density because, as I'm sure you've realized, it's probably hard to analyze the map if dots have piled on top of one another.
Graduated/Proportional Symbol Maps present symbols proportional in size to the actual value of the data. Two drawbacks of this map are that sometimes these symbols can be too cluttered in areas of high density, and their size can also be hard to distinguish.
Isoline Maps connect areas of equal value with lines and are described as looking like fingerprints of puddles. Every time you cross a line, the value changes, and when the lines are closer together that means that the value changes rapidly. On the other hand, if the lines are farther apart the change between the values is much less. These are oftentimes used for weather maps but can be difficult to interpret visually unless colors are used.
Cartograms distort the appearance of places on the map to represent their value and thus are not meant to be true to geographical size. Funnily enough, they actually look like cartoons because of their strange appearance.
Flow-Line Maps uses lines of variance thickness to track the size and direction of a specific movement (oftentimes used to show migration).
Spatial patterns:
Geographers often look for spatial patterns or relationships in data.
These patterns can include measures of distance and/or direction, be described as clustered or dispersed, or represent changes in elevation.
Describe the patterns you see as:
Clustered - grouped, nucleated, clumped, concentrated, agglomerated
Dispersed - distributed, scattered, spread out
Uniform - evenly spaced out
Random - no discernible pattern
Elevation can be shown using contour lines like in isoline maps (such as topographical maps)
A geographer will ask WHY the pattern appears this way, and as you do this keep these processes in mind which will explain why you see the pattern:
Economic
Social-Cultural
Political
eNvironmental
Terms:
Pattern is what you observe (the where)
Process is the explanation (the why there)
Parallels & Meridians are lines of longitude & latitude, and they cross at right angles on a globe
"In the field" is when geographers are out collecting data in the world by visiting a place and recording information gathered there.
Toponym is a name specific to locations.
The cultural landscape refers to all human activities imposed on the landscape.
Hierarchal Diffusion - when a hierarchy is established and the pattern of diffusion follows this hierarchy (ex. diffusion of American slang from large cities to medium cities to small towns).
Relocation Diffusion involves human movement.
Stimulus Diffusion happens when one phenomenon caused a related phenomenon to spread (diffuse).
Contagious Diffusion happens in various places at the same time seemingly randomly (without an obvious pattern).
Some info on Time Zones: they were established in the U.S. for railroad travel & there are 24 time differences in the world each separated by ~15 degrees longitude (since the Earth completes one full rotation every 24 hours, the equation is 360 degrees/ 24 time zones).
Globalization has integrated economies & cultures.
Map Projections:
A map projection takes the spherical shape of the Earth and displays it on a flat surface. But, since the Earth is rounded, all flat images of the Earth will be distorted somehow.
Map projections distort spatial relationships in shape, area, distance, and direction.
Different projections have different uses.
Here are the different ways to do these projections...
Conformal Projections maintain the shapes of land features at the expense of distorting their true size.
Equal-area Projections disfigure the seas to maintain the size of landmasses.
Famous Map Projections:
Mercator Projection - latitude & longitude shown at right angles, preserves shape but distorts size hugely at high latitudes (which is why it shows a HUGE Greenland). This projection is commonly used for navigation.
Gall-Peters Projection - preserves size but distorts shape making the image appear as the opposite of Mercator Projection (which is why it shows a HUGE Africa)
Robinson Projection - preserves the size and shape of continents but distorts polar areas (which is why this projection has flat bottoms & curved sides) making it a compromise between the Mercator & Gall-Peters Projections. This is commonly used in published atlases.
Goodes Projection - this is an interrupted projection that removes much of the oceans to preserve the size & shape of the landmasses (aka the water areas are mostly cut up). This projection is oftentimes used for thematic maps.
Notes:
a curved surface cannot be represented on a flat surface without distortion
all maps are selective in information
Geographic Data
Geographers do their work and analyze patterns in the world by using maps and other tools/systems...
Here are 2 Ways Geographic Data is Collected:
By organizations - governments, private companies, and research institutions/universities all gather geographic data "in the field" (ex. location data is gathered from censuses & some apps where location is enabled)
By individuals - field observations through drawing maps, notes, counting/measuring things, and interviewing local people
Types of Technology Used: new technologies have increased the methods geographers can use to gather geographic data & allow them to make even more sophisticated analyses to find previously unknown/unstudied geographic patterns.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - a computer system that gathers, stores, analyzes, and shows geographic data (it looks like many different layers of geographic information piled on top of each other).
Remote Sensing - information (about things like urban sprawl, drought, agricultural land use, etc) gathered from satellites orbiting the Earth. This is a method of gathering data at a larger distance without actually making physical contact with the object or place (ex. satellite & aerial images from drones).
Satellite Navigation Systems - use geographic coordinates of latitude & longitude to help provide more specific data on the location of an object/place on Earth.
Online mapping and visualization - a variety of sources (such as organizations that collect geographic data) provide online maps/publish data for public use so that people can analyze the data.
Reports from Media Outlets like newspapers, television, and online news sources are used to gather information on an area.
Travel Narratives - notes & stories about observations made in the field.
Policy Documents - legislation used to gather geographic data (such as acts made to protect wildlife).
Personal Interviews in the Field - can interview local peoples or experts.
Landscape Analysis - a process of studying and describing a landscape where geographers aim to analyze the impact/influence of humans on that place (ex. describes elevation, animal species, etc).
Topographical Analysis relates to elevation.
Toponym Analysis is the analysis of the names of places.
Photographic Interpretation - when geographers use photos of a place to collect observable data about the world. The photo may be taken from the ground or using aerial photography (images professionally taken from a place).
Remember: images & landscapes have their limits when representing concepts like density.
The Power of Geographic Data
Geospatial Data is related to a specific point on the physical Earth. Geographers collect this data in many different ways, but how is it actually going to be used? Here are some examples...
you can use GPS to find out how to get from point A to point B
companies can use GIS programs to analyze sites for future expansion to better compete in a tough economy
governments of all scales can use data (ex. remote sensing & U.S. census) to make decisions such as...
Local Scale: city or municipal leaders might make decisions about urban planning.
Regional Scale: state governments may make decisions about transportation infrastructure or monitor sensitive environments like wetlands.
National Level: the federal government may make evidence-based policymaking decisions about funding for programs benefitting children, families, or the elderly (state by state).
Spatial Concepts
When geographers refer to space they're talking about the physical gap between two things.
Geographers are interested in discovering why phenomena are located where they are & observing how actions in one place can affect conditions somewhere else
Location, distance, and direction can all be measured in absolute or relative terms...
Absolute refers to quantitative measurement & describes the location of a place in terms of characteristics that never change like latitude & longitude or the address (traits that are unique to the place, ex. 'the distance from here to there is _____ miles). This is connected to the idea of site that includes the physical traits of space (all of its unique characteristics--relative location does not count).
Relative refers to qualitative measurement and is when you describe the location of a place in relation to other places (ex. 'my house is near the beach'). This helps us understand the importance of the place (ex. strategic geographic positions for shipping/transportation which gain their worth mainly through their vicinity to other places). This is connected to the idea of situation.
Both Relative & Absolute Locations are related to common cultural & physical characteristics, node, distance decay, and region.
Place - a unique location; humans tend to have a very strong "sense of place" or feelings associated with the distinctive features of a place.
Flows - geographers are also curious about how different places interact with each other by looking at how people, information, culture, and goods flow from one place to another region.
Situation relates to the surrounding qualities of a place (both man-made & natural), and describes the location of the place in relation to other places.
Distance Decay - the more distance between two places, the less interaction they'll share. Thanks to modern technology (like airplanes & the internet granting people faster and easier connection between places), distance decay is much less severe today than in the past.
Time-Space Compression - the reduction of time it takes for something to arrive from one place to another. Thanks to the increasing interconnectedness of the world due to more advanced technology, it seems that places are closer/the distance feels smaller than before (ex. comparing an 1850s covered wagon trip to a 2020 commercial plane ride from the east to west coast of the U.S.)
Geographers always look for patterns (such as by looking how houses, fields, bus stops, etc are arranged in space), and, if a pattern is found in various places, then a conclusion can be drawn explaining why that's occurring.
This connects to the "why of where" since it refers to the concept that the explanation of a spatial pattern is essential.
Human-Environmental Interaction
There are 3 Main Topics to this idea:
Sustainability - acts that give instant benefits while simultaneously conserving resources for future use (ex. producing biomass energy such as ethanol made from corn or sugar to fuel automobiles). Sustainability relates to a variety of things that are very interconnected no matter where one lives:
Natural Resources - goods produced in nature used by humans that can be renewable or non-renewable...
Renewable Resources include food crops and trees which can be replanted after harvesting.
Non-renewable Resources include burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas which are finite in quantity and are known to have environmental consequences.
Land Use - modifying the Earth's surface for a particular purpose (agricultural, industrial/commercial, residential, transportational, or recreational).
Human-Environmental Interaction is often called cultural ecology (prefix "eco" + culture is defined as our "way of life")
Geographers analyze relationships between places to uncover key spatial patterns and explain the processes (ESPN) that form these patterns.
Like any science, human geography has many theories, but remember that theories are hypothetical and not laws.
Comparing 2 Theories of Human-Environmental Interaction:
Environmental Determinism was developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries & was the foundation for Eurocentric views of the world & its people during Colonialism & Imperialism (relates to White Man's Burden & Social Darwinist Ideas). Early Greek philosophers wrote about different people they encountered and hypothesized that people's behaviors, culture, and the accomplishments of their society were all solely determined on their physical/natural environment. In other words, this theory states that natural factors alone determine & control the cultural characteristics of human societies. However, this theory is overly simplistic and disregards people's humanity & humans' roles in creating their culture or way of life which is why it was often criticized. This led to...
Possibilism was developed in the early 20th Century as a refutation to Environmental Determinism. When one thinks of human settlements in general, they're not located in places that are too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, or too mountainous for people to live in (the 5 Too's). Although this is usually true, there are still people who overcome the environmental challenges in the most inhospitable places and thrive. Thus, this theory states that while the natural environment is a factor that shapes human culture, humans still have choices which can allow them to harness technologies (through hard work, invention, etc) to overcome environmental limitations. Today, this theory is generally more accepted because it recognizes human spirit adapting to various physical environments (even those in the 5 Too's category).
For example, there is a practice of forming flat terraces in very mountainous areas for harvesting called terracing.
Scales of Analysis
Scale is a fundamental concept in geography.
Map Scale - the relationship of a distance on a map to the corresponding distance on the ground.
Scale - the size or scope of a phenomenon, determines the level at which geographic data is analyzed, and can provide focus for research.
Scales of analysis can be very powerful & displayed by maps, quantitative & geospatial data, images, and landscapes.
Geographers might need to observe a phenomenon at a range of scales (local, regional, national, global, etc) to draw conclusions.
Based on a geographer's specific research questions, they will select the appropriate scale.
The scale chosen to analyze data can inform, influence, and change the behaviors and decisions people make. For example, the scale someone uses can inform policy decisions, change people's interpretation of risk during a pandemic, alter the location of a company's new factory, influence a political campaign strategy, and so much more.
Geographers must be comfortable moving between scales to create wider/broader generalizations about the world & to observe the differences/similarities of how processes work at each scale.
Geographers think about a phenomenon as ranging from the local to global scale which is why scale is important.
Remember that multiple scales interact with one another (ex. the global scale could result in specialization at a local scale).
Today more than ever before the global scale is important because of the advanced geospatial technology we have to understand how change in one place can affect change in other places.
Scenarios with their appropriate scale:
town mayor deciding on best location for new traffic light --> local scale
comparing life expectancy between Western & Eastern Europe --> regional scale
determining which state had the greatest need for funding based on population --> country/national scale
analyzing territory size of Canada & Russia --> global scale
Variations in Data
data may vary and tell different stories based on the scale it is gathered from which can lead to people drawing contradicting conclusions
not to mention, there are different interpretations of data based on what scale and what geographer is seeing the information leading to different conclusions
Regional Analysis
Regions:
Although regions can be described & defined in many different ways, generally regions are defined on the basis of one or more of their distinctive qualities or on their patterns of activity.
Regionalization is to geography as periodization is to history (there is a grouping/categorization that is key).
There are 3 Kinds of Regions:
Functional (nodal) regions have a center of activity (a node) and are often unified by transportation or communication networks. These regions allow you to see the extent of the activity and where it is or isn't being done anymore. Examples: cities, pizza delivery zones, radio reception areas, airports, the circulation area of the New York times is the functional area (or the hinterland that relies on the activity) and New York is the node--any region that is defined or centered by a social/economic function or activity with its functional region being the area where the distribution of the services is limited.
Perceptual (vernacular) regions are defined in a different way by every individual based on their personal ideas, perceptions, and prejudices (are believed as forms of cultural identity & public imagination). This is why these regions have "fuzzy" boundaries where people's ideas variate (based on factors such as one's education and experiences). Perceptual regions are therefore not precise and oftentimes debated since they are
Formal (uniform/homogeneous) regions have a unifying trait/characteristic (physical or human) such as a language, political system, ethnicity, or faith. They are considered to be very exact which is why they are the only type of region that has formal borders. Example: the French-speaking region of Canada.
Due to regions being defined by their common traits, sometimes a place can "fit" into more than one of these three categories for regions. Regions are frequently contested and overlapping, especially perceptual regions.
Regions are used by geographers to chunk larger areas into smaller areas so that it's easier to spot spatial relationships by making observations and analyzing patterns and processes.
When geographers think "regionally," they can zoom into any of these regions at several scales because regions can be part of the world, a country, a state, or even a part of a city.
Make sure to leave any questions you have in the comments, and I hope you enjoyed reading about Unit 1 of AP Human Geo--Unit 2 will be up soon! Until next time :)
wow, this is so helpful- I would definitely recommend this for anyone studying AP Human Geography