Introduction to AP Human Geography

Understanding Our World

• The world is composed of large urban areas with fluctuating populations.
• Spread of religions, languages, and cultures.
• Impact of climate change and globalization on supply lines, economies, governments, and daily lives.

Introduction to Map Projections

• Globes are impractical for daily use.
• Use of map projections instead to view the world.

Mercator Map Projection

• Known for right angles, focus on longitude and latitude.
• Accurate for direction, used for naval expeditions.
• Significant distortion in size and location of landmasses (e.g., Africa vs. Greenland).

Issues with Map Projections

• All map projections have distortion in direction, shape, area, or distance.

Alternative Map Projections

Good Homolosine Projection

• Equal area projection.
• Shows true size and shape of landmasses.
• Distortion in distance, especially near edges.

Fuller Map Projection

• Maintains accurate size and shape of landmasses.
• Does not use cardinal directions.
• Struggles with distortion away from center point.

Robinson Projection

• Distortion concentrated at poles.
• Maintains true size and shape of landmasses.

Winkel Tripel Projection

• Similar to Robinson.
• Rounder and larger shape.

Gall-Peters Projection

• Accurate in showing true size of landmasses.
• Significant distortion in shape and direction.

Map Categories

Reference Maps

• Informational and used for finding boundaries, geographic features, and directions.
• Examples include park maps, hiking topographic maps, public transportation maps.
• Concepts of absolute vs. relative direction, distance, and location.

Thematic Maps

• Display spatial patterns and use quantitative data for specific topics.

Types of Thematic Maps

Choropleth Maps

• Use colors to display data.
• Show quantity and density, but use generalizations.

Dot Density Maps

• Show data with points for spatial distribution.
• Clustered data can become confusing.

Graduated Symbol Maps

• Use symbols to show location and amount of data.
• Visual but can be confusing with overlapping information.

Isoline Maps

• Connect areas with similar data values.
• Common as weather maps, but can be difficult to read.

Cartogram Maps

• Represent data dynamically with size distortions.
• Clearly show differences, but can be confusing due to distortion.

Flow Line Maps

• Show movement of goods, people, services, or ideas.
• Use arrow size and color to indicate trade directions and volume.

Conclusion

• Encouragement to check understanding through questions.
• Promotion of resources for AP Human Geography preparation.
• Invitation to explore review packets and subscribe for more content.