Applied Geography And Geospatial Technology involves GPS (global positioning systems), GIS (geographical information systems), and RS (remote sensing).
I'm a geographer. Yes, I study rocks, but I'm not a geologist. I consider weather and climate when I study people--but I know the environment doesn't determine a culture's development. Hydrology and oceanography are cool. Please don't feel threatened just because I know about economic, political, and cultural globalization. I read Darwin, Love lock, Marx, and Tuan--all in geography classes. The newspaper calls me a local historian. My neighbors think I'm an expert on roads. I hang out in cemeteries. I've served in government--far more successfully than the self-proclaimed "business experts." Capitals? I really haven't memorized them, thank you. But I can think spatially and holistically. I love my planet. I'm interdisciplinary. I'm a geographer.........
“The decline of geography in academia is easy to understand: we live in an age of ever-increasing specialization, and geography is a generalist's discipline. Imagine the poor geographer trying to explain to someone at a campus cocktail party (or even to an unsympathetic adminitrator) exactly what it is he or she studies.
"Geography is Greek for 'writing about the earth.' We study the Earth."
"Right, like geologists."
"Well, yes, but we're interested in the whole world, not just the rocky bits. Geographers also study oceans, lakes, the water cycle..."
"So, it's like oceanography or hydrology."
"And the atmosphere."
"Meteorology, climatology..."
"It's broader than just physical geography. We're also interested in how humans relate to their planet."
"How is that different from ecology or environmental science?"
"Well, it encompasses them. Aspects of them. But we also study the social and economic and cultural and geopolitical sides of--"
"Sociology, economics, cultural studies, poli sci."
"Some geographers specialize in different world regions."
"Ah, right, we have Asian and African and Latin American studies programs here. But I didn't know they were part of the geography department."
"They're not."
(Long pause.)
"So, uh, what is it that do study then?”
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