spatial networks | location leverage

With the ever-evolving technology made available via the internet and cell phones, information is virtually at your fingertips wherever you are. I can remember writing research reports in grade school using the Encyclopedia as your main source for information. If you still needed more information, you had to go to the library and look through the card catalog (do they even have that anymore?!) to find where the book was located. It was usually a long and tedious process. So what if you read something that wasn’t going to benefit you for that particular project? You still learned in the process. This is virtually obsolete anymore with the invention of the internet. You simply go to your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing) and type in ANY topic you are interested in and have virtually 100,000 matches. Whether they are relevant or useful is up to you to decipher, but the information is there for us to access.

National Case Study

In the Spring 2009 issue of ArcNews, Daniel C. Edelson (Vice President for Education, National Geographic Society) wrote a shocking yet inspiring article on geographic literacy in the United States+. It was featured in the inaugural column of the “Geo Learning” series. In this article, he stated that, “It’s no secret that Americans know next to nothing about geography.” I figured he was probably right, but how bad could it possibly be considering the diversity of this nation (I would like to note here that optimism can be a dangerous adversary if abused).

The latest National Geographic/Roper Poll (2006) conveys the incredible deficiency of 18-24-year-old Americans in the subject of geography. The survey found that half the participants could not locate New York on a map of the United States, and nearly 6 in 10 could not locate Ohio. One-third of the young adults in the survey gave the wrong answer when asked to name the continent where the Amazon rain forest is located. And, after being at war with Iraq for three years, 63 percent of young Americans could not identify Iraq on a map of the Middle East.”

Shocking as they are, these statistics are real and exemplify the severity of the situation at hand. National Geographic’s justifiable response to the survey prompted the implementation of the “Geographic Literacy in the U.S. by 2025” campaign as well as the “Geo Learning” column which urges GIS professionals to play an important role in the campaign in order to increase the rate of geographic literacy in the United States. Thusly, here I stand, PDA and GPS in hand, ready to be put to work.

Local Case Study

After ranting and raving throughout the office condemning the public school system, I decided that it would be healthier and more productive (not to mention quieter) to blog about the issue instead. I was beginning to write the manifesto to end all manifestos when I decided that I would do one better and conduct a survey of my own using local, young adults as my guinea pigs¹. Ten questions were selected from the National Geographic/Roper Poll (2006), in hopes of saving time, and presented to young students at St. Petersburg College (SPC) Clearwater Campus. I was optimist (yet again) going into the project. I theorized that by surveying young adults seeking higher education, the results yielded would be higher overall, in comparison to those of the national survey were the level of education was not a qualifying factor.

Though I interrogated students during their finals week (as if they weren’t under enough pressure), the partakers gladly contributed to the cause and encouraged their friends and classmates to do the same. Though many of the test takers expressed concern due to the lack of geographic literacy in their mental arsenal, they (and I) had a great time. Generally, the individual results of the questionnaire led to discussions on political, physical, cultural, historical and world geography, proving the naturally intriguing and inclusive disposition framework of geography (if handled properly). All in all, the goals of the project were met. The summary revealed that the SPC students scored higher on the selected questions than the young adults that participated in the national survey in 2006. This may again be due to the fact that the SPC students are just that, students. Their inquisitive nature makes them more apt and likely to voluntarily initiate geographical thought than someone who may not have attended an institution of higher learning.

If the goals of the National Geographic campaign are met, this will no longer be the status quo. Giving every U.S. citizen to the opportunity to think analytically and individually, beyond the facts that are spoon fed to them by the media and other potentially bias sources of information. American adults must learn how to think for themselves and becoming geographically literate is one of the major first steps that must be taken. I hope that, like the participants at SPC, these findings (in both the national and local surveys) ignite a fire deep in your bowels that sparks you to learn as much as you can about the world around you. We only have one planet; we owe it to her to be as familiar with her as humanly achievable in order to be the best caregivers and stewards possible.

Kick-starting spatial methodology is simply a matter of will. Tip: next time you here a news report (e.g. H1-N1 influenza) instead of saying, “Hmmm that was interesting. Now I’m in the mood for some meat candy,” take it one step further and look up some of the places mentioned. Think about the relationships between those places and Mexico (i.e. the source). Whether those relationships are physical, economic, political or cultural, they are factors to be considered. Hypothesize about the occurrences of probable and confirmed cases of H1-N1 in an area. Why do some places seem to be more affected than others? Is climate a factor? Click on the link below to find out more ways to improve your geographic literacy.