ESRI-UK is retracing the well worn path of “people don’t know geography” to stir up interest in Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day. The online survey of 2000 individuals (press release) reveals that most don’t know where things are or what’s the most widely spoken language in the world. There are also questions about travel and tourism (Have you been to a town new to you recently? A museum?)
The release quotes Dr Rita Gardner, Director of the Royal Geographical Society:
It is particularly encouraging to see that the sample survey recognises map-reading – at the core of all good geography whether in schools or in our daily lives – as an important geographical skill. If you can read a map you can work out where places are without needing to remember such factual detail. However, there are wider geographical issues of much greater importance to our futures. In the coming years climate change, food and water security will differ in their effects in different
places across the world, further exacerbating world tensions. Geography lies at the heart of understanding, predicting and helping to find solutions to those challenges, and to natural disasters such as hurricanes, many of which transcend national boundaries.
I completely agree with her; alas the survey didn’t explore map reading/interpretation skills. A few of the questions posed could have been answered by interpreting the appropriate map including this one: “Rank a list of UK cities, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham and Luton, in the order they are located, from north to south.”
I know that “we don’t know geography” is the classic way to get press coverage of geography’s importance. On GIS Day I want to challenge organizations like ESRI to find new ways to raise the issue. A simple suggestion? A quiz based on a map.
