Category: Geography

Beware the Social Theorists in Geography

Dear Justin,

I spoke with the Human Geography department because that was where I assumed my interests led. But then, while they didn’t explicitly state it, they seemed to imply that a lot of Human Geography is theory based, and I got the impression that the use of mapping/statistics and analyzing using the technologies of Geography wasn’t a big focus.

I honestly don’t know enough about Geography to articulate my question well — but I’m curious. Is all Geography at a Master’s level going to use some forms of visual analysis, in various ways, maybe GIS, maybe remote sensing, maybe GPS, etc? Or can there be programs that are based on intellectual theory without the technology side of things? If so, is that common? Should I specifically be asking about that in order to find a department that melds both? Is that just something that you don’t find in Human Geography?

I know I like the human studies side of things. Why are societal aspects of the world affected by space? Things like nationalism within the study of borders, or even linguistic differences across areas of space, these are all fascinating. I just assumed they naturally would be something you could study by using technology to better visualize, represent, express, predict, and understand. So that’s my current confusion, I really want to learn about that and study it from a statistical and spatial viewpoint. Can you not fold this sort of social science aspect into the technical side of things? Is it really just with things like mapping rainforests to find better habitats for endangered animals or oil excavation that you get to focus on the physical/spatial analysis and representation of Geography?

Thanks,

M.

Hi M.,

Well, you’re starting to learn about key divisions within geography. There are a large number of human geographers who are really, in my opinion, more social theorists than they are geographers. My advice is to avoid them. Not because they don’t have value to offer you or the discipline, but because many of them tend to have a bias against the technological and quantitative driven sub-fields within the discipline. You’ll hear them use words like “positivism” or “positivist” if you’re stuck listening to them long enough.

You do need to expect to study the theory and history of geographic thought in a grad program. It’s important. And you’ll need to have some understanding of theory salient to your research theme (e.g., core-periphery or similar). But that doesn’t mean your focus can’t be empirical. The key is to find an advisor who will encourage and facilitate your research interests rather than trying to indoctrinate you into the School of David Harvey.

Depending on the department you may be better off talking to the GIS/Cartography/Spatial faculty rather than the Human Geography folks. There are certainly plenty of human geographers who understand and value visual/analytical approaches. Finding one of them to serve as a mentor would be great; but a “spatial” professor willing to mentor your efforts will do the trick. You can tap a more traditional human geographer for thematic expertise as a second committee member. Some departments are more theoretical than others but the best programs typically have some representation or a balance of both factions. You should be able to figure out who’s who by reading research interest descriptions.

This is a problem for the discipline because it creates confusion regarding what it means to be a geographer or to have majored in geography. But that’s a topic for another post.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Justin

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Graduate Studies at South Dakota or Miami of Ohio?

Hi,
I would like to inquire about Master program in Geography. have been accepted into a graduate program in Geography at South Dakota State University and Miami University at Ohio. My question is which is the best South Dakota State OR Miami University at Ohio in Master of geography especially in GIS ? -A.

Dear A.,

Neither one is necessarily better than the other, but the two programs are completely different.

South Dakota State is affiliated with the USGS and its EROS Data Center which means a strong focus on satellite imagery data processing, analysis and visualization. I see the Department Chair is a fellow Oregon geography PhD specializing in Political Geography (I remember reading his dissertation as part of seminar on “Ethnoterritorial Conflict” taught by Ron Wixman) so you don’t need to be a remote sensing person. But, interest in remote sensing is the best reason to pursue a grad degree at South Dakota State.

Miami University of Ohio is a more traditional geography department with an emphasis on urban and regional planning. It’s also a smaller university with no PhD programs and that means fewer research-focused faculty and more teaching-oriented faculty. That can be really good or bad depending on your objectives.

The decision for you should be based on your interests and career aspirations. If you want to be a remote sensing guru or focus more on physical environment data go to South Dakota. If you’re interested in Urban Planning and want to focus more on human/cultural issues go to Miami. If you just want general GIS training, choose the program with a professor you really want to learn from. Or, flip a coin.

Good luck with the decision!

 

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Is it Too Late to Pursue a Career in Geography and GIS?

Hi Justin,

I am probably not your typical follower. I am seriously thinking about pursuing a career in GIS, but do not have the degree or experience to start a career so easily. I graduated with a political science degree in 2014 and am currently working as a paralegal at a law firm specializing in real estate. I am still not sold on the idea of law school and have been actively exploring other options, some of which I realize are completely different than law or politics, like GIS.

But I love maps — always have — and I took numerous history and political science classes where studying and interpreting maps were integral parts of the class. I honestly never knew much about the GIS field until recently and from what I have read from a variety of sources, it is an exciting and growing field.

For time and financial reasons, however, I have only given an online GIS certificate from Penn State’s World Campus Program any consideration at the moment in order to start learning the basics and get a future GIS career started. However, I am skeptical of pursuing the certificate. I have heard some say it helps, but very little, and I also need to gain the programming experience you spoke about in a recent post. A master’s program is not something I am considering at the moment, especially since I lack the basic education and skills.

Pursuing GIS would be a major career move, one I think could be very rewarding, but want to know if it’s too late to pursue such an option and what is/are the best way(s) of going about gaining the education, skills and experience for a GIS career for someone in my position. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
J.

Dear J.,

No, it’s not too late. In fact, I was in a very similar situation in the early 1990s.

I had a degree in Philosophy and Mathematics. I had a job at a public school as a teaching assistant and planned to get a Master’s in Education so I could become a math teacher. But I didn’t like my job and the prospect of the “How to be a Teacher” curriculum followed by a job as a classroom police officer sounded more like a prison sentence than the beginning of an exciting career. In researching alternatives I stumbled upon geography. I recognized an opportunity to use my quantitative skills in a meaningful way. And, like you, I loved maps.

So I began the long, slow climb. I found a part-time job and took geography classes at a community college. I read everything I could get my hands on and began preparing grad school applications. I emailed and cold-called professors trying to convince them I could make the transition and prove useful in their research programs. I got a huge break when a professor with grant funding asked me to join him as a research assistant at the University of Oregon. Free tuition and a $600 per month stipend. I thought I had hit the jackpot. And I had.

But it took sacrifice. I had friends pulling down big salaries as lawyers and bankers. If we met at a restaurant they’d eat anything they wanted. I drank ice water. I couldn’t afford much beyond rent and groceries. My wife and I lived on a shoestring. Our weekend entertainment was a hike up Spencer Butte and a rousing game of Nerf ping pong. We ate a lot of spaghetti.

I guess I’m trying to say it won’t be easy. And there aren’t really any good shortcuts. If you want a career in geography and/or GIS you have to start at the beginning. That doesn’t mean you have to follow the same path I did. Rather than grad school maybe the beginning is a low-paying job with a company doing GIS type work and a lot of self-study on the side. Maybe it’s the certificate program at Penn State (although I think you’re wise to proceed cautiously as certificates are sort of a dime a dozen). Maybe it means keeping your gig as a paralegal and working your tail off every evening to learn programming and GIS on your own time. Maybe you can parlay your political science degree and some basic on-your-own GIS training to volunteer to do spatial data analysis for a political campaign. The 2008 and 2012 Obama campaigns utilized GIS extensively and I suspect there is someone somewhere already looking at voter data in preparation for primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire.

In any case, you will have to blaze your own trail. But, it’s certainly not too late to begin.

You might want to read this blog post I wrote a couple years ago about how to launch a GIS career. It’s intended for people with an undergraduate degree in geography/GIS who are struggling to find their first job. But, it may have some applicability to your situation as well.

Wishing you the very best,

Justin

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Is Programming an Absolute Must for GIS Undergrads?

Justin,

I see programming is an integral part of GIS but it is not currently in my programs’ curriculum, and I haven’t been able to add it in with my other classes as of yet. Is it an absolute must as an undergraduate? And how far into it should I delve into (intro?, intermediate?)

Harel

Dear Harel,

Programming is an important 21st Century skill. If you aspire to a career in GIS you should at least be familiar with basic programming concepts and ideally you would know how to build simple programs.

It’s difficult to advise you how to acquire these skills. Computer Science departments in most Universities tend to do a sub-par job of teaching practical programming skills. Most computer science grads that I know say they didn’t learn anything relevant until their first real job. I think that may be an exaggeration but the reality is that programming is an applied skill and most computer science professors are more inclined to teach theory. Furthermore, and I’m sure there are many exceptions, in my experience academia is typically at least one technology generation behind the private sector. If you want to be a software developer, GIS or otherwise, you must be ahead of the curve in terms of knowing the latest and greatest frameworks and technology stacks.

As such, my suggestion for learning programming is to seek out an intro class at a local community college or online. In addition, I think your best bet is to find a class teaching Python. If the class is taught in Java, for example, you’ll spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the formatting complexities of the syntax. Python keeps things simple so you can focus more on the programming concepts and less on figuring out where you’re missing a semicolon.

Ideally, you’d get the best of both worlds by taking computer science classes while also reading and hacking away on your own. But, of course, it’s difficult to find time to do everything.

Clear as mud?

Unfortunately, there’s no simple solution. You really do need to learn programming if you want a stellar GIS career but CS courses in your college or University may require a lot of effort with insufficient payoff in terms of practical knowledge. So you have to be independently tenacious to come away with the right skill set.

That’s not a bad thing. Tenacity is a good skill and mindset to acquire. In fact, you’ll need tenacity in your career more than you’ll need any particular technology skill.

Best wishes,

Justin

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Seven Steps to Finding the Right Geography PhD Program

Hi Justin,

First of all, I would like to thank you for sharing such good articles that help us a lot in our decision making process.

I am from Brazil and when I was an undergrad I studied for a year in the US where I took a course on the foundations of GIS and after that I spent a semester learning more about the applications of GIS in natural resources.

I went on to earn an M.S. on Forest Engineering in Brazil with focus on hydrology, water quality, remote sensing and GIS. Now I am looking for a PhD program in the US that would allow me to better understand how GIS works, how to program and develop an open source GIS-based water resources management system that I could implement in my country later on.

Do you know any program that would contain the research line that I have mentioned?

Thank you so much in advance,

Maciel

Dear Maciel,

Applying to PhD programs is an exercise in finding a compatible research mentor. Rather than looking for the best program/department or University you should be searching for a professor who shares your research interests and, ideally, has the ability to support your research with grant funding. At the very least you need to receive a teaching assistant appointment that covers tuition and pays a modest stipend. If you’re paying tuition in pursuit of a PhD you’re doing it wrong.

Here are seven steps to follow:

  1. Decide on a research focus area and, preferably, a specific research question/topic you intend to pursue. If you don’t know for sure you’re probably not ready for a PhD campaign.
  2. Read the salient literature in your chosen sub-field. You can begin by simply doing a keyword search in Google Scholar. Try searching for “water resources management” and “GIS” or similar. Find the most interesting articles and read them. Then look for more recent articles to learn about current research threads. By the way, if you find yourself hating this exercise in exploring the research literature you may want to rethink your decision to go after a PhD.
  3. Once you’ve waded far enough into the literature you should be able to identify some of the key researchers in your field (if not, keep reading). Find out where these researchers work. Many will not be in Departments of Geography. They may be Civil Engineers or Earth Scientists. The interdisciplinary nature of most research in geography means there will be contributors from a variety of disciplines. If you’re set on a geography PhD then list the key researchers who are faculty in Departments of Geography. Capture their contact info.
  4. Prepare a brief statement of research interests and a cv. Keep it short and simple. Think business card rather than autobiography. Send an email to the professors you have identified in step #3. The email should also be very brief. These are busy people. If you write them a novel they won’t read it. Your goal in the email is to capture their attention and ask about opportunities to work with them. If they aren’t looking for students they may know who is looking. If you don’t hear back from them right away don’t be put off. Like I said, these are busy people. You may have to be a squeaky wheel to get their attention. Be polite but persistent.
  5. Hopefully you will be able to have a productive dialogue to help point you in the right direction. If you’re lucky you’ll make a connection with a good researcher and begin to form an idea where you’d like to study. Apply to these programs. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Apply to multiple programs.
  6. If at all possible try to visit the programs that interest you most. Call the Department in advance and see if you can schedule a meeting. Visit the professor(s) you’ve contacted. Remind them who you are and what you’re interested in doing. Express your enthusiasm. Don’t waste their time. This is a golden opportunity to learn more about where to apply, who is working on the latest and greatest, who would be good to work for and who wouldn’t. Listen carefully. If you can’t afford to visit in person then try a few phone calls. You might catch them at their desk in a good mood.
  7. If you’ve done the legwork, aced the GRE and submitted strong applications articulating your fit with the department then you should be in good position to receive an offer. If you have more than one offer, congratulations! Choose the best fit. Select the best offer with the program where you think you can be successful. This will take several years and you don’t want to be miserable. Don’t be distracted by my rankings or by ideas of prestige or notoriety. Choose the place where you think you’ll be happy.

That’s it! Hope this helps some of the prospective PhDs out there … especially Maciel.

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Can you combine GIS/Cartography with Area Studies?

Dear Justin,

I’m hoping you could give me some advice! I’m an undergrad studying Turkey. I’ve been building up a double major in Computer Science but I really don’t enjoy programming to any huge extent. I don’t want to be a software engineer. I like the skills, just not the end goal. My advisor has recommended that I segue off into something like GIS and Cartography because I’ve focused my CS classes on visualizing data. I have the chance to take geography courses at a school in my consortium, but I have no expert at my school to talk to about where that might lead. That’s why I’m messaging you, though I understand if you’re busy or don’t want to respond!

I have two questions if you do have the time:

1. I’m really interested in Human Geography as it applies to area studies. This statistical blending of social sciences and maps to better understand human phenomenon is fascinating. I don’t know if that means I want to study historical GIS, cultural geography, religious geography or what, but I do know that if I were to study geography it would be through the lens of the Turkey and through the medium of visualizing data. Is it possible, do you think, to focus geography in that way? On an area of the world? And while it seems like many human geographers do so, could something like that with the proper statistical and spatial background lead into Geospatial Analysis instead of purely human geography research or teaching positions?

2. What is a good way of getting a feel for what types of Geography fields I like? Do you recommend any specific books or courses? I have the time to devote a year or so to Geography classes and I have both technical (GIS/Statistics/Remote Sensing/Cartography) and Human/Physical geography courses available to me. I just feel like there’s so much I don’t know and no one to ask, so I have to do the legwork on my own. Any advice on how to start that process would be really appreciated!

Thank you for your time, and the resource of your blog!

Sincerely,
M.

Dear M.,

I like what you’re doing and where you’re headed. Turkey is a fascinating place with an incredibly important strategic location. And it will make for a superb lens through which to make sense of a variety of topics in human geography, economics, intl relations, etc.

I would keep going with the cs degree. It will open lots of doors. And dont worry. You won’t be stuck working as a software engineer your whole career. Or even for one day if you prefer not to. You’ll also avoid the unemployment line and your parents basement.

Yes, you can focus on Turkey. There are many human geographers who specialize in a particular region. You will want to add some sort of thematic specialty if you continue along the academic route. So maybe economic/political geography or human-environment. But that can wait until grad school.

As far as selecting geography classes don’t worry too much. Just take classes that seem interesting to you. Or take classes taught by the best professor(s). Visualization of data is the future in many fields so keep pushing to learn as much as possible.

In today’s economy careers are created or discovered. Planning ahead for specific jobs no longer works unless you want to be a surgeon or a patent attorney etc. So just do your best to find things that fascinate you and learn everything you can about them. In 10 years you’ll look back with amazement as seemingly disparate experiences and formal study topics come together to make you perfect for a unique and dynamic (and probably lucrative) role in the economy.

Wishing you the very best,
Justin

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New Online Digital Mapping Program at Kentucky

For blog readers considering an online GIS certificate or graduate degree, there’s a new program at the University of Kentucky worthy of consideration.

Kentucky has become one of the most innovative Geography Departments in the US thanks in part to the pioneering work of Professor Matthew Zook and his devoted Floating Sheep research colleagues. They have successfully used open source mapping and web scraping technologies to develop interactive digital maps shedding new light on salient topics such as racism, religion, abortion and the price of marijuana.

Kentucky’s new program provides an opportunity to learn these techniques directly from the masters. If this sounds good, check out the New Maps Plus program. The curriculum looks excellent (except for MAP 701 and MAP 719 which will feel like cult indoctrination or Sunday school with an alien vocabulary), similar to what’s offered at USC’s Spatial Sciences Institute, and part of a new breed of graduate programs focused more on the analysis of spatial data and less on ArcGIS button sequences. I expect this flavor of geography graduate education to continue growing while University sponsored ESRI software training programs continue down the path toward obsolescence.

The program is in its infancy so there may be hurdles getting off the ground; but, I expect great things to come.

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2015 Rankings – Top Graduate Geography Programs for Spatial Careers

Hard to believe it’s already been 3 years since 2012 when I published my first set of geography graduate program rankings, based on NRC data. I followed in 2013 with a survey-driven set of rankings. Last year I produced rankings of traditional GIS programs and on-line GIS programs. These four posts have generated approximately 175,000 pageviews, so far. I seem to have filled a void.

This year I’ve decided to cobble together a variety of lists and categories with some new twists. Here are my notes for the 2015 rankings.

Over the past year I’ve come to the conclusion that, when in doubt, you’re likely better off attending a graduate school at a large major University, especially one that serves as a flagship public institution for the State. The reasons for this are varied but I think it’s a combination of (1) availability of top minds/resources/courses from related fields on one campus, (2) career-enhancing name recognition and (3) a superior University experience in terms of affiliation and alumni networking. Two and three sort of go together. You may notice a few tweaks in department tiers/rankings reflecting this idea.

I’ve produced several categories of rankings this year. Following on my 2014 GIS rankings and in response to some calls for separate Human/Qualitative rankings I’ve created a “Best Overall” category and several sub-categories. Hopefully this will be helpful for students seeking information for a particular field of study or area of emphasis. Programs listed under the “Best Overall” category provide a balance in terms of Human/Physical/Technical geography offerings and should accommodate most anyone aspiring to a spatial career. If you have a strong interest in one of the sub-field categories you should also consider the programs listed in each category. For potential PhD students the choice of a faculty advisor is the MOST important decision. Program/University is still crucial, but secondary.

The overwhelming majority of programs listed here offer a PhD. I favor PhD-granting departments because they attract the best faculty and because you never know what twists and turns might come along. It’s nice to have the option to stay in place if the scope of your studies expand.

You may notice none of the programs listed have a numerical rank order. I did this for two reasons. First, it’s sort of splitting hairs. How much better is #6 versus #7? I’m a quant guy but I don’t really know. I think these tiers make more sense – programs within each tier are ordered alphabetically. Second, I want to avoid misinterpretation by a bright student who thinks they must go to the #1 program…even if the #4 program would be a far better fit. And, this makes a good segue to my standard disclaimers and warnings about selecting a graduate program:

  • From 2014: I do NOT recommend selecting a graduate program based solely on these rankings.  You can use this as a starting point but be sure to explore as many programs as possible, seeking to find the best individual fit.
  • From 2012/2013: Warning to prospective graduate students, selecting a graduate program is an individual decision and the top programs listed here may not be the best program for you.  There are many factors to take into consideration and this decision process is probably worthy of its own blog post, or a series of several blog posts.  At the very least, you should take a look at a recent copy of the AAG’s Guide to Geography Programs.

So here we go – the 2015 rankings. Ta-da!

Best Overall Programs

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 4

—

Human Geography

  • Berkeley
  • UCLA
  • Syracuse
  • Washington

Physical Geography

  • Boston
  • Maryland
  • Oregon State

GIScience/Computation

  • University of Texas at Dallas
  • San Diego State
  • George Mason
  • Maine (Orono)
  • Iowa

Cartography/Visualization

  • Wisconsin
  • Oregon
  • Penn State
  • Kansas
  • Oregon State

Remote Sensing

  • Boston
  • Maryland
  • Georgia

Spatial Analysis/Statistics

  • University of Texas at Dallas
  • Arizona State
  • Buffalo
  • Ohio State

Medical/Health

  • Buffalo
  • Illinois
  • Iowa
  • North Carolina

On-Line/Hybrid (Master’s only)

  • USC Spatial Sciences Institute
  • Penn State World Campus

 

Who did I miss?  What did I get wrong?  Who invented liquid soap and why? (sorry, random movie quote. couldn’t help myself.)

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Happy new year!

 

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Sorry Europe, Australia and Antarctica, there are only Four Continents

I’m preparing to teach a new class this spring, Geography of the World Economy. I’m really looking forward to it.

In preparing my syllabus I find myself wanting to be able to share a coherent hierarchy and regional partition of Earth’s surface with my students who, as business majors and future competitors in an increasingly globalized economy, will likely need to be able to refer to various parts of the world to communicate plans and ideas. Unfortunately, I don’t think a coherent system exists. So, as part of my course preparation I will try to contribute some thoughts along the same lines as my regional geography of the US.

The first challenge I want to take on is the definition of a continent. The word “continent” and its use in reference to large land masses comes from the Latin, terra continens, meaning continuous land. The definition is not based upon some sort of size threshold whereby extremely large islands, i.e., a land mass completely surrounded by water, can be considered continents.  As such, Antarctica and Australia are enormous islands, not continents. Sorry, mates….and, uh, penguins. It’s just geography, nothing personal.

So we’re left with two enormous, continuous and connected land masses. In the Western Hemisphere we have North America and South America connected by the very narrow Isthmus of Panama. And, in the Eastern Hemisphere, we have Europe and Asia connected to Africa at the very small Sinai Peninsula.

So, just five continents, right? No.

As is often the case, a Euro-centric view of things enabled the establishment of Europe as a separate continent and this precedent has been maintained for historical reasons. But, if you look at a satellite image of the Eastern Hemisphere you may notice that the Ural Mountains, generally considered to be the border between Europe and Asia is not terribly narrow, not at all similar to Panama or Sinai. So, while Europe is certainly a major world region, it is not a continent, nor is Asia for that matter (unless Europe is thought to be a subset of Asia). Instead, we must ignore the illusion of the Isthmus of the Urals and recognize Europe and Asia combine to form the world’s largest continent, Eurasia.

That makes four distinct and continuous land masses. My apologies to your social studies teachers who have been mistakenly dividing the world into six or seven continents. My apologies to Europe, Australia and Antarctica but you’ve been downgraded. Europe is a region. Australia and Antarctica are islands.

There are only four continents: Africa, Eurasia, North America and South America. 

Next up, world regions.

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The Apprentice

The last person I want to emulate is Donald Trump but I’m in the market for an Apprentice.

The_Apprentice_Logo

Through my blog I hear from dozens of recent graduates who are looking for an opportunity to gain experience in the GIS industry. Well, here’s your chance.

This is a very unique proposition; it won’t work for everyone. But, maybe it’s perfect for you?

The Opportunity: what’s in it for you

  • GIS/geography research internship
  • $500 per month stipend
  • 1-bedroom apartment with all utilities provided
  • One-on-one mentoring sessions with me, at least 1 hour every 2 weeks
  • Opportunity to learn spatial statistics, GIS programming, cartography, etc.
  • Opportunity to learn software development
  • Opportunity to learn real estate investing and property management
  • Opportunity to develop business acumen and gain general business experience
  • My assistance applying to grad school or conducting a job search
  • Possibility of regular, full-time salaried position at the end of 1 year

The Work: what you have to do in return

  • Live in Pueblo
  • Work 40 hours per week doing a variety of tasks including working as a clerk in my liquor store, completing basic handyman/repair tasks, landscaping and/or various other miscellaneous retail or property maintenance work depending on your skills.
  • Complete GIS/geography research projects
  • Provide your own laptop
  • Take responsibility for getting the most out of the opportunity; don’t expect me to hold your hand every day.

The Application: what to do if you’re interested

  1. Connect with me on LinkedIn
  2. Send me a message (use LinkedIn messaging or my Contact Form below) indicating your interest in the “Apprentice” position with a link to your profile.

That’s it! Please share this with anyone and everyone who may be interested!

 

 

 

 

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