GeoPlace Magazine

This message is part of the Geography Take You There campaign, organized by the Association of American Geographers. It reminds me of what John Keating -- the Robin Williams character in Dead Poet's Society, had to say about the value of poetry:

... medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. 

This line has always reminded me that geography does both of the things that Keating was saying an education should do. It is a field that is both personally enriching and practical as a course of study.

On the practical side, we know that among the many fields of endeavor to which geographers are well-suited -- such as urban planning, environmental compliance, and international service -- work in geotechnologies has been identified as the most rapidly growing. The U.S. Department of Labor has identified growing opportunities at all levels in fields related to GIS, GPS, and the integration of these technologies into other arenas.

I was reminded of all of this when I received the latest electronic edition of the weekly GeoReport newsletter from GeoPlace. Having a geography degree in a period of rapid growth is not enough to secure employment, of course. It is necessary to develop one's professional networks and to be familiar with key trends in the technologies and their applications. Reading periodicals such as GeoReport and the monthly counterpart GeoWorld is a good way for students of geography to understand how their skills may be put into use in the workplace, and also to figure out which skills they might need to develop further. Fortunately, subscriptions to both are available for free from GeoPlace.