Practicing Geography is about making the most of these opportunities. Geographers are in demand in business, government, nonprofit and education sectors for the range of knowledge, abilities and skills they bring to their work. The book addresses how to explore, prepare, and advance in your career and how to deal with related challenges you will face in your work and life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface: A World of Opportunity: Discovering and Managing Careers in Geography, Michael Solem, Kenneth Foote, and Janice Monk

SECTION I: Preparing for a Career in Business, Government, and Nonprofit Organizations
Chapter 1: Part Strategy and Serendipity: A Candid Guide to Career Planning for Geographers, Alyson L. Greiner and Thomas A. Wikle
Chapter 2: Geography Education and Career Readiness, Joy K. Adams, Niem Tu Huynh, Joseph J. Kerski, and G. Brent Hall
Chapter 3: Switching Sectors: Transitioning into and among Business, Government, and Nonprofit Careers, Joy K. Adams
Chapter 4: The Value of An Internship Experience For Early Career Geographers, R. Denise Blanchard, Mark L. Carter, Robert B. Kent, Christopher A. Badurek
Chapter 5: Professional Networking, Tina Cary

SECTION II: Understanding Career Opportunities
Chapter 6: Geography Careers in State and Local Government, William M. Bass and Richard D. Quodomine
Chapter 7: Emerging and Expanding Career Opportunities in the Federal Government, Allison M. Williams, Molly E. Brown, Erin Moriarty, and John A. Wertman
Chapter 8: Geography Careers in Large Businesses and Corporations, Amy J. Blatt and Michael F. Ziolkowski
Chapter 9: Geography and the Nonprofit Sector, Lia D. Shimada and Jeremy Tasch
Chapter 10: Starting a Small Geography Business, Kelsey Brain
Chapter 11: Going Global: Practicing Geography Internationally, Carrie Mitchell and Mélanie Robertson
Chapter 12: Teaching Geography Inside and Outside the Classroom, Susan M. Heffron
Chapter 13: Geography Careers in Consulting, Susanne C. Moser and Angela J. Donelson

SECTION III: Achieving Career Satisfaction Now and Into the Future
Chapter 14: “Work” and “Life”: Crossing Boundaries of Time, Space, and Place, Janice Monk
Chapter 15: Practical Ethics for Professional Geographers, Francis Harvey
Chapter 16: Creating the Life You Want: Lifelong Professional Development for Geographers, Pauline E. Kneale and Larch Maxey

This book also introduces you to dozens of geographers applying their knowledge, skills and perspectives in communities, businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations both domestically and internationally. These profiles highlight the diversity of geography and geographers and show in practical terms the decisions real people make about their work and careers.

As a supplement to this book, additional profiles and career resources are available at www.aag.org/careers.

You can order your copy of Practicing Geography at www.pearsonhighered.com

In over 40 years of GIS development and use, researchers continue to turn to fundamental concepts of GIScience. At a point in time where geographic information has become a key enabler for many information age developments, the GI Systems and Sciences Specialty Group is organizing its annual Tobler lecture on 2/26/12 as an event to engage these issues.

Two esteemed GIScientists, Nicholas Chrisman and Andrew Frank, will offer their thoughts about fundamental concepts in GIScience picking up on past exchanges. These researchers have engaged questions about core conceptual issues in GIScience throughout their careers and are known for viewpoints that bring the range of conceptual issues to the fore. Two observations frame these parts of the discussion. First, is that the field of GIScience is undergoing changes as GI becomes an essential part of ubiquitous computing environments. Second, it will be now 50 years since Waldo Tobler published his dissertation, an academic event that preceded an illustrious career. The Tobler Lecture Event 2012 comes at a highly suitable moment to consider the past, reflect on the present and think about the role of GIScientists in shaping the future. To round off the Tobler Lecture Event Dan Sui will offer a commentary on their presentations and Kate Beard will moderate the event. An online discussion forum (see below) extends the discussion.

The title of this year’s lecture, ”Are there fundamental concepts to GIScience?”,  addresses the continued importance of engaging underlying conceptual issues in science. In this regard, and reflecting Waldo Tobler’s engagement with fundamental concepts that informed the development of GIS and GIScience. The contributions and comments should take up fundamental concepts with an eye towards engaging where geographic information science and technologies are going. Relevant to our contributions and discussion at the lecture is the milestone we are reaching that Waldo Tobler’s PhD was completed in 1961, 50 years ago. One point of engagement for the lecture is thus: Where are fundamental concepts now in relationship to developments of the last fifty years? The 2012 Tobler lecture comes at a good point in time to reflect on where GIScience is going and its relationship to the harnessing of geographic information technologies in ubiquitous computing. The event, online group discussion and publications engage spatial information communication, archival, and analysis issues that remain central to GIScience.

Interactive discussion forum: https://groups.google.com/group/gisciconcepts.

Everyone can read group postings; however you need to join the group to make postings. You can subscribe to the group through the web interface or via email. To subscribe to the group through the web interface, simply log in to your Google Account and visit the group of your choice. Then click the “Join this group” link on the right-hand side of the page under “About this group.” You can also email fharvey@umn.edu to request an invite if you want to post messages to the group. These online discussions will be taken up at the event. Follow-up discussions as well as a publication with written versions of the presentations and discussion contribution are planned.

The 2011 Tobler lecture event promises to offer rich food for thought on the past, present, and future of GIScience.

Further information on Google Groups is at: http://support.google.com/groups/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=46601

The Tobler Lecture 2012 Event is scheduled for Sunday 2/26/12 from 4:40 to 6:20 in Gramercy Suite A, Hilton NY, Second Floor.

Plan to come to the Transactions in GIS lecture held in the same room before the Tobler Lecture Event.

Hokey Min

“With malaria emerging as one of the deadliest infectious diseases for young children and women in Sub-Saharan African countries, a growing number of healthcare organisations and government authorities have increased their relentless efforts to control malaria epidemics in Africa. One of the causes for malaria epidemics is the lack of accessibility to anti-malarial drugs that results from archaic logistics infrastructure, inefficient distribution channels and disruptive black markets in Africa. This paper identifies factors that either enhance or hinder the accessibility of anti-malarial drugs to African population sectors vulnerable to malaria epidemics. In addition, it develops a comprehensive supply chain map that reveals the labyrinths of the African logistics infrastructure, distribution channels, government regulations and business customs. Based on this supply chain map, this paper proposes various supply chain strategies that improve the access of anti-malarial drugs and reduce the possibility of drug supply chain disruptions.”

• More information

• A logistics approach to malaria in Africa

Applied Geography, Volume 34, May 2012

Richard Charrier and Yingkui Li

“Highlights

• We examined resolution and source effects of DEMs on floodplain delineation.
• High discrepancies exist between features delineated by LiDAR and USGS DEMs.
• High resolution DEMs are more sensitive to minor features in watershed delineation.
• LiDAR DEMs produce more resolution-dependent delineations.
• USGS DEMs produce similar delineations regardless of DEM resolutions (5–30 m).

“Digital elevation models (DEMs) have been widely used in automated floodplain modeling to determine floodplain boundaries. However, the effects of DEM resolution and data source on floodplain delineation are not well quantified. This paper presents a case study to assess these effects from the Camp Creek Watershed, Missouri, using two sets of DEMs. One is the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) DEMs re-sampled from 1-m to 3, 5, 10, 15, and 30-m resolutions. The other is 5, 10, and 30-m DEMs obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Floodplain boundaries are delineated using a combination of hydrological, hydraulic and floodplain delineation models under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) guideline. Model outputs including stream network, watershed and floodplain boundaries are compared to 1-m LiDAR DEM outputs (as the reference) to assess the uncertainty. Results indicate that re-sampled 3 or 5-m LiDAR DEMs produce similar streams and floodplain boundaries within 10% difference of the reference. In contrast, coarser LiDAR DEMs (such as the 10-m resolution) are more appropriate for watershed boundary delineation because higher DEM resolutions are likely more sensitive to minor topographic changes and may introduce erroneous boundaries. For different data sources, uncertainties introduced by USGS DEMs are much higher than LiDAR DEMs with a distinct relationship between uncertainties and DEM resolutions. Uncertainties of LiDAR DEMs consistently increase with decreasing resolutions, whereas similar levels of uncertainty are observed for different USGS DEM resolutions. This difference is probably due to the inherited difference in their original data source resolutions to make these two types of DEMs.”

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Applied Geography, Volume 34, May 2012

Jesus Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Arie C. Seijmonsbergen, and Joost F. Duivenvoorden

“Highlights

• The land cover classification accuracy is optimized with a combined approach.
• The optimized classification is the input in a change detection analysis.
• This method produces higher classification and change detection accuracies.
• This approach can potentially be applied to other mountainous regions.

“Inventories of past and present land cover changes form the basis of future conservation and landscape management strategies. Modern classification techniques can be applied to more efficiently extract information from traditional remote-sensing sources. Landsat ETM⁺ images of a mountainous area in Mexico form the input for a combined object-based and pixel-based land cover classification. The land cover categories with the highest individual classification accuracies determined based on these two methods are extracted and merged into combined land cover classifications. In total, seven common land cover categories were recognized and merged into single combined best-classification layers. A comparison of the overall classification accuracies for 1999 and 2006 of the pixel-based (0.74 and 0.81), object-based (0.77 and 0.71) and combined (0.88 and 0.87) classifications shows that the combination method produces the best results. These combined classifications then form the input for a change detection analysis between the two dates by applying post-classification, object-based change analysis using image differencing. It is concluded that the combined classification method together with the object-based change detection analysis leads to an improved classification accuracy and land cover change detection. This approach has the potential to be applied to land cover change analyses in similar mountainous areas using medium-resolution imagery.”

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Applied Geography, Volume 33, April 2012

Elia Axinia Machado-Machado

“Highlights

• Mapping dengue fever suitability empirically using species distribution modeling and cases.
• Providing continuous maps of suitability to dengue fever for each municipality in Mexico.
• Integrating the interactions between social and climatic factors associated with dengue fever.

“Dengue is considered the most important vector borne virus disease worldwide placing some 2.5 billion people at risk globally. Despite the public health concern about dengue fever, spatially explicit suitability assessments for this disease are limited due to data restrictions and the challenges posed by the complexity of the interactions among its risk factors, which involve social, economic, and ecological processes.

“This paper demonstrates an empirical approach to identify suitable areas for dengue fever using species distribution modeling and evaluates the relative contribution of climatic and socio-economic factors as dengue fever suitability determinants. Several models showing the potential distribution of dengue fever within all the Mexican municipalities are produced using different sets of predictor variables. The results suggest that at the scale of this study the climatic variables were more important determinants of suitability for dengue fever than the socio-economic variables considered in this study. All the models perform well (average testing AUC about 0.8) and show similar patterns. The model with the least number of variables and best performance includes the variables minimum temperature of the coldest month, mean temperature of the wettest quarter, and annual precipitation. However, there is not a high variability of AUC scores among the models generated.”

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Applied Geography, Volume 34, May 2012

Guillermo C. Martínez-Verduzco, J. Mauricio Galeana-Pizaña, and Gustavo M. Cruz-Bello

“Highlights

• We coupled supervised classification with Community Mapping to separate Shade coffee and forest.
• We elicited local knowledge from study area inhabitants through participatory workshops.
• This coupled method produced similar accuracy levels to supervised classification.
• This combined method demonstrated being less time and resources consuming.

“Discriminating between Shade coffee plantations and Natural vegetation using Remote Sensing is particularly difficult in zones where both coverages have almost the same mix of species, as is the case in several areas of the Chiapas highlands. This investigation couples supervised classification with Community Mapping to separate these vegetation classes. Local knowledge of the study area was elicited from local inhabitants through workshops. The participants were asked to delimit both coverages inside the areas they knew the best (confidence map) with the help of printed orthophotos to build a land use map. The accuracy of this coupled method was similar to supervised classification alone and with less time and resources invested. This method can be applied in the rural zones of developing countries, as it is easy to understand and is cheaper than similar alternatives.”

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Esri Platform Supports Collaborative Environmental Problem Solving

At the Eye on Earth Summit Esri will describe how cloud GIS is positioned to create an international geospatial platform for sharing environmental data and designing solutions. Also former US president Bill Clinton, Esri president Jack Dangermond, and European Environment Agency (EEA) director Jacquelyn McGlade will join other renowned speakers to present the value of accessible data for international collaboration and decision making.

The Eye on Earth network will be featured at the summit in Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates, on December 12–15, 2011. Esri, Microsoft, and EEA have pooled their expertise to retool EEA’s Eye on Earth with a cloud-based geospatial content management system modeled after ArcGIS Online. The Eye on Earth network now provides tools for creating maps, accessing thousands of readily available maps and datasets, and managing geospatial content. People can use the network to share content with the public and among groups or to use privately. Governments, research organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the public can use the network to work together to understand problems, develop policy, design plans, and take action. Furthermore, the cloud-configured network provides the foundation for other regions to create similar environmental platforms.

“People truly care about their environment, but they can be at a loss as to how to participate in policy and make a difference,” said Dangermond. “By putting environmental and social information into the hands of many people, the Eye on Earth network will become a catalyst for conversation. We think this is going to bring people to their feet by empowering them to understand problems and be part of the solutions.”

Esri’s ArcGIS Online technology, coupled with Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure, allows EEA to host and maintain the platform, create database and business process management systems, and integrate security constraints. GIS web apps help user groups create and share map-based services, perform analysis, and publish geospatial products.

In the summit’s pavilion, experts will demonstrate the Eye on Earth network’s capabilities such as citizen engagement and collaborative environmental problem solving.

[Source: Esri press release]

Applied Geography, Volume 34, May 2012

Gregory Dennis Breetzke

“Highlights

• I investigate the effect of broader features of physical geography on burglary rates.
• The greater the altitude the lower your risk of burglary victimization.
• Slope has no effect on the spatial patterning of burglary.
• Physical geography should be considered as a central organizing feature of burglary and its absence or presence.

“Physical geography is significant for crime, and its presence or absence, yet no studies have investigated the relationship between crime and certain broader features of physical geography such as altitude, and slope. In this study I attempt to fill this gap by using OLS and geographically weighted regression to gauge the effect of altitude and slope on burglary patterns in Tshwane, South Africa. In the analysis I found considerable evidence that residing at a greater altitude reduces your risk of burglary victimization, although residing on steeper slopes had no effect. In the discussion I argue that the underlying relief and terrain on which neighborhoods are built should form an essential ‘physical’ component of the environmental backcloth that surrounds offenders and influences their spatial decision making processes.”

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Applied Geography

V. Hongoh, L. Berrang-Ford, M.E. Scott, and L.R. Lindsay

“Highlights

• We model the distribution of Cx. pipiens under current and future climate.
• Suitable climatic conditions currently found for parts of eastern Canada.
• Models predict a northward and westward range expansion of Cx. pipiens into 2100.

“An important first step in assessing the possible effects of climate change on the risk of mosquito-borne disease in Canada requires an understanding of the potential shifts in the geographic range of mosquito populations under projected future climate. Risk maps of potential habitat suitability of the mosquito Culex pipiens, an important vector of West Nile and other arboviruses, were created using logistic regression models under conditions of current and projected climate. Current predictions for Culex pipiens distribution are that suitable climatic conditions for the species can be found in southern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and southern parts of Newfoundland and Labrador. Projected ranges of the mosquito were obtained using output from models of the Coupled Global Climate Model of the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis and the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model. Using both models, predictions of Culex pipiens range expansion were found for areas further north of the current estimated distribution in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador as well as increasing potential habitat suitability in parts of the prairies (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) from the 2020s through to 2080s. The degree of range expansion varied according to the greenhouse gas emissions scenario (‘A2’ – high emissions scenario and ‘B1’ – low emissions scenario) used in calibrating the climate models. These findings suggest that through its effects on Culex pipiens survival and geographic range, climate change may broaden the range of some mosquito-borne pathogens and as a result expose new human populations to these disease-causing agents.”

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