The Geospatial Revolution Continues

Those of you who know me, know that I am a proud Penn State alumnus with a degree in geography. Like countless other compatriots in the geospatial industry, I didn’t start out with the intention to be a geographer when I grew up. Note to self; this topic could actually be a very good topic for another post at a later date. I actually started my college education as a meteorology major, fortunate enough to have been accepted into the meteo program at Penn State, known as one of the best in the country.

While I still consider myself a weather nerd today, meteorology - honestly - was just too much math for me. I could do the math, but I just didn’t like it. But I knew I loved earth science, so my advisor asked me if I had considered geography instead. Of course, I hadn’t, because who ever heard of anyone getting a degree in geography?! I literally laughed at the mere idea of it, realizing (uncomfortably) that my advisor was not joking.

The truth is I had no idea what GIS was, nor did I have any understanding of the the power of ‘where’ to help answer the world’s tough problems. Looking back, I don’t think I had any formal geography education in either high school or middle school. But I do distinctly remember learning continents, countries, and capitals in grammar school, so a big thanks to Harry Limons, one of the most impressionable teachers I’ve ever had throughout my youth education. Thank you, Mr. Limons, may you rest in peace knowing you had a real influence on your students.

Geography has a Marketing Problem

Of course, I am not alone here. In fact the United States does a terrible job evangelizing for geography education at the K-12 level. I read an article recently that claimed only 17 states in the US require a geography course in middle school, and only 10 in high school. According to an article by National Geographic, students learn geography as part of social studies classes (this was the case for me), but teachers report that they only spend about 10% of their time teaching it, instead prioritizing history, government, and economics.

That same article (published May of 2024) linked to a Department of Education National Assessment of Educational Progress highlighting that only 27% of students performed at or above the Proficient level of geography knowledge. To put it blunt, this is sad.

It’s gotten better since I was in high school…. The College Board now has an AP Human Geography course for high school students, but it is no where near as popular as AP Biology or AP Chemistry which are offered at far more schools.

We face a challenge in that the core tenants of geospatial science are largely absent from the K-12 curriculum, and there appears to be little desire to bring more education or evangelism to the fore. Geography - it seems - has a marketing problem. No one knows about it, and no one thinks they need to know about it.

How did we get here?

Everything happens in a place. Everyday we travel between places. We interact with different cultures and languages carved by changes in our physical and cultural geographies. Three times a day we eat food prepared with ingredients and techniques honed through generations of traditions all forged from a sense of geographical hearth.

How is it we missed the boat on teaching this core understanding of our upbringing and our world to our fellow citizens?

Public Broadcasting to the Rescue

I’m happy to say that I did graduate from Penn State with that Bachelors of Science in Geography, and I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be today with out it. The education I received from Penn State prepared me well for a career in Geospatial, something I know not everyone can claim of their time in higher ed.

I entered the workforce at the very beginning of the geospaital Hype Cycle, and tried my best to evangelize the power of geography to everyone who would listen. But my job became much easier in 2010 when Penn State Public Broadcasting released a limited public service media project helping people understand exactly what geospaital was all about. They called it - quite aptly - The Geospatial Revolution, an homage to the way the power of where could revolutionize how we perceive and understand our world.

If you’ve ever tried to describe what geospatial analysis is to your parents, or if you’ve ever struggled trying to describe what a GIS Analyst actually does, then do yourself a favor and watch the series trailer on the Geospatial Revolution page.

No really, go watch it now. Its only 5 minutes long, and may be the most educational 5 minutes of time you spend on the Internet today. I’ll wait…

WPSU did a phenomenal job at dissecting the concept of geospatial analysis, then showcasing how it is used in real world scenarios everyday. Add to it a cast of ‘who’s who’ of the geospatial world, and its easily (still to this day) the most succinct description of the geospatial science I’ve ever seen.

And the five full-length episodes - each episode is about 80 minutes long, broken into four-five 15-minute segments - are even more powerful as they dive deep into a particular segment of the geospatial world. The best part, is WPSU has added all of the Geospatial Revolution content to YouTube and the PBS Learning Media website as a free resource for ALL geospatial educators and evangelists.

I’ve spent time as an Adjunct at George Mason University, and always included these segments as a way for my students to see what kinds of jobs were available to them after college. We geographers are visual learners, and so seeing is believing. Seeing - on video - real people solving real problems with geography was a powerful way to get a point across.

The Next Revolution is About to Begin

Believe it or not, its been fifteen years since the first episode was produced in 2010. In the middle of 2024 I happen to re-watch the video series while trying to explain geospatial analysis to friend, and I happened to notice a small banner on the top of the Geospatial Revolution website.

As it turns out, Penn State Public Broadcasting is fundraising for for its next set of video episodes centered on geospatial innovations.

Seeing how I owe much of my success in my career to my education from Penn State, it is only right for me to see how I can give back and ensure that the education and evangelism continues on to teach the next generation of students all about the opportunities that geospatial science has to offer.

I am happy to say that I am in regular communication with the amazing team of writers and producers at WPSU who make these videos look so easy, and we’ve had several discussions about possible topics, potential funding, and estimated timelines for the the release of the next generation of videos.

Call to Action

If you too feel that Geography suffers from a marketing problem, now is your chance to help change the narrative. If you would like to support the production of the next generation of Geospatial Revolution videos, please reach out to me, or contact WPSU directly.

The more resources we can produce for educators, the more likely we will see geospatial content in school curriculum. And the more students see geospatial jobs in the world, the more likely they will fill those jobs upon graduation. We should strive to go beyond the ‘typical’ doctor, fire fighter, and teacher answer to the age-old question of “what do you want to be when you grow up”. We should expect that our kids see earth-science roles as just as desirable and achievable from early on in their education.