a Geographer's Place

Someone left an anonymous comment asking what tools I use as a Geographer. This comes at a great time since I just discussed this with my class last week. I’ve written a little about the Ways of the Geographer and also what traditional  Geographers do . I’ve also put together a baby Treatise of Geography and reworked a classic Primer on Fieldwork . And that’s where I’d start: fieldwork. IMHO fieldwork of any kind is THE Geographer’s tool. Describing the earth requires being IN it...and fieldwork makes that happen. But, if I had to list more conventional tools, first on my list would be my field journal/notebook. This serves to record everything I do, observe, and analyze in the field. Second would be a digital camera—to capture those phenomena I am observing and analyzing visually. Of course, nowadays we have the ubiquitous cell phone. And it can function as a field journal/notebook and a really nice camera. Plus an audio and visual recording device, among other things. So, it's ...

As a Geographer, knowing where you are is paramount. So, before I embarked for the Isle of Spice (Grenada) several years ago, I purchased a behemoth of a watch—the ultimate watch for a Geographer: the Casio Tri-sensor Titanium solar-powered watch. It was top of the line Casio at the time. It had an altimeter (measure altitude), barometer (measure air pressure), thermometer, and a digital compass! I spent more for this watch than I did for my first and second cars combined! It was a great watch. All the sensors worked wonderful. I took it snorkeling, sea- and river-kayaking, swimming, hiking, camping, and through several countries—including a trek higher than 5150 meters in the Andes! And I never had a problem with it. Then, a couple weeks ago, all of the sudden, it died. The little “charging” sign keeps flashing. You’d think, living in Arizona with all the sun we have (it’s still in the 90s!), this SOLAR-POWERED watch would stay “charged”. I’ve had it “charging” for days. But still th...