Day of Geography 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016 marks the third annual Day of Geography, presented by Geospatial Niagara, Canada’s contribution to Geography Awareness Week. This years theme is Exploring the Power of Parks which runs from November 13 to November 19. Geography Awareness Week also includes GIS Day on Wednesday, November 16, 2016.
In the three years since Geospatial Niagara began Day of Geography we’ve seen the number of engagements with the site expand to include visitors from 149 countries and over 3000 cities worldwide. We’ve garnered over 800 “Likes” of the Day of Geography Facebook page and over 600 followers on Twitter, most of whom are educators which is very encouraging.
Day of Geography was born out of the Day of Archaeology event that was first celebrated in 2011 which itself was inspired by the Day of Digital Humanities. I had been listening to an episode of the CRM Archaeology podcast and they were interviewing Lorna Richardson who is the motivator behind Day of Archaeology. My first thought was… “THAT is what Geography needs!”
So we have created Geography Day to engage and inform students as well as the general public as to how important geography is to them and everyone else. Geography is an important foundation stone in the careers of many people who do GIS, surveying, cartography, earth observation, geodesy, and study geography in general.
Ultimately, we want it to be a repository of stories and examples of what people do with geography in the course of their workday. Whether urban planner, remote sensing specialist, GIS analyst, surveyor we want YOUR contribution so we can share it for the benefit of students, educators and guidance counselors around the world seeking information about careers in geography.
While we have been successful in sharing the stories of contributors, we need more contributors!
It is now easier than ever to participate in Day of Geography. You can create an account via Facebook, Google or LinkedIn and immediately participate. Conversely, you can also email your posting to dayofgeography@gmail.com and we can format and post on your behalf.
So what happens to your post once it is received? We categorize the topic and create/add tags so students can readily find the postings that are relevant to their interests.
We strongly encourage all geo-professionals and even post-secondary students to share their experiences and research as well as to share their passion for all things “geo”.
Let’s make the participation rate in this years Day of Geography the BEST EVER! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via dayofgeography@gmail.com or geospatialniagara@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter @dayofgeog or @geoniagara
