Geography as a subject may not be as popular, but when it comes to developing a sense of direction and being aware of your surroundings, the details geography deals with may come in handy. Geographic knowledge about any place is not considered as essential as details like the culture or traditions. However, paying attention to the demographics can give useful insights into various other aspects. Such observations enable us to understand the things we do on a daily or another occasional basis, and how everyday actions (like traveling to work) affect the world around us (e.g. toxic waste contributing to global warming).
This emphasis expands our horizons and we are able to look at everyday activities in a larger context. This in turn contributes to increasing our awareness of our personal lives and activities and their socio-spatial milieus at measures ranging from regional to global.
We often tend to assume we know all about the physical attributes of a place and hence learning geographical details is not necessary. Some even term it as part of our common sense. Many people refuse to accept that they need to be aware of the basic geographic concepts such as location, distance assessment, place recognition, distribution membership, and regional setting.
We need geographic understanding in every activity we carry out. A person looking for a new apartment often analyses it on the basis of its location in terms of surroundings, proximity to the transport system, locality, prevailing weather conditions in the vicinity, etc. All these are driven by geographical factors prevalent at the location. The same goes with a developer finding a site for a new building. In such cases, people use a personalized Geographic Information System, by combining mental or real maps with physical attributes – like slope, drainage, soil type, vegetation – with mental maps of socio-economic-cultural features – mental maps of (sale prices of different items, demographics of age, children, society, ethnic origins), environmental features (air pollution and noise levels), etc. – to choose optimal locations.
People who live in hazardous areas are aware of the dangers but believe that any natural calamity won’t happen during their lifetime and hence pay less attention to the sensitive geography around them. Those living in metropolitan cities learn the location of shopping malls and use this information to plan their trips for the daily needs of goods and services. While on driving holidays, we determine in advance how far we can travel in a day and when to expect a gas station. Anticipating seasons or weather conditions has a major role to play in our preference for suitable clothes. Climatic conditions and physical environments are also analyzed before planning a holiday to any place far or near.
Hence geographic information is utilized and processed every day. Some are good at it. Some are not. The aim of geography as an instructing science is to give the training to improve the way people can use their spatial abilities. We are all geographers today, just as early beings have been from the dawn of human civilization.
