Introduction
Geography is very important. Specifically, the geographic concepts are important to understanding the world thoroughly. The geographers, content experts, and geography educators contribute many relevant things in geography; the human, physical, historical, political, cultural, and economic factors can greatly influence the people and the environment. Everything in the world is related with each other; however, the nearer the things are, they are more related as compared to distant things. The product of the geographic thinking and its reasoning on the natural world and the human phenomena is the geographic knowledge. It only implies that the knowledge of and about space is phenomenal and intellectual. On the other hand, the knowledge of space in geography highly characterizes the collective facts about spatial or geospatial arrays and relations relevant with human-environment interactions and the entire recognition of the primary concepts. All the accumulations of facts are directed and based on the declarative of the geographic knowledge. Consequently, geography can fit in the 21st century and for the next generations despite some limitations and issues. Even though the geographic information has its uncertainties, most geographers focus on the major concerns in addressing the current challenges to promote geography as a discipline with the geographic thinking and to engage the people with the social, environmental, and economic challenges and issues in the community of geographers and in the modern society.
What is Geography?
Through the founding of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), geography is defined as simply an undisciplined or omnium gatherum. The definition itself describes an approach that conveys the geographical quality with knowledge and accounts embodying it. A study conducted by Dicken dramatizes a certain point that relates with the modern discipline of geography. It demonstrated that geography is a significant intellectual activity with various extended influences. However, the impact of the geographical learning on the public debate is minimal. In the geography instruction, for example, in some institutions, the stature is not an outstanding curriculum. It means that it lacks discipline from a number of prominent colleges or universities. In addition, most of the time, it struggles for the attention and resources even in the formal geography programs offered in the schools. Despite the struggles, the attribution of geography is relative to the public invisibility to move forward and set the circumstances into possible engagement relevant for the needed discipline.
The Geographers
Geography is everywhere as the geographers have always been in the scenario since the beginning. Apparently, the study of geography does not happen by accident, it is the explanation of what the geographers discovered in their researches, and they believed that geography provides reliable answers. Historically, some of the geographers have embraced the relevance of geography. For example, in 1894, a Biblical Scholar George Adam Smith was the author of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land and he became the Principal at Aberdeen University. Until 1931 with several revisions of the book, it remained on demand in the market. Another geographer, in 1889, Sir George Goudine Chisholm, an author of the Handbook of Commercial Geography with several revisions until 1925, and he became a lecturer in geography at Edinburgh University for twenty years. Adam and Chisholm were only among the many geographers in the past that focused their concern for the people and the community. Later, more classical scholars and historians embraced geography that constantly develops its geographical purposes. Until the present time, through modern research, geography improves frequently and geographers continue to travel on the challenging road of the reliable learning. Moreover, A. J. Toynbee, an author of the Study of History, mentioned that many of the greatest teachers and leaders of the world were strengthened after they embraced geography. These greatest teachers and leaders were Kingsley Martin (a modern British writer with the Marxist and anti-Christ perspectives) and Richard Hartshorne (author of The Nature of Geography with sequels by different professionals at present) . Both individuals have made many relevant things in their professional lives at the heart of geography.
Geographic Knowledge
The uncertainties, limitations, and issues occurred when it comes to the knowledge of geography, especially in the geospatial level. Some research encountered inaccuracy, error, or other related issues with the spatial data and direct products that represent the spatial fields of the study, respectively. It is the core responsibilities of the geographers to broaden the ideas or knowledge about the uncertainties in the geospatial domain by changing the focus from information into the knowledge-based study. Consequently, the exploration of the pervasive domains as varied as mathematics, physics, linguistics, and logic are less diminishing and affecting the efforts of the researchers. On the contrary, these uncertainties need to be resolved or managed. However, it is an advantage to accept the uncertainties as an intrinsic part of the multifaceted geographic knowledge and not to be considered as mistake alone. Instead, these uncertainties lead to more discoveries and the new purpose in the field of geography.
Limitations
One of the humanity’s oldest ideals is the perfect knowledge; to know the certainty of something that facilitates the rational action of the individuals. Others believed that being right or certain about things is better than any alternative available. The application of the Geographic Information Science (GIS) and geospatial technology towards accuracy and precision of the study is a dominant significance and it defines the difference between right or wrong. However, several studies pointed out that there are other dimensions of issues in the geospatial domains and its implications. The consideration of its issues relates to the improper use of geographic information as the outcome of lack of skills, misunderstanding, and confusion on the part of the users of GIS. While the geospatial issues relates to the outcome of practical weakening due to intellectual, technical, social, and psychological reasons.
Information to Knowledge
The Geographic Information Science is the tool used to synthesize geographic information for the production of geographic knowledge. The knowledge production process has its issue in terms of general lack of quality standards derived by different individuals, experts or non-experts of the field. Also, the information technology differs ordinary to sophisticated materials as the vital aspects of the product quality. The varying degrees of limitation about geographic knowledge affect both the knowledge synthesized by experts and the counterparts. The corresponding events of the unknown affect the geospatial knowledge producers. However, it is considered in the principle of change since it has the possibility that some true knowledge will be discovered given the new methods, observations, analysis, theories, and policies.
Spatial Tradition and Issues
Spatial Practice
In geography, as emphasized by Eliot that the knowledge of space demonstrates the collective facts of the relationship of human and the environment with the recognition of the concepts. It implies that the knowledge about space includes the elaboration and recognition of the relations in the primitive and advanced concepts of the derived geographic theories and generalizations. Accordingly, the emphasis focuses on the intellectual capacity or the created knowledge that is presented beyond the simplest sensory and observed information. Additionally, the belief in the relevance of the spatial analysis acts as the separation from the events of experiences with different aspects involved such as form, distance, position, and direction. As the centuries unfold, philosophers like Immanuel Kant has circulated the notion of space as one of the categories of the aspects utilized. However, the spatial issues confirmed the elaborative records that concerned the locations of things through various periods. From the American professional geography reviews with its formal organization, it shows that the spatial tradition has penetrated since the beginning. Among the members of the association of American Geographers (AAG), the original 44 men displayed and determined the spatial aspects of reality through mapping in the contemporary geography.
Issues
One of the queries that capture the attention of the public, policymakers, and media, “Are there missing issues not presented by the geographers in their researches?” and “What are the roles of the AAG to improving the geographic contributions to address the issues?” . The respond of the queries started with the several parts of research conducted by the geographers addressing the issues in the modern society. In addition, the primary part of their investigation is the geographic thinking needed. The heart of the analysis in addressing the natural and the technological issues are the geographic approaches with the interaction of the public through the mapping media as well. For example, the subjects of the spatial analysis familiar to the public are volcanic, earthquake, coastal, and river hazards. Also, 9/11 terrorist attack has stimulated the interest in the GIS and the guidance in the emergency response and preparedness. Adequately, most geographers focused at the recent challenges in the modern society that concern on the sociology of the discipline. Moreover, the majority of the AAG are academicians; the agendas and structures target the specialized research that links to the decision-making. The social structure leads to the geographic researchers in the investigations from small to large issues through professional publications and promotions of the investigations. In the course of the search for the understanding of the relevance of the spatial variation, for geographers, the investigation involves the spatial distribution, association, and patterns affecting the scale and development of the exploration results. People adapt the different status of the environment and have the knowledge about the human-environment interactions as communicated in the media representations. The earth and phenomena found in the planet remain diverse even with the absence of humanity. Consequently, the heart of the discipline of geography determines the nature and occurrence of uniformity and variability .
21st Century
There has been a considerable change in the nature of geographic knowledge in the latter part of the 20th century. It captures the various forms of representation utilized to specify the data that is constructed from the information by the human and technical ways. The human and technical ways are embedded in the spatial existence and relational features. In the history of the discipline, the geographic knowledge is declarative in nature that focused in the collection and representation of the physical and human evidence of the way of life. In the early part of the 21st century, the change of dominated activities occurred that creates the knowledge generated and emphasized in the cognitive demands or understandings. Consequently, the collective geographic knowledge has changed from item recognition and place labeling to distribution and feature matching in the real settings.
Recommendation and Conclusion
The new development of reasoning and thinking require the new data, new methods of representational modality and format, new modes of analysis and interpretation, new sources and types of information, and the credit or recognition that the geographers should consider the multiple environments on the natural, socio-cultural, interactional, and cognitive levels. Moreover, in the academe, geography is characterized by the political, social, and physical aspects; it should be fully and sufficiently integrated with relevance to capture the interest of the learners. Geography should be discussed thoroughly with the variety of learning styles. The leading government agencies for the information and communications technology in education can explain the recent research how geography can be of great assistance and advantage to the learners and educators.
With the uncertainties, limitations, and issues, geography has proved that the body of its purposes is a fundamental part of the various processes where people fully rely on their existence. Additionally, geography is the key element of the information systems. All over the world, there are millions of people currently working in the GI industry that comprises of the GIS developers, suppliers of different software, national mapping agency, consulting and training services, and the application users and system managers. Globally, the GIS industry is worth a billion dollars and in the United Kingdom, the geographic industries support over a hundred million euro worth of the production of goods and services. In conclusion, through the help of the private and the government agencies, by addressing the current challenges and issues socially, environmentally, and economically, by promoting geography as a discipline, and all the effective changes in the modern society, geography can fit in the 21st century.
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