Geography Awareness Week: November 11-17, 2012

This week marks the celebration of Geography Awareness Week. Sponsored by National Geographic, the event is geared to promote geographic education in schools, workplaces, and everyday life. Thinking as a geographer is as simple as understanding the interconnection of the world around you. From the physical to the political, geography helps explain things about our natural resources, our economy, our cities, and our government. How was the election result reported last week… with a map! Maps have now become so pervasive in our everyday lives, providing us with tools to navigate travel, find places to eat, track the progress of a storm, and make critical decisions at our jobs. Interactive tools like PolicyMap give us the ability to visualize geographic data in a way that tells a story about the space around us, revealing valuable information to support decisions we make in research, policy, financial planning, public health intervention, governmental spending, etc.

If you are a PolicyMap user, you are already a geographer! So, how are you using PolicyMap to promote a better understanding about geography? What can you teach someone about the community they live in? How has PolicyMap helped you develop a better understanding about the way you interpret the space around you? Teach someone about it!

In honor of Geography Week, and the coming winter season, here is a very colorful map of Heating Degree Days across the country. Enjoy!