Field Work In
Geography
Why?
How?
Who?
The Science of
Geography ...
What and Why
And who cares?
With quotes from:
•
The Education of a Geographer
Carl Sauer
•
A Life of Learning
D.W. Meinig
EARTH...
fundamentally
the only planet
we have
explored…
GEOGRAPHY
Is the science of
describing this
planet…
literally,
“Writing about
Earth”
SUBJECT MATTER
From the Greek Language
“geo” = Earth
“graphia” = description or depiction
Eratosthenes, a 3rd century B.C. Greek Scholar
and chief librarian at the famous Library of
Alexandria was perhaps the first person to use the
term “Geography.”
DEFINITIONS
The world and all that is in it.
Spatial perspective on people, places and environment.
Geography is a social science that focuses on the spatial
distribution of human and physical phenomena.
The science and art of understanding the spatial
relations among people, place, and environment.
Geography is the study of pattern and processes
associated with the Earth. The focus of the geographer
is on spatial patterns and how phenomena that share
common space interact spatially.
DEFINITION
Geography is the study of people, places
and environments. But more than that, it
is a way of looking at the world and
asking why it works ( or doesn’t work )
and the way it does work. It is more than
where, but why there. It is looking at
issues from a spatial perspective and
inquiring about them.
Why What is Where?
and
Who Cares?
An alternative definition of ‘geography’ developed by Dr.s
McKnight and Strong during a snowball fight along the
empty streets of Washington DC.
“... The geographer partly is born ..”
“Despite the line breeding now available
by extensive series of courses in
geography, running from the freshman
year to the Ph.D., we still get much of
our best blood from those who come
from quite other academic stocks and
backgrounds. These join us not
because they have been inadequate in
their previous commitments but
because it took time for them to find
their place over on our side.”
 [Geography]
does not fit comfortably
into modern academic structures,
and has suffered for it. To the not
uncommon question “is geography a
physical or a social science?” almost
all geographers would answer “both.”
DWM
“It is about as difficult to
describe a geographer as it is
to define geography”
Ms. Lisa Keys-Mathews
Assistant Professor of
Geography
Dr. William Strong
Department Chair
Professor of Geography
“We are odd
creatures. Geography
is ...not what I do for
a living, but what I do
with my life. The born
geographer lives
geography every day.”
dwm
Dr. Mike Pretes
Assistant Professor of
Geography
Dr. Greg Gaston
Associate Professor of
Geography
Dr. Francis Koti
Assistant Professor of
Geography
“The geographer and the geographer-to-be are
travelers, vicarious when they must, actual when
they may.
They are not of the class of tourists who are directed
by guide books over the routes of the grand tours
to the starred attractions, nor do they lodge at
grand hotels. (much to the dismay of my dear wife!)
When vacation bound they may pass by the places
one is supposed to see and seek out byways and
unnoted places where they gain the feeling of
personal discovery. They enjoy striking out on foot,
away from roads and are pleased to camp out at
the end of the day.” The Education of a Geographer Carl Sauer
“Travel is, of course, an important part of a
geographer’s learning “ D.W.Meinig A Life of Learning
“…I am become a name; for always
roaming with a hungry heart.”
 Much
have I seen and known; cities of
men and manners, climates, councils,
governments, myself not least, but
honored of them all; …
I
am a part of all that I have met; Yet
all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose
margin fades For ever and for ever
when I move.” Ulysses Alfred Tennyson

“…Death closes all: but something ere the
end, some work of noble note, may yet be
done, Not unbecoming men that strove with
Gods. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to
seek a newer world.
Though much is taken, much abides; and
though we are not now that strength which
in old days Moved earth and heaven; that
which we are, we are; One equal temper of
heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate,
but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find,
and not to yield.”
Ulysses Alfred Tennyson
The “geographic eye”
 Learning
to SEE space and spatial
relationships.
 An important part of training this skill
is learning to communicate spatial
relationships….
“There is, I am confident, such a thing as the
"morphologic eye," a spontaneous and critical
attention to form and pattern.”
Carl Sauer
Education of
a Geographer
“An innate aptitude to register on
differences and similarities is joined to
a ready curiosity and reflection on the
meaning of likeness and unlikeness.”
“Some of us have this sense of
significant form, some develop it (and
in them I take it to have been latent),
and some never get it.”
Field Work is an essential
component of the Science of
Geography
 It
is impossible to accurately
describe the Earth without actually
observing the Earth!
 Well designed field observations are
very powerful scientific tools
“…the principal training of the geographer
should come, wherever possible, by doing
field work”
“…I like to think of any young field group as
on a journey of discovery, not as a surveying
party.”
“… Such excursions and field courses
are the best apprenticeship….”
“…the study of landforms … is at the
very heart of our being.”
“When we dropped land forms as our
business, we lost a major stimulus to get into
the field,to see and think, to state and solve
problems”
“Being afoot, sleeping out, sitting about camp in the evening,
seeing the land in all its seasons are proper ways to intensify
the experience, of developing impression into larger
appreciation and judgment”
Essentials for Geographic Field
Work
A
well developed ‘geographic eye’
 Curiosity
 A passion to understand
Tools for systematic observation
 The
field notebook....
– A mechanism that serves to strengthen
the memory of the observer
– Where was I? what day was it? What did
I observe?
– The field notebook is THE tool that
conquers the failings of memory
What does a field notebook look
like?
A
field book can take a wide variety
of forms....
The Forks of the Missouri sketched by Capt. Wm. Clark..
Note the grid base, the transect data and the features sketched along the
river (bluffs, meanders, islands etc.)
OOPS!!
Damage and lost data....
The previous picture is of a portion of my
field notes from July 2006
 Written in pen on a spiral notebook, which
worked fine.... Until, later in the trip the
notebook shared the bottom of my pack
with a water bottle and a very large rock
(a piece of pumice about the size of a
football)
 I was able to recover all the vital data...
But the lesson was clear... Don’t be cheap
with a field book!!

 The
best choice for me is a 4X6 Write
in the Rain notebook and a pencil....
Taking good field notes
 Develop
a style, a format that you
are comfortable with
 Record everything, don’t trust your
memory
 Sketches are extremely valuable as
part of your field observations
 Make the field notes a habit that you
practice constantly.
Format for field notes
 The
nature of the project will be the
primary driver for the amount and
type of information included in the
field notes.
 A plane table map with a high degree
of accuracy will require different
notes from a trans-contentintal
transect.
Format for field notes
 The
format of field notes will vary
from individual to individual
 Location can either be descriptive
e.g. “collier glacier” or more precise
using maps/GPS… again the needs of
the project will be the primary
determining factor
 Always include date/time/and a brief
notation of conditions.
Photography
 While
I will force you to begin
sketching as part of your
observation/data recording process...
A camera can be a VERY useful tool!
 I am more photographer than note
taker or sketch builder....
What to look for in a camera?

Reliability
– You have to be able to count on the camera

Large Storage media
– Extra cards

Easy Maintenance
– Standard batteries are a plus
– Avoid little shutter flaps and other dust catchers

Read reviews, talk to people, and carry a spare!
Other tools in the field....
 Location
and direction
– Compass
– GPS
– Plane Table
 Elevation
and slope
– Brunton transit
– Builders Level
– Total station
Other Tools in the Field (contd.)


Soil and Rock
–
–
–
–
–
Rock hammer
Acid
Ph meters
Munsell color chart
Etc.
–
–
–
–
–
Collecting bottles
DO meters
Secchi disk
Tree coring tool
Etc.
Water and Biotic conditions
Subsurface conditions
A
sub-class of field observations are
those that utilize various tools to
“see” beneath the surface....
– GPR (Ground Penetrating RADAR)
– Electrical Resistance Imaging
– Seismic Data
Site 2: Known
Glacial Ice
Site 1:
Suspected
Ice Cored
Moraine
Sketch Mapping
Like Sketching, a sketch map gives a
geographer the opportunity to selectively
present information.
A sketch map can easily be seen as a perceptual
map… how does one perceive the world?… this
is embodied in a sketch map.
Sketch mapping is graphic communication
in its purest form.
 Although very rarely considered, the basic
rules of cartography should be
remembered.
 Scale, direction, angular fidelity,
symbolism, simplicity are all useful to
remember.
 These are the maps you sketch on the
back of a napkin to give someone
directions….

Auto-biographical map by LKM… (from her web site)
Autobiographical
Map by GGG
A sketch map and sketches of objects
follow the same basic procedures…
 establish the limits of the area to be
mapped
 Layout a basic referencing system and
make sure the map follows these
references
 Focus on the vital elements and make
these the primary focus of the map
 Label features

The Hundred Acre Wood