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National Geographic Education
National Geographic - Education

Program

Community Geography Initiative

Mapping Connections Between People and Places

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Photograph courtesy Project Budburst

Community Geography at National Geographic

Since its founding in 1888, National Geographic’s mission has been to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge." Digital technologies such as the web, geographic information systems (GIS), and social media are rapidly expanding the ways we pursue that mission. Today, National Geographic is developing powerful, new community geography platforms to help people learn about and improve their world.

What is Community Geography?

National Geographic has adopted the term "community geography" to describe activities that engage members of the public in documenting, understanding, and looking after the places they care about, including:

  • exploring maps and data to ask and answer questions about places
  • conducting fieldwork and sharing observations and stories
  • participating in social and scientific networks to document and improve communities.

National Geographic's efforts to support community geography include the creation of social networking environments around interactive mapping tools.

Examples

Funded By

Community Geography Projects

Find out how you can get involved in National Geographic Education's community geography projects.

  • great-nature-project.jpg

    The Great Nature Project

    Join us for a week-long, world-wide celebration of biodiversity in September 2013.

  • Photo: Students study a cactus at the Saguaro National Park BioBlitz.

    BioBlitz

    A bioblitz is a 24-hour event during which people come together to identify as many species of plants, animals, and other organisms as possible.

  • Image: Map of Chesapeake Bay

    Chesapeake Bay FieldScope

    Citizen scientists, students, and teachers from around the Chesapeake Bay watershed collaborate to collect data and take action.

Getting Started

  • Photo: Students study soil on a wooden desk.

    Find ideas on citizen science projects to jump into for yourself, your family, or your classroom.

Explore a GeoStory

Using a Geographic Perspective

Use these activities for elementary, middle, and high school to help get students involved in the community and using a geographic perspective.

FieldScope & Community Geography

  • Journal Article

    Read our peer-reviewed journal article, "National Geographic FieldScope: a platform for community geography," in a special issue of the journal Ecological Society of America's Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

    Download the article, which appears in the August 2012 volume, here.

DCSIMG

Xpeditions is now archived in National Geographic
Education's new website—natgeoed.org

If you liked Xpeditions, you'll love the new media-rich natgeoed.org. Explore the new site now for activities, maps, interactives, videos, homework help, and more!

www.natgeoed.org

Please note: to search for Xpeditions content, check the "include archive" filter.