{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Spatial Stack with Matt Forrest","title":"Thinking Spatially for a Living: Chris Tucker on 175 Years of the American Geographical Society","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2827,"description":"In this episode of the Spatial Stack, Matt sits down with Dr. Chris Tucker, chairman of the American Geographical Society, in the year the AGS turns 175.\nChris makes the case that spatial thinking is foundational literacy, on the level of language or math, and that the 4.5 million people who have taken AP Human Geography are already practicing it every day in jobs that never mention geography. He shares how a single question from a CIA veteran, about why we cannot draw a bounding box on a map and pull in everything known about that place at that moment, set the direction for almost thirty years of his career.\nThe conversation also covers what has changed about getting into this work. The advanced degree, the expensive workstation, and the expensive software used to be the price of entry. Free tools and YouTube replaced all three.\nChris then takes on a challenge: name five careers that do not sound geographic but where spatial skills give you a real edge. Surveying, the CAD and built environment world, aviation, marine navigation, and conservation all make the list, along with a case for why geography works as both a horizontal and a vertical.\nWe also get into the AGS itself, from the Fliers' and Explorers' Globe signed by Amelia Earhart, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Neil Armstrong, to the geographers at 156th and Broadway who worked on the inquiry behind the Treaty of Versailles.\nIf you have ever struggled to explain what you actually do for a living, this conversation gives you better language for it.\nConnect with Chris Tucker and the AGS:\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-tucker-5595689/\nAmerican Geographical Society: https://www.americangeo.org\nEmail: tucker@americangeo.org\nLEARN MORE\nAGS 175th anniversary campaign: https://www.americangeo.org\nThe Fliers' and Explorers' Globe: https://www.americangeo.org/globe\nGeography 2050 (Africa: Shaping the Future): https://www.geography2050.org\nTeen Maptivist: https://teenmaptivists.org\nCHAPTERS:\n00:00:00 –...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/eQgCuZrC7zp58BwqV7sl3SCjjIPfOYXp-k4ce29LXQY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80ZjU3/N2JlMDJiYTFjOWY5/OWQ5NWQxYmZjMjMw/Yzg1ZC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}