Geographers - expeditions need you!

It was some time in October 2016, and my friend James asked me if I was up for an adventure. Without hesitating, I agreed. We had met at the Royal Geographical Society, at the annual ‘Explore’ weekend several years ago. We had stayed in touch, become good friends, and the previous year I had joined an expedition that he had led to Madagascar. There we studied the forest ‘edge effect’ i.e. the effect of proximity to forest edges, on amphibians and reptiles. On that expedition I had been appointed GIS and Data Specialist - a role not dissimilar to my then-day job with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation in the UK. I think it was somewhat to James’ surprise when it turned out that I knew relatively little about herpetofauna, but my saving grace was that I did know about GIS. Evidently I had proved my worth because now - one year later - James was inviting me on another expedition. This time it was botanical. This time it was Oman. I had just enough leave left to take the three weeks that I needed to go. I began furiously downloading data and preparing maps for the next adventure…

How do you use GIS to prepare for an expedition?

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