As physical geographers we aim to understand what we can see in the landscape around us. Here at QMUL this includes landscapes across a very diverse range; Svalbard and Greenland in the Arctic, Iceland, the European Alps, Scottish Highlands and the Southern Alps in New Zealand to name a few. Understanding these diverse landscapes means that fieldwork is a crucial part of undertaking research and in many situations the ability to unravel the mystery of how a landscape evolves is only possible by understanding the landforms that can be identified. Identifying these landforms is only part of the answer though and by including the location of these landforms as well as the morphology (shape) we can then develop a much more accurate idea of what we can see.
The ability to give objects a spatial component is therefore a very important factor when undertaking fieldwork and it is an area where advancements in computing have revolutionised how this can be done. Within the field of physical geography we utilise geospatial technologies to collect and process high quality, high resolution spatial data which can be incorporated into understanding processes in the landscapes we work in.
The School of Geography has invested over £100,000 in recent years to update and expand the geo-spatial field equipment and computer processing power in keeping with technological advancements and the increased demand for the collection of high resolution spatial data.