But many shipping firms are not bothered by such niceties, says Nicky Gregson, a geographer at Sheffield University.

ECONOMIST: Shipbreaking

So the next three years I'll be at Cambridge, becoming a geographer.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Wales | Hat-trick of A grades for student

Using a joystick, a geographer can float above the Earth, then zoom in on the bottom of Lake Tahoe, with no loss of detail.

FORBES: Totally Wired U.

John Williams is a geographer at the University of Wisconsin.

NPR: Warming Will Create Micro-Climates, Scientists Say

Richard Campanella, a geographer and associate director of the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane University, says there are probably 2, 000 to 3, 000 of these newly arrived young professionals in New Orleans.

CNN: New Orleans' new arrivals: Young, educated and infused with hope

Professor Duncan MacLennan, an economic geographer at St Andrews University, says we need to see London as more than a place with buildings and institutions.

BBC: Is London good or bad for Scotland?

"We want to capture the changes day-by-day throughout the seasons, " said geographer Mark Schwartz at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who monitors lilacs at a thousand U.S. locations.

WSJ: A Science of Signs of Spring