It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that we’re a bunch of geography nerds here at Spatial Networks. So every year around this time we like to put together a list of gifts for people who love geography to help you with your holiday shopping! (Or to help your loved ones shop for you, whichever the case may be.) Here are our picks for this year.
For the geography lover who gets dressed up for work
Despite the growing trend of remote work, not everyone has the luxury to work from home. Many people still have to go to their physical workplace and spend their day there. Geography aficionados can express their sense of playfulness and creativity to the workplace and help make the day more fun, and even spark conversations with like-minded colleagues!
For the geographer whose hobby is meteorology:
A beautiful yet functional bit of eye candy, the Galileo thermometer is a sealed glass cylinder filled with a clear liquid that contains a series of weighted glass bubbles or spheres. Each sphere has a different density and temperature rating. The spheres are placed in the cylinder in a vertical orientation and float at different levels based on their temperature and density. As the temperature changes, the spheres will move up or down in the cylinder, indicating the temperature. The temperature is read by observing the lowest sphere in the cylinder, which is floating freely and is not attached to a suspension wire like the other spheres. The Galileo thermometer is based on the principles of buoyancy and thermodynamics and provides an elegant and functional way to measure temperature without the need for batteries or electricity.
For people who love geography and coffee:
Next on our list we have coffee, a clear favorite of people who work at home or in the office. Why not broaden your caffeinated horizons with coffees from around the world? It’s a great way to discover new favorites!
For the sentimental geographer:
Whether you want to memorialize the exact location of a special event such as an engagement, birth, or wedding, or wear your travel aspirations close to your heart (the coordinates listed on the necklace shown here are Honoka’a, Hawaii), this is a fun way to accessorize using geography.
For the geographer with a sweet tooth:
It’s chocolate consumed in the name of geographical research. Oh, who are we kidding? We had you at chocolate.
A geography gift for the whisky aficionado:
Whether you like to simply read up on whisky around the world as a purely intellectual exercise or use the atlas to inform your vacation plans, we won’t judge.
For the extremely hip geography lover:
This gift features unique holidays for almost every month and beautifully rendered maps crafted by cartographers worldwide. As a result, it’s the perfect holiday present that will keep the geographic hipster thinking of you all year round.
For the geographer who is expecting a tiny geographer:
With the particularly charming combination of cute and science nerd-ery, this clever onesie gets little ones started early in the lifelong appreciation of geography (and Dad jokes).
For people who love geography and nature:
For another home decor entry, we have prints celebrating the wonderful diversity and beauty of America’s National Park system – a surefire way to add a touch of class to any room.
For people who love geography and travel (and coloring!):
Fun for kids and adults alike, color this mug to show where your travels have taken you. Perfect for memorializing your trips – and an unquestionably clever way to plan your next adventure!
For the musically inclined geography lover:
Kind of like Tetris but with instruments, this canvas print is a stylish take on the love of music the world over.
For the geographer’s geographer:
And finally, this Atlas shows unusual borders from around the world, with eye-opening visuals on how politics, infrastructure, history, and more have shaped cartography.
We hope you find something on this geography gift list for the geography lover in your life! Happy holidays!