People are Attracted to Certain Geographies

Places draw people in.  People search for cool ocean breezes on tropical beaches or the challenge of climbing a mountain or the diversity of life in a rainforest or a large city.  Beyond aesthetics, financial opportunities of a particular landscape can be the main attraction- water source, raw materials for building, or even the kinetic energy of a waterfall.  People have been drawn to the Mississippi River over the years for the many things it has to offer and in Minneapolis they benefit from the only natural waterfall on the entire river.  In the late 19th Century, people came in droves to Minneapolis to take advantage of the St. Anthony Falls to work in industries such as textiles, saw mills and flour mills.

I, myself, am attracted to such geographies as mountains, rainforests, water networks, and rocky outcroppings.  On a recent vacation to Minnesota, where I learned about the St. Anthony Falls, I also visited the Boundary Waters Canoe Area which is a designated wilderness area. I’ve been to various parks and wilderness areas, and couldn’t help but feel an appreciation for the lack of crowds and buildings, and the abundance of parking (for the canoe). I like these kinds of places because they put a smile on my face, they’re calming, beautiful, and they remind me that not everything is about technology

Place matters to me because of opportunity and availability. I visit these places because they provide a means of adventure and immersion. In 2009, I moved to the Washington, D.C. area solely for the lucrative job market.  Seven years later, I’ve come to appreciate that it hasn’t only been the positions that I’ve held that have kept me here. It’s been the environmental diversity that allows me to explore new interests, the plethora of ethnicities that have opened my palate to new flavors, the events calendars in and around D.C. that’s always full, and constantly meeting others who have also uprooted their lives to live in the D.C. area.

HealthLandscape is an application with a variety of valuable tools that help users explore place. For more information on HealthLandscape’s products see our webinars at:

http://www.healthlandscape.org/webinar-training.cfm

David Grolling

GIS Strategist

HealthLandscape