If you are someone who gets befuddled when GPS, GIS and other such words are mentioned, then http://geography.about.com will come in handy. And if you love discovering new terrain then geography.about.com is just the place for you. At first glance, you may not be very impressed but don’t be fooled by appearances because the site offers a wealth of information. The section “India” tells you all you wanted to know about the country’s geographical co-ordinates, international laws and agreements on environment that India is party to and the climate range that it enjoys. In fact, it also has interesting trivia like elevation extremes, the sex ratios in different age slabs (like, say, at birth, under 15-years, 15-64 years, etc).

A free blank outline of India is provided on geography.about.com. This can be easily downloaded and printed by students for practice. It also has links to the ministry of tourism site that highlights places of interest and a sub-section devoted to vexillology (or study of flags).

The site also offers a lot of insight into certain mysterious geographic locations. For example, the Bermuda Triangle is widely discussed. Under “physical geography”, you’ll learn all about the frequency of earthquakes, avalanches, the coldest capitals of the world, the logic behind the naming of hurricanes, and the like.

The only problem is that the section on careers caters only to students of geography in the US. Otherwise, geography. about.com offers a complete glossary of everything that has anything to do with geography. So click away to discover newer landscapes!

Shibani Chattopadhyay

shibani@abpmail.com