Department of Geography

A new study led by the University of Washington uses cellphone location data to estimate the number of visits to Black-owned restaurants in 20 U.S. cities during the first year of the pandemic. The study finds that despite the "Black-owned" labelling campaign launched by companies such as Yelp, the number of visits to Black-owned restaurants dropped off after an initial spike and was inconsistent around the country.

Celebrate Pride Month and the history, progress and power of the LGBTQIA+ community through a collection of works by College of Arts & Sciences faculty, students and alumni.

Through testimonios, graduate student Olivia Orosco explored the COVID experience of Latinx caregivers. 

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month this September 15 through October 15 by exploring work by College of Arts & Sciences faculty, students and alumni.

If America’s unions are dying, no one told labor leaders in Washington. The state ranks fifth in the nation for union membership. That strength also translates to political power. In recent years, organized labor has helped Democrats solidify one-party rule. In turn, unions have notched a succession of legislative victories. Kim England, professor of geography and chair of the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, is quoted.

University of Washington Provost Mark A. Richards today announced Dianne Harris will become dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, beginning Sept. 1.

In the Honors course "Abolishing Poverty," students untangle the interwoven complexities that lead to impoverishment.

Researchers warn that phony satellite imagery could become a common and dangerous mode of disinformation. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

Vicky Lawson, Professor of Geography and Director of the UW Honors Program, teaches a class on understanding the sources of poverty and houselessness in Seattle.

In a paper published online last month, Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, employed AI techniques similar to those used to create so-called deepfakes to alter satellite images of several cities. Zhao and colleagues swapped features between images of Seattle and Beijing to show buildings where there are none in Seattle and to remove structures and replace them with greenery in Beijing.

This week at the UW, attend a lecture on revolutionary reforms to the metric system, "Asian American Women Rising: NOT the Model Minority," and more.

Techniques such as “location spoofing” and deepfake geography present significant risks for our increasingly connected society. Because of this, a team of researchers at University of Washington are working to identify ways to detect these fakes, as well as proposing the creation of a geographic fact-checking system. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

While the concept of “deepfakes,” or AI-generated synthetic imagery, has been decried primarily in connection with involuntary depictions of people, the technology is dangerous (and interesting) in other ways as well. For instance, researchers have shown that it can be used to manipulate satellite imagery to produce real-looking — but totally fake — overhead maps of cities. Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

Bo Zhao, assistant professor of geography, has authored a new study on deepfake geography.

This article, written by geography PhD candidate Lauren Drakopulos, discusses unique maps made by Julian Barr, geography graduate student, and Jin-Kyu Jung, adjunct associate professor of geography.