Waldo Tobler

"The conceptualization of a map as a data-storage medium leads directly to the concept of it as a computer input element."

"It seems that some basic tasks, common to all cartography, may in the future be largely automated, and that the volume of maps produced in a given time will be increased while the cost is reduced."

"Science proceeds by detecting structures embedded in observational data. It is no simple matter to separate these general structures from the specific details."

"Maps are generalized representations since it is clearly impossible to display reality in all its complexity at a reduced scale. Not too surprisingly, map makers are unable to provide explicit abstract statements about the process of map generalization, but some empirical evidence suggests constancy of information content per map centimeter squared, regardless of map scale."

"I invoke the first law of geography: everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things"

"Philosophically, the phenomenon external to an area of interest affects what goes on in the inside; a sufficiently common occurrence as to warrant being called the second law of geography."

"Soldiers have medals, scholars have publications."

"Tobler’s first major achievement was the transformation of geographical cartography from a field basically concerned with visualization to one where graphical methods could be recast as mathematical operations, and where computers began to be accepted as essential tools for the map-maker."

"Waldo Tobler was a genius. Very few people are, far fewer than the normal proportions banded around, but Waldo was one. He appeared to greatly dislike being singled out in this way, but now he is dead it has to be said."

"The academic contributions of Waldo Tobler are noteworthy and significant, spanning essentially all disciplines that involve the study of geographic phenomena."

"Dr. Tobler’s contribution to the field of Geographic Information Systems cannot be overstated–in fact, some would say that he is one of the most influential geographers in the last century."