Dr. Waldo Tobler Presented the Lifetime Achievement in GIS Award

Dr. Waldo ToblerThe annual Esri User Conference gives Esri the opportunity to honor individuals and organizations for their exceptional work in GIS. At the opening session of the conference, Jack Dangermond presented the Lifetime Achievement in GIS award to Dr. Waldo Tobler.

Dr. Tobler received his Ph.D. in geography at the University of Washington in Seattle. A research professor emeritus of geography, he is currently teaching GIS at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has spent more than 35 years teaching and researching analytical cartography and mathematical and computer modeling of dynamic geographic relations.

Following the presentation of his award, Dr. Tobler gave a brief talk on transportation and transportation systems. "All change depends on movement," he said. An unconventional thinker, Dr. Tobler supplied food for thought by drawing a coordinate system on a potato to explain differential geometry.

The world is shriveling dramatically, Dr. Tobler contends, and the relationships between places on earth are much more complicated than they appear, and the relationships of places to each other in units of time and cost are important factors to consider. The world is shriveling and shrinking as transportation systems have a direct affect on costs and travel times, and the shrinking occurs in an uneven manner.

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