Walter Tobler

Walter Tobler was a Swiss-American geographer and cartographer best known for his contributions to geographic information science and the development of spatial analysis. He introduced the concept of the "First Law of Geography," which states that everything is related to everything else, but closer things tend to be more related. His work laid the foundation for understanding spatial relationships and patterns in various fields, from urban planning to environmental studies, and he pioneered the use of computational methods in geography, significantly influencing how data is analyzed and visualized in modern geography.