ABSTRACT
In 1961 at the age of 31, Waldo R. Tobler received his PhD in Geography from the University of Washington at Seattle. Some four years later he published his paper entitled 'Automation in the preparation of thematic maps' in The Cartographic Journal after presenting the work at a Technical Symposium of the International Cartographic Association in Edinburgh in 1964. The article deals with an emerging aspect of cartography in the early 1960s—computerized design and production and specifically the creation of small-scale one-off maps. Tobler points to a number of important issues revealing his deep thinking about how best the emerging computer revolution might be practically applied to cartography. The concluding paragraph in Tobler's paper is perhaps particularly apposite. Tobler's most famous contribution to geography is his oft-quoted 'first law of geography' which states succinctly that 'Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other'.
