T obler's First Law of Geography

Abstract

Tobler's first law (TFL) of geography was introduced into the geographical literature in an article that Waldo Tobler published in the journal Economic Geography in 1970. In this article, which described a simulation of population growth in Detroit, Tobler stated that to make his model operational he would “invoke the first law of geography: everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.” This entry considers whether TFL is an accurate description of the real world. Specifically, it considers the following questions: Is TFL really a law and, if so, is it the most important law in geography? Do modern spatial interpolation techniques allow the model to be operationalized? How can “near” and “distant” be measured? Is it true for Euclidean and network space? Do classic models of human and urban geography conform to TFL?

The global consciousness path to sustainable tourism: a perspective paper

“…Sustainable development has dominated discourses over how to respond to global change since its introduction in 1987 when it brought forth a compelling and all-encompassing vision, reflecting the holistic nature of our planet (Hall and Lew, 2009). As humans, we inherently know that Waldo Tobler's (1970) first law of geography is right: "everything is connected to everything else" (Waters, 2018). By integrating the goals of environmental activists, social development activists and business community activists, sustainable development's triple-bottom-line approach attracted a following that crossed much of the political spectrum.…”

A Primer of GIS: Fundamental Geographic and Cartographic Concepts, Second Edition by FrancisHarvey, The Guilford Press, New York, 2016, 360 pp., paper $71.45 (ISBN 978‐1462522170)

“…The section on spatial autocorrelation mentions Tobler's First Law but the reference at the chapter end is to an obscure publication of Tobler's rather than to his much‐cited article from the journal Economic Geography . (Readers of this review can find a complete and up‐to‐date discussion of the topic in Waters ). Chapter 16 ends with a complete, worked example of a chi‐square analysis of data showing the relationship between elevation and yearly snowfall.…”