Hello !!!
While Roger Tomlinson was breathing life into the Canada GIS (CGIS)
during the early 1960s, little could he have pictured the face of
today's GIS industry. Tomlinson's vision of using computers for spatial
analysis and his presiding role in creating CGIS--the first "real"
GIS--helped earn him the nickname, "Father of GIS." And for his
distinguished contributions to the GIS field during a career spanning
nearly four decades, GIS World Inc. paid tribute to Tomlinson by
presenting him with the second annual GIS WORLD Lifetime Achievement
Award at last month's GIS '96 conference in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada.
Tomlinson is principal of Tomlinson Associates Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada, a firm of consulting geographers he established in 1977. Born in
Cambridge, England, on Nov. 17, 1933, he flew planes in the Royal Air
Force during the early 1950s and twice led expeditions to the Norwegian
Ice Cap (1956 and 1957). He holds bachelor's degrees from Nottingham
University, Nottingham, England, and Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova
Scotia, Canada: a master's degree from McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada: and a Ph.D. from University College, London, England.
Tomlinson adopted Canada as his native country in 1957. During the
spring of 1962, while on a plane bound from Ottawa to Toronto, he met
Lee Pratt, then recently named head of the Canada Land Inventory (CLI).
Tomlinson then was chief of the computer mapping division at Spartan Air
Services, Ottawa. The two men discussed a vast mapping project CLI was
about to undertake: a multilayer land-use/ planning map of Canada's
inhabited and productive land--around 1 million square miles.
Tomlinson told Pratt he used computers for mapping projects, and some of
his ideas might work for CLI. Pratt went home and did the arithmetic,
then called Tomlinson. "He said, 'We better talk about this, because
we've tested out how to do it manually and it's far too expensive,'"
Tomlinson recalls. In no time, he was employed by the Canadian
government, heading its GIS development program, where he was
instrumental in developing CGIS.
As a geographic consultant, Tomlinson has advised an impressive list of
clients: World Bank, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,
the U.S. departments of Commerce and Agriculture, U.S. Geological
Survey, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Canadian
Forest Service, and numerous U.S. state and Canadian provincial and
municipal government agencies.
Tomlinson places tremendous importance on geographic education. Not
surprisingly, a high school geography teacher first sparked his interest
in geography--although he confesses, "I really wanted to be an artist,
but I didn't have the courage." And thus, the art world's loss became
the GIS community's gain. Tomlinson recently spoke with GIS WORLD
Associate Editor Jeff Specht, offering insights on topics ranging from
education to GIS ethics. Here are some highlights from that interview.
With best wishes,
Thanks & regards,
Krishan Sharma, Ph.D. USA
GisEX* Technologies
R&D GIS-LAB.
www.kksharma.org
mailto:kksharma@vsnl.com
Mobile # 982-112-8409
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