Charles Dana Tomlin is an author, professor, and originator of

Map Algebra Map algebra is an algebra for manipulating geographic data, primarily fields. Developed by Dr. Dana Tomlin and others in the late 1970s, it is a set of primitive operations in a geographic information system (GIS) which allows one or more rast ...

, a vocabulary and conceptual framework for classifying ways to combine map data to produce new maps. Tomlin's teaching and research focus on the development and application of

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...

s (GIS). He is currently a professor at the

University of Pennsylvania School of Design The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design is the design school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia. It offers degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional p ...

and an adjunct professor at the

Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs ( Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environ ...

, having also taught at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

and the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

School of Natural Resources. His coursework in Landscape Architecture has extensively included GIS and

cartographic Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

modeling applications.

Contributions to GIS

Tomlin's contributions to GIS extend across a number of years and a wide variety of applications. As a student at Harvard University in the mid-1970s, he developed the Tomlin Subsystem of IMGRID as a master's thesis. Many analytical functions in IMGRID were later integrated into Imagine, a satellite image processing application developed by ERDAS. As a doctoral student at Yale University in the late 1970s, and as a junior faculty member at Harvard in the early 1980s, Tomlin developed MAP (the Map Analysis Package), one of the most widely used programs of its kind. The open source

GRASS Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

application derives many of its raster analytical capabilities directly from MAP and was extensively used by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

and other federal agencies throughout the late 1980s. Tomlin's work on MAP has also been directly inherited by a long list of other software packages, including, OSUMAP, MAP II, MapFactory, MFWorks, MacGIS,

IDRISI Idrisi may refer to: *Muhammad al-Idrisi, 12th-century explorer, geographer and writer * IDRISI, a GIS computer program * İdrisqışlaq, Azerbaijan *Idrisid dynasty, the former ruling family of the Maghrib *Idrisid Emirate of Asir The Emirate ...

, MapBox, pMap, and MGE. In 1990, Tomlin led an informal group of City and Regional Planning doctoral students at the University of Pennsylvania in founding th
Cartographic Modeling Laboratory
The Cartographic Modeling Lab conducts academic research and urban and social policy analysis using GIS and spatial research applications. Tomlin has been co-director of the lab since 1995.

Map algebra

Tomlin's landmark book
''Geographic Information Systems and Cartographic Modeling''
was published in 1990 to expand on his earlier dissertation work on Map Algebra. A significantly revised version was released a
''GIS and Cartographic Modeling''
in 2012. Map Algebra is used for a broad array of GIS modeling applications, including suitability modeling, surface analysis, density analysis, statistics, hydrology, landscape ecology, real estate and geographic prioritization. Early in its development, Tomlin made the decision to openly share all of the source code, documentation and algorithms associated with Map Algebra. Consequently, the overall concepts of Map Algebra are still used today in every GIS application that supports raster calculations.

Esri Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., doing business as Esri (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company headquartered in Redlands, California. It is best known for ...

’s Spatial Analyst solution, as well as its predecessor, the GRID module of

ArcInfo ArcInfo (formerly ARC/INFO) is a full-featured geographic information system produced by Esri, and is the highest level of licensing (and therefore functionality) in the ArcGIS Desktop product line. It was originally a command-line based system ...

, has incorporated most of the Map Algebra concepts. While primarily applied to raster data, Map Algebra has also been extended to support 3D, temporal and other cartographic modeling applications. Tomlin continues to freely share his ideas on Map Algebra with students, educators, software developers and others in the GIS industry through articles in cartographic and environmental journals,.Tomlin, C. Dana.
Speaking of GeoDesign
Preliminary Proceedings: ''Teaching Landscape Architecture'', Anhalt University of Applied Sciences Bernburg & Dessau (2011): 136-144.

References

External links

Cartography, redefined: Mapping a pathway through the digital age
published October, 2011
URISA GIS HAll of Fame, 2010 Inductee: C. Dana Tomlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlin, Dana Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Harvard University faculty Ohio State University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty Yale University faculty Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Geographic information scientists

Contributions to GIS

Map algebra

See also

References

External links