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Maps are generalized representations since it is clearly impossible to display reality in all its complexity at a reduced scale. Not too surprisingly, map makers are unable to provide explicit abstract statements about the process of map generalization, but some empirical evidence suggests constancy of information content per map centimeter squared, regardless of map scale.

— Waldo Tobler

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More quotes by Waldo Tobler

The conceptualization of a map as a data-storage medium leads directly to the concept of it as a computer input element.

Soldiers have medals, scholars have publications.

I invoke the first law of geography: everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things

Philosophically, the phenomenon external to an area of interest affects what goes on in the inside; a sufficiently common occurrence as to warrant being called the second law of geography.

Science proceeds by detecting structures embedded in observational data. It is no simple matter to separate these general structures from the specific details.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Waldo Tobler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.