The First Law of Geography, according to

Waldo Tobler Waldo Rudolph Tobler (November 16, 1930 – February 20, 2018) was an American-Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler's idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things" is referred to ...

, is "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." This first law is the foundation of the fundamental concepts of

spatial dependence Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which studies entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques, many still in their early deve ...

and

spatial autocorrelation Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which studies entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques, many still in their early dev ...

and is utilized specifically for the

inverse distance weighting Inverse distance weighting (IDW) is a type of deterministic method for multivariate interpolation with a known scattered set of points. The assigned values to unknown points are calculated with a weighted average of the values available at the kno ...

method for

spatial interpolation In numerical analysis, multivariate interpolation is interpolation on functions of more than one variable; when the variates are spatial coordinates, it is also known as spatial interpolation. The function to be interpolated is known at given poi ...

and to support the

regionalized variable theory Regionalized variable theory (RVT) is a geostatistical method used for interpolation in space. The concept of the theory is that interpolation from points in space should not be based on a smooth continuous object. It should be, however, based on ...

for

kriging In statistics, originally in geostatistics, kriging or Kriging, also known as Gaussian process regression, is a method of interpolation based on Gaussian process governed by prior covariances. Under suitable assumptions of the prior, kriging giv ...

. The first law of geography is the fundamental assumption used in all

spatial analysis Spatial analysis or spatial statistics includes any of the formal techniques which studies entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques, many still in their early deve ...

Background

Tobler first presented his seminal idea during a meeting of the

International Geographical Union The International Geographical Union (IGU; french: Union Géographique Internationale, UGI) is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the establ ...

's Commission on Qualitative Methods held in 1969 and later published by him in 1970. Tobler was probably not extremely serious when he originally invoked the first law and instead was explaining limitations brought about by computers of the 1970s. He certainly did not think it would be as prominent in geography as it is today. Though simple in its presentation, this idea is profound. Without it, "the full range of conditions anywhere on the Earth's surface could be packed within any small area. There would be no regions of approximately homogeneous conditions to be described by giving attributes to area objects. Topographic surfaces would vary chaotically, with infinite slopes everywhere, and the contours of such surfaces would be infinitely dense and contorted. Spatial analysis, and indeed life itself, would be impossible." While Tobler is the first to present the concept as the first law of geography, it existed in some form as a concept before him. In 1935, an R. A. Fisher said "the widely verified fact that patches in close proximity are commonly more alike, as judged by the yield of crops, than those which are further apart." Tobler was made aware of this by a peer-reviewer, and seems to have come up with the first law independently. Less well known is his second law, which complements the first: "The phenomenon external to an area of interest affects what goes on inside".

Foundation

The theory is based upon the concept of the

friction of distance Friction of distance is a core principle of Geography that states that movement incurs some form of cost, in the form of physical effort, energy, time, and/or the expenditure of other resources, and that these costs are proportional to the distanc ...

"where distance itself hinders interaction between places. The farther two places are apart, the greater the hindrance",Marsh, Meredith; Alagona, Peter S. "AP Human Geography 2008", Barron's Educational Series, 91–92, 2008 or cost. For example, one is less likely to travel across town to purchase a sandwich than walk to the corner store for the same sandwich. In this example, hindrance, or cost, can readily be counted in time (amount of time as well as the value of time), transportation costs, and personal muscle energy loss which are added to the purchase price and thus result in high levels of friction. The friction of distance and the increase in cost combine, causing the

distance decay Distance decay is a geographical term which describes the effect of distance on cultural or spatial interactions. The distance decay effect states that the interaction between two locales declines as the distance between them increases. Once the di ...

effect.

Controversy

Some have disputed the usefulness and validity of Tobler's first law. In general, some also dispute the entire concept of laws in geography and the social sciences. These criticisms have been addressed by Tobler and others. However, this is an ongoing source of debate in geography and unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. An anonymous reviewer pointed out that Tobler's first law is remarkably close to a phrase in a book by R.A. Fisher in 1935. Tobler seems to have come up with the first law independently.

References

{{Geography topics Empirical laws Eponyms Geography Transportation planning

Background

Foundation

Controversy

See also

References