Tobler's career had a major impact on the development of quantitative geography, and his research spanned and influenced the study of any discipline investigating geographic phenomena.[15][16] He established the discipline of analytical cartography, contributed early to Geographic information systems (GIS), and helped lay the groundwork for geographic information science (GIScience) as a discipline.[2][6][17] He had significant contributions to computer cartography and was one of the first geographers to explore using computers in geography.[2] In cartography, he contributed to the literature on map projections, choropleth maps, flow maps, cartograms, animated mapping.[17][18][19] His work with analytical cartography included contributions to the mathematical modeling of geographic phenomena, such as human movement in the creation of Tobler's hiking function.[17][18][20] Tobler's work has been described as ahead of its time, and many of his ideas are still unable to be fully implemented due to limitations of technology.[4]
Tobler held the positions of professor of geography and professor of statistics at University of California, Santa Barbara and was an active Professor Emeritus at the Department of Geography until his death.[21]
^Goodchild, Michael (2004). "The Validity and Usefulness of Laws in Geographic Information Science and Geography". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 94 (2): 300–303. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.2004.09402008.x. S2CID17912938.
^Tobler, Waldo (1999). "Linear pycnophylactic reallocation comment on a paper by D. Martin". International Journal of Geographical Information Science. 13 (1): 85–90. Bibcode:1999IJGIS..13...85T. doi:10.1080/136588199241472.