Tributes have been paid to distinguished geographer, author and respected academic Professor David Rhind CBE, who has died aged 81.
The recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Aberdeen in 2015, Professor Rhind is the former Director General and CEO of the Ordnance Survey - the UK’s National Mapping Agency - and a past Vice-Chancellor of City University, London from 1998-2007.
His academic career has included positions at the University of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Art, the University of Durham, and Birkbeck, University of London, where he was Professor of Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Economics.
In addition to his academic achievements, Professor Rhind held several prominent roles, including Chair of The Nuffield Foundation, Deputy Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, and Non-Executive Director of the Bank of England.
With a prominent and lengthy international career in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), cartography and digital mapping to his name, Professor Rhind was also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society and an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy.
In 2000, he received a CBE for services to Geographical and Social Sciences. He was also the author of several books on geography and the earth sciences, and one of the Editors of Geographical Information Systems: Principles and Applications which appeared as a two-volume boxed set in 1991. The book fast became the standard reference work for GIS and was originally known as the ‘Big Book of GIS’.
Professor Rhind passed away on January 7, 2025.
Article created with thanks to Dr David R. Green, Reader (Associate-Professor) in the School of Geosciences, who said: “David Rhind was a very good friend to many people in the GIS and mapping industry over the years, including myself when I was Chairman of the Association for Geographic Information.”