"[3] Roger Tomlinson was a native of Newmarket, England, and prior to attending university, he served in the Royal Air Force from 1951–1954 as a pilot and flying officer.

His Doctoral thesis at University College London was titled: The application of electronic computing methods and techniques to the storage, compilation, and assessment of mapped data.

Tomlinson's early career included serving as an assistant professor at Acadia, working as the manager of the computer mapping division at Spartan Air Services in Ottawa, Ontario (following his studies at McGill), and work with the Government of Canada first as a consultant and later as a director of regional planning systems with the Department of Forestry and Rural Development.

It was during his tenure in the 1960s with Ottawa-based aerial survey company Spartan Air Services that Tomlinson conceptualized combining land use mapping with emerging computer technology.

This pioneering work led him to initiate, plan and direct the development of the Canada Geographic Information System, the first computerised GIS in the world.