Michael Hutchinson is recognised internationally for his contributions to the theory and practice of spatial and temporal analysis of environmental data. His methods for modelling of climate and terrain, as implemented in the ANUDEM, ANUSPLIN and ANUCLIM computer packages, are widely used to support hydrological and ecological modelling and the assessment of the impacts of climate change. His terrain modelling program ANUDEM has been incorporated into Arc/Info, the World's leading geographic information software system. His Australia-wide terrain and climate models have underpinned much of the natural resource and environmental analysis carried out by Australian Universities and Natural Resource Agencies over the last 25 years.