Georeferencing

Synonyms

Geospatial referencing; Spatial referencing

Definition

Georeferencing is the name given to the process of geospatially referencing data and information objects - datasets, text documents, maps, photographs and imagery, etc. - to their proper locations on Earth. The vast majority of such objects derive from measurements and observations phenomena that are inherently georeferenceable, because humans are largely confined in their activities to the near-surface of the Earth and “Almost everything that happens, happens somewhere” [3].

Georeferencing can be accomplished in two main ways [2]: formally, by assigning geospatial coordinates directly to data and information objects; and informally, by relating such objects to one or more pre-existing ones for which georeferences have already been established. In everyday life, the latter approach predominates, using the mechanism of place. A geographic place is a real-world location, perhaps vague, with a recognizable name and type, and...