Geostamp

A geostamp is a sequence of characters, denoting the location at which a certain event occurred. This data is usually presented in a consistent format, allowing for easy comparison of two different records and tracking progress over time; the practice of recording geostamps in a consistent manner along with the actual data is called geostamping.

Geostamps are typically used for logging events, in which case each event in a log is marked with a geostamp. Geostamps are also attached to other artifacts allowing them to be searched and indexed spacially.

A typically geostamp includes information about lattitude, longitude, and elevation.

Geostamps are complementary to timestamps, providing information about the spatial rather than temporal dimension of data. Together these two dimensions allow analyze of data at specific time and location.

The term geostamp was first used by Steven Johnson during an interview on the CBC Radio show Spark.