Category: Geospatial data
Geospatial Data
Geospatial data is any data tied to a location on Earth, such as maps, satellite imagery, or field boundaries.
Also known as: geodata, spatial data
Expanded definition
Geospatial data includes raster imagery, vector boundaries, and tabular datasets with coordinates. What makes it ‘geo’ is that every value can be placed on the Earth using a coordinate reference system (CRS).
In EO workflows, the most common failure mode is not the model. It is misalignment: wrong CRS, wrong axis order, or geometry errors that shift boundaries onto the wrong pixels.
Good geospatial products state CRS, units, and how geometry and rasters were aligned.
Related terms
CRS (Coordinate Reference System)
A CRS defines how coordinates map to locations on Earth, including the projection and datum.
Raster
A raster is a grid of pixels where each pixel stores a value, commonly used for satellite imagery and elevation models.
Vector
Vector data represents geometry as points, lines, and polygons, typically used for boundaries, roads, and field parcels.
Georeferencing
Georeferencing links pixels or coordinates in a dataset to real-world locations on Earth.