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spatial referencing — English
The locational description of every point on Earth. There is a number of systems of locational description, but normally we use the ones most commonly used, namely absolute location or relative location (see “location”). With all the newer satellite techniques, computerised mapping techniques and sophisticated geographical positioning systems available to us, spatial referencing has become a very exact science. It has also entered the public sector in the form of global positioning systems (GPSs) which are today found in just about every car on the road. There is, however, one fixed system of reference, namely the grid of latitude and longitude and that is still the accepted and most accurate way of describing the position of any point or object or person on Earth. New technology has simply given us new ways (like GPSs in cars) of using this system (see “location”).
