# Introducing the Astral Protocol

*A spatial extension for the decentralized web*

By [Astral](https://paragraph.com/@astralprotocol) · 2025-04-09

web3, ethereum, geospatial, lofi, astral, location, spatial

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### The Fourth Field

Humans are mapmakers. We draw meaning from our surroundings. We notice where things happen to understand how they connect.

Blockchains are changing how we keep records. Bitcoin gave us identity and sequence — digital signatures, a timestamp server. Ethereum introduced agency — logic, state, the ability to act. We have a new way to remember what happened, and who was involved — the order of events.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/961a660128c0488b8ac625c226121174.jpg)

The [_Imago Mundi_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_Map_of_the_World)_._

  

But something’s missing. Something has always been missing. Blockchains have no sense of place, no way to account for _where_ something occurred. Just floating entries — untethered from the world they describe. And without bearings, we drift — reacting, not responding. Surviving. Always moving, never anchored.

Prior work gave us who, when, and what. These were foundational: identity, time, and action — stitched together into something durable. But they lacked direction. Blockchains have never had a way to express where.

Astral introduces the Fourth Field: location. A way to root digital records in physical reality. Because once we know where we are, we can decide where to go next.

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Why This Matters
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So much of what makes software feel magical today is its connection to the physical world. Consider how much of our connected life depends on location data — from rideshares and deliveries to navigation, photos, and safety features.

With the rise of smartphones, GPS, and geospatial databases, location-based services have become essential to how we move, navigate, meet, and act.

But Ethereum — by design — is placeless. It exists in cyberspace, global and neutral — in the ether — with no native way to represent or reason about geography.

This design is powerful. Ethereum offers:

*   **Open** participation — anyone can examine, interact, or build
    
*   **Durable** systems — data and services are always on, reliably
    
*   **Opt-in** control — users author every interaction
    

Still, the vision for a user-controlled web isn’t complete without location-based services. We need better ways to handle the local. Many past projects — from Sikorka and Etheria to FOAM and IBISA Network — have worked around this limitation. But it’s hard, and that is holding us back.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/eb361ec929ec75e275f2db9885417bd8.png)

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The Astral Protocol
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Astral is a spatial extension for the decentralized web — a protocol for representing and reasoning about location in distributed systems of record.

It introduces a common standard and core tools for working with spatial data across decentralized networks.

The Astral Protocol includes two main components:

*   The **Location Protocol** defines how location data is structured and signed, both onchain and offchain, using the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) — live on Celo, Base, Arbitrum and Ethereum Sepolia.
    
*   **Spatial.sol** — brings geospatial logic to smart contract platforms like Ethereum, supporting containment, distance calculations, and region-based rules
    

The **Spatial Attestation Toolkit** is a developer-facing toolset that makes it easy to build on the Astral Protocol.

Together, these tools form a foundation for building with location — as easily and flexibly as we build with addresses, tokens, or timestamps. Our aim is to unlock a new app category that's long been out of reach: location-based apps that are open, opt-in, reliable, and responsive to the physical world

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What Can You Build?
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Astral supports a wide range of location-aware applications — not just for managing data, but for building systems that respond to the context of place.

Some examples:

*   **Location-Based Finance (LoFi)** — design financial systems that respond to geography: local currencies, geo-fenced staking, or region-aware rates
    
*   **Field-Based dMRV** — link environmental observations to time and place, supporting impact verification in conservation, agriculture, and land stewardship
    
*   **Location-Based Games & Experiences** — build interactive maps, AR overlays, and story layers that unfold based on where users are
    
*   **Geographic Provenance & Attribution** — attach digital records to specific locations, supporting claims, audits, and traceability across space and time
    
*   **Privacy-Conscious Location Proofs** — share presence without precision; reveal where you were only when, and how, you choose
    
*   **Durable Spatial Records** — keep tamper-resistant accounts of land use, migration paths, or protected areas — when memory matters
    

Builders in climate, culture, public infrastructure, logistics, and storytelling are already exploring what’s possible.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/d3621c68ecaf7e38523c4c2814a019ec.png)

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How It Works
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Astral introduces a modular, interconnected protocol stack for working with location data. This includes a spatial data schema and onchain computation, plus developer tooling.

### Location Protocol

Location attestations are the core data structure in Astral — signed, structured claims that describe place, time, and identity. Each attestation includes information about geometry (location) and timestamp, and optionally media attachments and supporting evidence, such as cryptographic location proofs.

Built on EAS, location attestations can be:

*   Held privately
    
*   Shared peer-to-peer
    
*   Published offchain (e.g. IPFS or centralized servers)
    
*   Registered onchain
    

They're flexible. A location attestation might describe a GPS check-in, a forest boundary, a delivery path, the coordinates of an ancient monument, even a point in a virtual world. Astral isn’t limited to Earth — location attestations can use any spatial reference system, including those for metaverse environments. If it has geometry, it can be mapped.

Like rows in a decentralized spatial database, location attestations are modular building blocks — user-controlled, composable and verifiable.

### Spatial.sol

To complement this new spatial data primitive, Astral includes Spatial.sol — a suite of smart contracts that bring geospatial logic to the EVM.

Spatial.sol provides functions for working with reference tables, spatial relationships, and topological operations directly onchain — allowing developers to implement smart contract logic that responds to location.

### Spatial Attestation Toolkit

The Spatial Attestation Toolkit provides everything developers need to start building on Astral. 

This includes an SDK for working with attestations, a standards-compliant API for querying spatial data, and flexible modules for media types, location proof verification methods, and custom location formats

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What’s Next
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Coming soon in v0.1 of the Spatial Attestation Toolkit:

*   A production-ready SDK and API with advanced query support
    
*   Extensible support for media, location proofs, and custom location types
    
*   Deeper integration examples and developer templates
    

We’re also working on new proof strategies, schema extensions, application patterns, and Spatial.sol.

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Get Involved
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*   **Build**: Get started at [docs.astral.global](http://docs.astral.global)
    
*   **Collaborate**: Reach out to discuss pilots or integrations
    
*   **Support**: Support us on [Gitcoin](https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/42161/863/25), and in the upcoming Octant round
    
*   **Connect**: Say hello at [hello@astral.global](mailto:hello@astral.global)
    

We’ve built remarkable systems without knowing where we are.  
Astral adds location — so we can build with memory, and act with orientation.

  

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a1115e931c155abf7da37ba132b2faff.png)

💖 to [kgolid](https://github.com/kgolid/p5ycho) for sharing scripts to create such beautiful generative art.

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*Originally published on [Astral](https://paragraph.com/@astralprotocol/introducing-the-astral-protocol)*
