Geolocation is the procedure that associates an object or a person with geographic coordinates that position it on the earth’s surface. This ancient process is related to navigation (to take a bearing, to plot one’s position), and can now be done automatically to provide geographic coordinates by capturing a signal through several mechanisms: the terminal of a satellite positioning system (GNSS , GPS), a telephone device located at the position of GSM antennas, GPRS, UMTS situated nearby, a radio receptor or device connected to a wireless transmitter. These techniques are often combined as GPS and WiFi on a smartphone. Some authors differentiate between geoposition and geolocation, but the nuances are not clear. However we reserve the term georeferencing to mean the operation of attributing a geographic coordinate system to a geographical document (map, photo …) that does not have assigned coordinates.
[French: Géolocalisation]