Location Proofs

Evidence-backed verification of where something is located

In Development — Location proof plugins are under active development. This page describes the framework and architecture.

Location Proofs

Location proofs provide evidence-backed verification of geographic position. Rather than simply trusting GPS coordinates, location proofs combine multiple independent evidence sources to increase confidence that a claimed location is accurate.

The Problem

GPS is spoofable. Any system that trusts raw coordinates from a device is vulnerable to location fraud. For high-value use cases — financial transactions, regulatory compliance, access control — we need stronger guarantees about where something actually is.

The Location Proof Framework

Location proofs address this through a layered approach:

1. Evidence Collection — Gather location signals from multiple independent sources
2. Artifact Signing — Bundle the evidence into a signed, tamper-evident artifact
3. Evidence Evaluation — Analyze the evidence to determine confidence in the claimed location

This creates a spectrum of assurance levels. More corroborating evidence from diverse sources increases confidence. The appropriate level depends on the use case — a check-in at a coffee shop has different requirements than cross-border financial compliance.

Evidence Categories

The framework supports multiple categories of location evidence, each with different trust properties:

Category	Examples	Trust Properties
Network Signals	Wi-Fi networks, cell towers, Bluetooth beacons	Hard to spoof at scale, reveals approximate area
Satellite Systems	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo	Globally available, but spoofable
Network Measurements	RTT latency, signal strength	Physical constraints limit spoofing
Sensor Data	Accelerometer, barometer, camera	Environmental context, harder to fabricate
Delegated	Ride-share logs, utility records, purchase history	Third-party corroboration
Social	Peer attestations, community validation	Reputation-based verification

No single evidence source is definitive. The power comes from combining multiple independent sources that would be difficult to spoof simultaneously.

Location Proof Plugins

Different environments require different approaches to evidence collection. A mobile phone has access to GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular signals. A server in a data center has different signals available — network topology, IP geolocation, potentially hardware attestation.

Location proof plugins handle evidence collection for specific contexts:

• Different device types (mobile, desktop, server, IoT)
• Different environments (consumer, enterprise, infrastructure)
• Different security requirements (casual check-in vs. regulatory compliance)
• Different privacy requirements (anonymous vs. identity-linked)

We are launching with two initial plugins:

User Device Plugin

For mobile and desktop applications. Collects evidence from device sensors, network signals, and environmental context.

Infrastructure Plugin

For servers, nodes, and autonomous agents. Collects evidence from network topology, hosting environment, and operational context.

Additional plugins for specialized contexts will follow.

The Verification Flow

1. Evidence Collection

   The appropriate plugin gathers location evidence from available sources on the device or infrastructure

2. Artifact Creation

   Evidence is bundled into a location proof artifact and signed by the subject

3. Evidence Evaluation

   The Astral Verify module analyzes the evidence, checking consistency and assigning confidence scores

4. Policy Application

   The verified location feeds into Astral’s geospatial policy engine for onchain actions

Astral Verify is the evidence evaluation component currently in development. It applies configurable rules to assess evidence quality and detect potential spoofing attempts.

Confidence Levels

Not all location proofs are equal. The framework produces confidence assessments based on:

• Evidence diversity — How many independent sources corroborate the location?
• Evidence quality — How reliable are the individual sources?
• Consistency — Do the sources agree with each other?
• Recency — How fresh is the evidence?

Applications can set minimum confidence thresholds appropriate to their risk tolerance.

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Infrastructure Location Proofs

While most location verification focuses on users (where is this person?), infrastructure location proofs answer a different question: where is this compute running?

Why Infrastructure Location Matters

• Data Sovereignty — Regulations like GDPR require data processing within specific jurisdictions
• Decentralization Verification — Prove that validators, sequencers, or nodes actually run in diverse locations
• Latency Guarantees — Verify that infrastructure operates where promised
• Regulatory Compliance — Auditable evidence for financial services, healthcare, and other regulated industries

Infrastructure vs. User Proofs

Aspect	User Location	Infrastructure Location
Subject	Human with a device	Server, node, agent, or autonomous service
Frequency	Per-action	Continuous or periodic
Evidence Sources	Device sensors, network signals	Network topology, hosting metadata, operational context
Use Cases	Geofenced apps, POAPs, local currencies	Data sovereignty, validator distribution, sequencer location

Multi-Region Proofs

Some applications require proof that infrastructure is distributed across multiple geographic regions — for redundancy, decentralization, or regulatory reasons.

Multi-region proofs verify that a system operates nodes in distinct locations simultaneously. This is particularly relevant for:

• Validator sets requiring geographic distribution
• Sequencers with backup nodes in different regions
• Data processing that must span multiple jurisdictions
• High-availability systems with geographic redundancy requirements

The infrastructure plugin supports collecting and coordinating evidence across multiple deployment locations to produce unified multi-region attestations.

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Integration with Astral

Location proofs plug into the broader Astral Location Services pipeline:

Location Proof ──► Astral Verify ──► Location Record ──► Policy Engine ──► Onchain Action
   (evidence)      (evaluation)       (attestation)      (computation)      (resolver)

Once evidence is evaluated and a location record is created, it can be used with all existing Astral geospatial operations — distance checks, containment queries, and policy attestations that trigger smart contract logic.

What’s Next

Location proof plugins and the Astral Verify module are in active development. Code examples and integration guides will be released as the components become available.

For updates, follow the roadmap or join the community.

Next: Geospatial Operations

Learn about the spatial computations you can perform on location data