Web3 Spatial ✨

At Astral we see a world where humanity has the geospatial technologies and tools needed to monitor and govern life with dignity.

Our mission is to make it possible to build location-based apps on the decentralized web. We're doing this by researching and developing a set of open source standards and software tools that help Web3 developers work with geospatial data.

Architecture

The Astral Protocol has three components:

• Verifiable spatial data registries — smart contract-based registries of spatial features like points, lines, polygons and raster images;
• Verifiable location credentials, to serve as presence claims in the Astral ecosystem, and
• Web3-native geospatial data technologies so the data backing these systems is user-controlled, cryptographically verifiable, uncensorable and permanent.

Since the project was founded, we have focused on building open source standards and tools, and have been fully funded through public goods funding and grants.

Our Work

We've develop and led several projects, including:

• Kolektivo GeoNFTs, which serve as an on-chain spatial data registry
• Hyperaware, a spatial governance protocol for connected devices targeted at transport and mobility applications
• Sprout, an early ReFi proof-of-concept sustainability-linked bond in Solidity that aligns loan terms to environmental metrics
• Spatial.sol, a library of geometric and topological functions in Solidity
• GeoLocker, a prototype verifiable spatial data registry built on Ethereum and 3Box

These are linked components that will enable the ecosystem to build a Web3 map of the world, and location-based dapps that use that map. Our work is primarily focused on building core infrastructure and open source standards to enable and empower climate- and sustainability-related Web3 builders to work with spatial and location data.

Astral tools and standards will be useful in a range of different use cases including:

• Regenerative project development and dMRV
• DAOs / digital governance: geofenced local and regional DAOs, local currencies, spatial demurrage
• Mobility: defining policy areas like congestion zones, capturing the position of connected devices like IoT and smartphones
• Natural capital currencies: defining ecological zones, storing physical measurements of ecosystem conditions
• Metaverse / gaming: virtual land registries like Decentraland and Cryptovoxels, and AR games like Pokemon Go

Funding

Grant contributions will fund the development team building these public goods.

Specifically, funds will support the development of:

• a Solidity library of topological and geometric functions
• Web3 GIS tools
• verifiable location credentials standards and software tools
• coordination across decentralized geospatial working groups

Team

• Ron E: Tech Lead
• Danny G: Organization + Operations Lead
• John X: Architect + Project Lead

Accomplishments (so far)

• KERNEL Genesis Block final presentation
• Kolektivo project partner, developing GeoNFTs
• Filecoin Development Grant for storing satellite imagery on IPFS using decentralized identifiers
• Presenting to the Open Geospatial Consortium
• Winner, Arweave Prize, Future of Blockchain 2020
• Speaker, European Space Agency's Living Planet Symposium 2022
• Grant recipient, dClimate
• Coordinated the forming of the GeoSpatial Decentralized Collaboration Group 2023
• Presented Astral’s work at Decentralized Geospatial Web Working Group
• Member, Climate Collective
• Co-lead, Regeneration Guild, KERNEL

Funded:

• zkMaps, finalist at ETHDenver 2022 building zero-knowledge location proofs

Challenges

• Scaling of verifiable spatial data registries due to technical limitations.
• Coordination across various working groups; while we’ve helped organize and herd cats, there is still the challenge in coordinating across stakeholder groups to establish geospatial standards for Web3.
• Navigating a bear market with various partners and builders in this space losing funding and interest due to macroeconomic conditions.

Roadmap

• Define updated mission, vision, technical, and operations plans - Q4’23
• Begin development of updated verifiable spatial data registry - Q4’23
• Establish spatial standards group with the Decentralized Geospatial Web Working Group - Q1’24
• Deliver updated PoC for verifiable spatial data registry - Q1’24
• Participate in hackathon - Q1’24
• Draft initial standards for Web3 Geospatial data - Q2’24
• Publish Web3 geospatial standards - Q4’24

For more on the verifiable spatial data registries we're developing, read our litepaper: https://docs.astral.global/astral-litepaper.