earthreferenced

Earthreferenced is an adjective used to describe data, models, measurements, or systems that are anchored to the Earth as the reference frame or origin. In this usage, the Earth's surface, its coordinates, or its shape provide the baseline against which observations are described or computations are performed. The term is informal and not widely standardized in geoscience literature.

In practice, earthreferenced data are typically expressed in coordinate systems tied to Earth, such as geographic latitude and longitude, a height above mean sea level, or a three-dimensional Earth-centered, Earth-fixed (ECEF) frame. Applications include geographic information systems, remote sensing, satellite navigation, surveying, and geophysical modeling. By contrast, non-earthreferenced frames might use celestial or inertial references.

Because "earthreferenced" is not a formal standard, its precise meaning can vary by context. Researchers may specify the exact reference frame and datum used (for example WGS84 latitude/longitude with EGM96 geoid, or ECEF coordinates). The term is more common in informal descriptions or software documentation than in formal standards documents.

See also: geographic coordinate system, Earth-centered, Earth-fixed frame, ECEF, ENU, GIS, GNSS, geodesy, geodetic datum.