What is geographical data?
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
Definition
Geographical data is information that describes where something is on Earth, such as coordinates, addresses, boundaries, roads or regions. It becomes personal data when it can be linked to a specific person, such as a home address.
- Category
- Data
- Also called
- geographic data, geospatial data, spatial data
- Last updated
Sources checked: census.gov
Last verified against the official page:
Geographical data (also called geographic or geospatial data) is any data that is tied to a place. The US Census Bureau describes geospatial data as data and products that are clearly geographic in nature, rather than primarily statistical: maps and boundary files, for example, that mapping software can read. Its geospatial files cover things like legal, administrative and statistical boundaries, roads and water features.
Most geographical data has nothing to do with you personally. A map of county borders or a shapefile of roads describes places, not people. The Census Bureau's own boundary files, for instance, carry geographic codes but no demographic data. Statistics are attached to those places separately.
When it becomes personal
Place data turns personal once it points at one person or household. A home address, GPS coordinates from your phone, the location tags on your photos and a list of the places your phone has been are all geographical data, and all of them say something about you. A single address can reveal where you live, and a pattern of locations can show where you work, where your kids go to school and when you're away.
That is why a street address in a people-search listing carries more risk than a ZIP code in a statistics table. The first can be used to find you, the second describes an area.
Geographical data vs. location data
The two overlap. "Geographical data" is the wider term for anything about places, including maps and boundaries that involve no one. Location data, or geolocation data, is the narrower kind that records where a particular device or person is or has been. Our entry on geolocation data covers that side.
How to protect yourself
- 1
Check which apps can see your location
In your phone's privacy settings, set location access to "While using the app" or "Never" for apps that don't need it, and review the list every few months.
- 2
Strip location from photos you share
Photos can carry the place they were taken in their metadata. Turn off location tagging in your camera settings before you post pictures taken at home.
- 3
Keep your home address off public profiles
Remove your address from social media and public bios, and avoid posting in real time from places that show where you live.
- 4
Find where your address is listed
Your home address often sits on people-search sites and in data broker profiles. Serus finds where your address and phone number are listed and removes them for you.
See where your personal data is exposed
Serus finds it on data brokers and people-search sites and removes it.
Frequently asked
Is geographical data personal data?
Not always. Data about places, such as a map of roads, isn't about a person. It becomes personal data when it can be linked to an individual, for example a home address or the location history of your phone.
What is an example of geographical data?
Coordinates, street addresses, ZIP codes, state and county boundaries, roads, rivers and map files are all geographical data.
What is the difference between geographical data and geospatial data?
People use the terms interchangeably. The US Census Bureau uses "geospatial data" for data and products that are clearly geographic in nature rather than primarily statistical.
Sources
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