What is c-squares, and what purpose does it serve?
C-squares stands for “Concise Spatial Query and Representation System” and is a method of indexing the geographic location of objects or observational data on the surface of the earth, in a simple alphanumeric format suitable for subsequent querying by any text-based system or search engine. At its heart is a tiled (gridded) representation of the earth, with each tile identified by a particular code derived from two of its boundaries of latitude and longitude. The spatial coverage or “footprint” of any point, line, area, or suite of points on the earth’s surface can then be represented as a list of codes for all of the tiles within which the data or objects occur, and this list can then be stored, transmitted, or queried, without needing recourse to the actual data in the first instance. This list then forms a convenient spatial index, which can then be queried (along with other items which might be indexed such as names, dates, etc.) to ascertain whether or not a certain set of data,
