# Bitmap
### What is Bitmap?
**Bitmap** is a consensus standard that allows anyone to claim geospatial digital real estate on the Bitcoin blockchain. By inscribing a specific **block height** as a `.bitmap` onto a Satoshi using the **Ordinals Inscription** standard, users can transform Bitcoin blocks into virtual assets. This process is open, decentralized, and equitable, giving everyone an opportunity to participate. First proposed by @blockamoto, Bitmap introduces a new paradigm where Bitcoin’s immutable data layer serves as the foundation for a persistent, unified digital world.
### Digital Matter Theory
The foundation of **Bitmap** is rooted in **Digital Matter Theory**, which conceptualizes the blockchain as the **Higgs Boson** of the digital realm. In this analogy, the blocks and transactions are the immovable objects, endowed with mass through the efforts of miners and nodes, whose computing power and network incentives maintain this unchanging data layer of the internet.
By utilizing Bitcoin’s fundamental components as the building blocks of a digital world, the permanence of this world is inherited from Bitcoin itself. **Digital Matter Theory** suggests that Bitcoin's data can be viewed as **digital mass**. This theory maps out the coordinates of this digital mass and provides the framework for unified building. Its goal is to offer a ground truth, a framework, examples of interpretation, and tools to reference block-space at the most granular level. The tools of Bitcoin and Ordinals make this possible.
### The Bitmap Procedure
The **Bitmap Protocol** operates by using Bitcoin’s raw data as the core foundation for a digital terrain. Since Bitmap Theory is built on Bitcoin’s immutable data, it mirrors the unique properties of the blockchain. Through the use of **inscriptions** based on **Ordinals Theory**, Bitmap applies consensual digital property rights on this unified spatial field.
Anyone can claim digital real estate on layer 1 of Bitcoin by applying Ordinals Theory, and then **terraform** and build on that real estate by following Bitmap Theory. The process is straightforward:
* **Input:** The Bitcoin Blockchain.
* **Algorithm:** Bitcoin data finds its natural spatial analogue.
* **Output:** Terrain derived from Bitcoin's geological ground truth.
Developers can utilize the Bitmap Theory and Protocol to build a variety of applications—experiences, games, metaverses—by using block data. Valid Bitmap inscription claims act as the **land deeds** to these plots of land. The theoretical framework of Bitmap allows landowners to pin inscriptions spatially at various resolutions—from the **district level**, **parcel level**, **chunk level**, down to specific **Bitoshi coordinates** within their Bitmap land. This creates the ability to build on-chain, utilizing block data as the foundation.
### District and Parcel Theory
In **Bitmap Theory**, Bitcoin blocks are represented as **Districts**. The owners of Districts are recognized as administrators of the block’s geospatial space by the consensus of those adhering to Bitmap Theory. When the values of a Bitcoin block are mapped onto a spatial realm, the result is a map graph of that block, made up of **Transactions** (interpreted as **Parcels** in Bitmap Theory).
#### INSCRIBING A DISTRICT
* `{block-height}.bitmap` : first to inscribe an existing block-height as bitmap is valid owner
* `404.bitmap` : this example is an inscription claim for the district representing block 404
#### INSCRIBING A PARCEL
Parcels are the first valid child inscriptions maintaining provenance from the District parent.
* `{tx-index}.{block-height}.bitmap` : a parcel child inscription of a valid district
* `0.404.bitmap` : this example is the parcel claim representing transaction 0 of block 404
Until a Parcel is inscribed, it remains part of its parent District. If a District is transferred, any uninscribed Parcels move with it. Inscribing a Parcel detaches it, rendering it an individual entity. This system maintains **provenance** between Districts and Parcels, allowing for decentralized land management within the virtual terrain.
### **The Bitmap Metaverse**
Platforms can take these Bitmap inscriptions and Bitcoin block data, parse them into the 3D realm, and grant access to block owners. This paves the way for a new open-source development paradigm where Bitcoin blocks become a persistent substrate for the emerging **Metaverse**. **Bitmap Theory** maps Bitcoin’s data landscape into spatial analogues, bringing to life a base layer of digital terrain that developers and users can build upon.
To own a part of the Bitcoin Map—known as **Bitmap**—one must own a valid District or Parcel inscription. This allows users to contribute to, and interact with, an evolving Metaverse built directly on Bitcoin’s data.
The related information is excerpted from Bitmap101. You can find it [here](https://gitbook.bitmap.land).
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