An Exploration of Geographic Authentication Schemes

We design and explore the usability and security of two geographic authentication schemes: GeoPass and GeoPassNotes. GeoPass requires users to choose a place on a digital map to authenticate with (a location password). GeoPassNotes—an extension of GeoPass—requires users to annotate their location password with a sequence of words that they can associate with the location (an annotated location password). In GeoPassNotes, users are authenticated by correctly entering both a location and an annotation. We conducted user studies to test the usability and assess the security of location passwords and annotated location passwords. The results indicate that both the variants are highly memorable, and that annotated location passwords may be more advantageous than location passwords alone due to their increased security and the minimal usability impact introduced by the annotation.