The system is well documented in the medieval Arabic world as ilm al-raml, the science of the sand, and passed into Latin Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, where it became one of the most popular forms of divination, treated as a kind of shorthand astrology. It has parallels in, and connections to, West African sand divination such as Ifa.
The atlas records the sixteen figures, their meanings and correspondences, and the method by which a reading is built, describing the system historically without ruling on its claims. The figures' link to the astrological houses connects geomancy to the astrology categories.