  A solution to the equivalence problem in three-dimensional gravity is given
and a practically useful method to obtain a coordinate invariant description of
local geometry is presented. The method is a nontrivial adaptation of Karlhede
invariant classification of spacetimes of general relativity. The local
geometry is completely determined by the curvature tensor and a finite number
of its covariant derivatives in a frame where the components of the metric are
constants. The results are presented in the framework of real two-component
spinors in three-dimensional spacetimes, where the algebraic classifications of
the Ricci and Cotton-York spinors are given and their isotropy groups and
canonical forms are determined. As an application we discuss Goedel-type
spacetimes in three-dimensional General Relativity. The conditions for local
space and time homogeneity are derived and the equivalence of three-dimensional
Goedel-type spacetimes is studied and the results are compared with previous
works on four-dimensional Goedel-type spacetimes.
