Re: [boost] preview of a template geometry library

From: Michael Fawcett (michael.fawcett_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-01-30 10:30:44

On Jan 30, 2008 5:23 AM, Barend Gehrels <barend_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> Maybe I should have stated more clearly that I'm a geographer and built
> this library from a GIS perspective. We (at least in my company)
> normally do not distinguish between polygon types, for example.

:)  That's my current field as well, although I have a background in
game development.  I have often thought a Boost.GIS library would be
an excellent addition.

> Therefore, as in my other mail, we might change the namespace to
> "geospatial" or to "geospatial2d" to make this more clear.

I have a question (bare in mind I have not read your docs, so
apologies in advance if this would have been obvious) - Do all of your
algorithms expect Cartesian coordinates, and if so, do you provide
conversion functions to transform from a particular geographic
projection system to Cartesian?

What in your library makes it *more* "GIS" than "geometric"?

If a GIS library were to be proposed to Boost, I would like to see the
point class carry with it the projection system it was in.  This could
probably be done with Boost.Units.  That way, trying to compute
distance between two points that were in different projection systems
simply wouldn't compile.

--Michael Fawcett