Re: [boost] [GGL] Initial thoughts; how to register point types

Subject: Re: [boost] [GGL] Initial thoughts; how to register point types
From: Rutger ter Borg (rutger_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-11-14 15:28:01

Barend Gehrels wrote:
> 
>>
>> I'm not convinced that overloading e.g. distance() so that it works
>> with all combinations of geometries is a good idea.  If I wanted to
>> know the distance from a point to a polygon I'd be happy to write
>> distance_pt_to_poly(a,b).
> 
> The whole library is designed like this and I think it is good and
> generic. You're now able to use all functions in template environments,
> where you don't know if you're handling a point or a line. If you write
> distance_pt_to_poly, you have to know the context...

I guess I have been referring to this overloading, too. IIRC, a different 
distance will be returned for points at the exact same location but in 
different coordinate systems? For example, I guess I would prefer 

great_circle_distance( a, b );

over a strategy-based overload of distance() returning the same, as long as 
the strategy is defined by a coordinate system (and not by a space or a 
metric).

Cheers,

Rutger