[Gvsig_english] Set EPSG:4326 as default CRS for new views (gvSIG feature requests #753)

[Benjamin Ducke]

Hi Antonio,

the problem with geodetic coordinate systems like
EPSG:4326 vs. cartesian systems is that the two
are of a completely different nature. Whichever one
you choose, you cannot use it to work with data from
the other group. No way to be neutral about that.

I, for example, very rarely use lat/lon systems like
ESPG:4326, but I do use a lot of different Cartesian
systems. With the default of EPSG:23030, although it
is not the system I need, I can get a Cartesian system
and that's good enough for quickly loading some
datasets and doing a bit of work on them. With EPSG:4326,
I would have to switch the system first each and every
time. The fact that EPSG:4326 covers a larger area of
the world does not help me at all, because my work is
always limited to some geographic region.

I imagine that I am not the only one with that issue.

Some software, like ArcGIS, tries to guess the CRS
to use by looking at coordinate ranges: if the values
are relatively small, it will assume lat/lon. This
automatism has never worked for me and always been
a pain in the a... .

So whatever way you look at it, there is no easy solution.
GIS users must learn about different CRS and they must
learn how to switch and reproject between them.

Cheers,

Ben

-- 
Benjamin Ducke
{*} Geospatial Consultant
{*} GIS Developer
  
  benducke AT fastmail.fm


On Fri, Jun 15, 2012, at 09:49, Antonio Falciano wrote:
> Hi all,
> IMHO geographically speaking, EPSG:4326, i.e. a global CRS, is much
> neutral than a national one, like EPSG:23030. We generally use WGS84 from
> all countries! Furthermore, I often see how several (not only basic)
> users adopt EPSG:23030 improperly, while using EPSG:4326 would have the
> advantage to represent projected coordinates in degrees in the status
> bar and so encouraging us to change the CRS of the view accordingly with
> our geodata. Without talking about web services which use only WGS84
> geographic coordinates...!
> I'm agree with Ben about an initial agnostic CRS (for instance, useful
> in local surveys), however if there's the need to initialize a CRS in
> gvSIG, I think that EPSG:4326 is better, because covers the most part of
> user needs and it represents the best possible compromise.
> @Francisco: thanks for opening the ticket #779!
> 
> Cheers,
> Antonio
> 
> Il 14/06/2012 13.10, Francisco Puga ha scritto:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I don't have a strong opinion on this, so i encourage people to
> > express themselves before make the change.
> >
> > Anyway, i'm not sure, but i think that there are some places in the
> > code that 23030 is hardcoded, so it should be identified and changed.
> > This can have secondary effects, so i don't feel comfortable making
> > the change for 1.12.
> >
> > I open a ticket for the 1.x branch.
> >
> >   https://devel.gvsig.org/redmine/issues/779
> >
> > Again, thanks for point this Antonio.
> >
> > 2012/6/13 Benjamin Ducke<benducke at fastmail.fm>:
> >> I don't think there is any good default for a spatial
> >> reference system. The only thing that makes sense IMHO
> >> would be to allow users to work without any SRS at all
> >> and to set one when/if they choose to.
> >>
> >> Btw. you can set the default SRS for new views in
> >> the program preferences, so whatever the gvSIG default
> >> may be: it's easy to change it permanently.
> >>
> >> Best,
> >>
> >> Ben
> >>
> >> --
> >> Benjamin Ducke
> >> {*} Geospatial Consultant
> >> {*} GIS Developer
> >>
> >>   benducke AT fastmail.fm
> >>
> >>
> >> On Wed, Jun 13, 2012, at 18:39, Antonio Falciano wrote:
> >>> Hi all,
> >>> I think that this feature request [1] could be directly applied
> >>> since gvSIG 1.12. What do you think about it?
> >>>
> >>> Cheers,
> >>> Antonio
> >>>
> >>> [1] https://devel.gvsig.org/redmine/issues/753
> 
> -- 
> Antonio Falciano
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniofalciano
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