The recent threads on the different Envelope classes got me to
thinking about the policy for Geometry representation in GeoTools, if
there is one. In OpenJUMP land representation of feature geometries is
pretty simple. You just use JTS. :] If something more is needed you
cook it up. (I don't think this happens very often.)

So here are some of my questions about the policy for Geometry
representation in GeoTools:

[1] Is there a need to support complex geometries not currently
supported in GeoTools? If so, is there a clear demarcation between
these packages and the packages that can only need simple geometries
and can use JTS?

[2] Why wrap simple geometries in an ISO or OGC specification? Is
there a FOSS Java library for representing simple geometries that
offers serious competition for JTS? Are there any plans for such a
library in the future? I wonder if it is worth the additional
complexity of such wrapper interfaces if there currently isn't, and
won't be such an alternative in the foreseeable future. The more I
work with JTS the more I appreciate all the effort Martin Davis has
put into making it an excellent library. It seems the logical choice
for representing simple gometries in GeoTools. If there is no pressing
need to integrate an alternative to JTS, why add the complexity of a
wrapper?

[3] Adrian wrote: "Stay away from org.geotools.geometry.iso and
org.geotools.jts unless you
really need to use those packages. The former is, I suspect, moving full
speed back to unsupported land."

Is there a reason for this? I would think that JTS will be around for
a long time. Is it because there isn't currently a maintainer for this
package? Is it because there is an effort to move these classes and
interfaces into JTS itself?  I've got some JTS utility code of my own.
Maybe I should consider moving it to the org.geotools.geometry.jts
package and taking care of some clean-up and maintenance of the
package...

I don't mean to be difficult by asking these questions. I'm just
trying to understand the logic that goes into the decisions governing
the design of individual GeoTools module, and of the library as a
whole.

Landon

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