Hi Stefan,
GIS function classification is really a puzzle, and it is quite
difficult to make everybody happy, but as I committed most
of the changes you're talking about, I'll try to explain, then,
we can do any change you guys, want to do.
1 - Announcement, votes and rules are necessary...
but can only apply when there is some activity :
I really tried to get feedback at the time of the changes
you've mentionned, (as far as I can remember 1 or 2
persons agreed and no one disagreed).
2 - Menu organisation
I'm not completely satisfied with current organisation, but I
think it is better now than one year ago.
- We find most usual GIS Analysis tools in Tools>Analyis (which is good)
except some in Tools>Edit Geometry (which, in my opinion, is not so good)
- We removed One Layer/Two Layers submenu. I think this separation
made sense, but it was not very user-friendly as the user had to answer
one more question before he could find the menu item he was looking for
- I have not hesitated much before I changed Run Database query to file
menu, because all input/output are in File menu now, including database
access, and in my opinion, searching Run Query tool in Layer menu was
just a bad habit.
Maybe I did not communicate enough about this change though ;o(
3 - Menu item names.
I've to be more careful on this subject as my english is not so good
However, as I understand gis terms, overlay applies quite well
to "Overlay Polygon Layers..." menu item (a bit less to "Overlay...")
Some definitions of Overlay :
Overlay: A formal geometric intersection between two or more layers of
spatially referenced data. A layer produced by an overlay will contain
both the spatial data and the attribute data from the input layers.
Polygon overlay : A process that merges spatially coincident polygons
from two coverages, and their attributes, to create a third coverage,
that contains new polygons and describes new relationships ...
Overlay is the core part of GIS analysis operation. It combines several
spatial features to generate new spatial elements.
AFAIK, this is what Overlay Polygon Layers does, isn't it ?
Currently, Overlay... menu item output is limited to intersections
So for this one, Intersection would also apply
Ideally, I would like a single Overlay menu item which would
process all features (not only Polygons), and not limited to
intersections (a mix of both plugins if you followed me), but this
is out of scope now.
For now, I agree "Intersection" would also fit what current
"Overlays" plugin does.
I don't agree with "Merge" as features are not merged, but divided
as they intersect each others !
About join versus transfer attribute, I agree with you that transfer
attribute is more easy to understand for anyone who has not a
strong dbms background.
However, one of the tool do not "transfer" attribute but "aggregate"
values, and the other one creates new features for each match
which is exactly what a JOIN does (respectively with and without
a group by statement) and what is a bit different from what one
can expect with a name like "transfer attribute.
That said, I'm very pleased to discuss these things with expert users
and just regret that the discussion comes one week before a major
release.
If you organize a vote to make sure we do the right decision, I'll be
pleased to vote and to accept the decision of the community,
but remember, I asked 2 questions about new Noder and new Union
plugin months ago, and I never get the 3 votes to make a decision !
Regards,
Michaël
Le 22/01/2012 19:48, Stefan Steiniger a écrit :
> Hi all,
>
> now, after having sent of the other email, I tried to analyse why I am
> actually unhappy with what happened. It came out pretty simple:
>
> "I was used to the old naming and menu positions"
>
> furthermore, there was just right now an email on the user list about
>
> "Where is that function gone" (in this case datastore query).
>
> It highlights a couple of things, that we can summarize as "don't change
> the "User API" without a clear announcement". But in detail:
>
> - if we change names, then users may not found the function anymore
> - if we change the menu positions of functions, then users may not found
> them anymore
>
> further:
> - names should be descriptive
> - names should adhere to standards (not necessarily to ArcGIS, but
> sometimes...)
>
> I also recognized the following:
> - ESRI never changed names of function as long as I remember, except
> maybe when they moved from 8.x to 9.x and got a complete new user interface
> - ESRI is using function names that are not very descriptive all the
> time, but they try to restrict it to one word - which describes the
> action, e.g. "eliminate", "dissolve", "union", "spatial join".
> - I actually do not aggree with some ESRI naming of functions, since the
> technical standards (OGC SFS) use actually different names (union vs.
> intersection, dissolve vs. union). But I guess the reason is that the
> standards are younger than ArcInfo/GIS.
>
> So, based on that I see a need for the next release notes (for 1.5.1) to
> 1) describe somewhere what functions have been renamed and moved (quite
> a bit).
> 2) To introduce proper naming and location rules. And related to that I
> think the location and naming of new functions need to be "approved" by
> at least 3 people - and not changed anymore thereafter until a major
> release ("X.X").
>
> Any further opinions?
>
> stefan
>
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