[GRASS-dev] geodesic distances for measuring and buffers, even when working in planar coordinate system ? [was: Re: [GRASS-user] What distance is being measured and used for buffers ?]

[Moritz Lennert]

On 01/09/12 18:02, Moritz Lennert wrote:
> Leaving below mail as record of my original issue, I would to raise the
> fundamental question of whether it would be feasible
>
> 1) to (optionally) provide geodesic instead of planar distances when
> measuring, even if the location is in a projected coordinate system.
> E.g. QGIS provides the possibility in distance measuring to check a box
> to activate geodesic distance
>
> 2) to (optionally) allow the creation of buffers based on geodesic
> distances, again in a projected location, which would imply non-circular
> buffers.
>

Exploring my exploration of this in the hope that someone might share an 
interest:

r.buffer actually provides the possibility of geodesic buffering when 
used in a lat-long location. Would it be difficult to implement the same 
in v.buffer ?

Moritz