[postgis-users] point-in-poly query

[Brent Wood]

--- Jeff Lounsbury <jeffloun at refractions.net> wrote:

> 
> Thinking out loud, it would be really nice to have algorithm complexity 
> beside each function in the docs eh? ex: within() [O(n)], that way 
> people could more easily determine which methods would be fastest. I 
> might have just assigned some work for myself... doh!
> 
> Cheers,
> -Jeff

>From a scientific/research perspective, one of the advantages of Open Source
over commercial tools is that we can know the algorithms & code used to
generate answers/results. Not some black box bit of code which may (& in some
cases has) change with no documentation between versions. Upgrade your software
& get different answers. It does happen with OS as well, but at least you can
track down the causes.

An algorithm description as part of the docs would be very useful in my work,
and could lead to regular citing of the PostGIS docs in bibligraphies, probably
for others as well as myself, which I think would be positive for PostGIS.


Cheers,

  Brent Wood