[Proj] Any access to geodetic[sic] functions ??

[Gerald I. Evenden]

On Wednesday 12 November 2008 12:11:48 pm Christopher Barker wrote:
> Gerald I. Evenden wrote:
> > If you want to be lazy *and* do it the right way then for a very good
> > procedure to calculate inter point distances see:
> >
> > http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PC_PROD/Inv_Fwd/
> >
> > and algorithm details published in:
> >
> > www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/inverse.pdf
> >
> > At one time a program called 'geod' was distributed with my versions of
> > proj4 but it was based upon a poorer algorithm has has been dropped.
> >
> > I made a C version of the Vincente procedures but have not distributed
> > it.
> >
> >> I'm not opposed to treating them as a core capability but I do think
> >> some consideration should be given to the API before this would occur. 
> >> Ideally this would be something someone else than me might take on
> >> (possibly with some advice from me).
>
> That would be great -- I think having this bundled up in a library with
> a decent API would be very useful to the community. I know I would use it.

Excuse me for being an old clod but I would like a better understanding of 
what 'API' is.  Yes, I read Wikipedia's description but based upon my 
understanding of that material I have nothing to do with anything related 
with the concept.

On the non-program level, I try to write software that is reasonably flexible 
and useable in a variety of C applications and fairly hardware independent.  
But I only involve myself with a single language, C, with possible usage in 
the C++ environment and maybe even linkable to FORTRAN (ugh) code.  But by 
the Wikipedia standards I see nothing of universal application in it.

Early on I made an erroneous assumption that "interface" was related to human 
interface and that an API  was a program that provided an interface between 
computer coded material (like libproj4) and humans.  proj or lproj are 
examples where the human is allowed to prepare material to be computed by a 
library procedure and see human readable results.  Contrast this to 
Linux/Unix system daemons that we never have any direct contact with.

> I think I'd rather see it as an independent library, perhaps used by
> Proj, rather than built in to Proj, but it's not a huge difference.

The reason I bring this up is that I am not sure I understand what is 
requested here and what, if any, relationship the concept of API has to proj 
distributions and geodesic software.  If one wants the geodesic programs or 
procedures they are readily available from NGS.

Comments, please.

> Now we just need someone with a bit of time to take a lead on developing
> the API....
>
>
> -Chris



-- 
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due
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