[Feat] wxGUI: Move Projection Statusbar Settings to Map Display Settings

[lindakarlovska]

The current location of the Projection settings in the GUI settings is not intuitive because they relate specifically to the status bar map window display.

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Currently, the Projection settings are hidden within the GUI settings despite only affecting the status bar coordinate values in the map window. This creates confusion as users might not expect to find map-related display settings in the general GUI settings.

Current settings location:

Describe the solution you'd like
To improve usability, these settings should be moved to the Map window settings since they only influence the coordinates displayed in the map's status bar and do not affect the actual project coordinates.

The Map window settings currently look like this:

There are basically two ways how to improve the settings :

• extend the existing Status Bar tab to include Projection settings.
• create a new tab called "Projection" specifically for these settings.

I am opening the discussion about the final appearance - so,

• Would extending the Status Bar tab or creating a new Projection tab be more appropriate?
• Are there any other map-related settings that could also benefit from being relocated?

[petrasovaa]

Does it influence only statusbar or also copying coordinates from map display?
I don't think we need the EPSG file widget. But I remember we talked about refactoring the EPSG widget from projection wizard so that we could use it here.

[lindakarlovska]

Does it influence only statusbar or also copying coordinates from map display?

It influences only statusbar coordinates although I would expect the copying part as well (so there should ideally be two copying context menu options to distiguish which coordinates we want to copy..)

Anyway, I tested this whole functionality of setting up the projection in the Projection page and I noticed three problems -

1. After loading EPSG code using the "Load EPSG codes" button, everything looks alright at a first glance but then after clicking on the EPSG code combo-box, the whole GUI freezes. After several occurences of "GUI is not responding" and clicking on the "Wait" options (took around 1 minute), the combo-box suddenty started working - so it looks like the EPSG codes are being still loaded behind the scene.
2. Once the combo-box was finally working, I wanted to choose 5514 - this is almost imposibble since there is no mechanism that would directly skip to codes starting by 5 when I clicked on number 5 on a keyboard - I had to roll down and I after some while I gave it up and selected some EPSG code starting by number 2.
3. The Projection Settings page is not updated (there is still the part about "You will need to enable the Projection check-box in the drop-down menu located at the bottom of the map display window", however, this checkbox is currently in the Map Display Settings dialog) - that is my fault I forgot to update during statusbar redesign.

Having in mind points 1 and 2, for mortals, the Projection page in General settings is currently defacto unusable.

I don't think we need the EPSG file widget. But I remember we talked about refactoring the EPSG widget from projection wizard so that we could use it here.

@petrasovaa I agree, the Location Wizard as well as Map Display settings could use the same Projection page based on EPSG combobox selection. Just for the enttirety, this took me to another thing related to the design of the Projection page itself - there is a PR on projpicker page in Location Wizard #1891. This spatial selection might also be good for projection selection although for the local coodinate settings, it is probably not too useful as in Location Wizard where it is very useful for first-time users. Anyway, I am wondering - what the current state of this project is? Is there any chance it will be integrated into GRASS, @HuidaeCho, @ocsmit ? Personally, I like it a lot, and I think it would be great to have this picker included.

[ocsmit]

... this took me to another thing related to the design of the Projection page itself - there is a PR on projpicker page in Location Wizard #1891. This spatial selection might also be good for projection selection although for the local coodinate settings, it is probably not too useful as in Location Wizard where it is very useful for first-time users. Anyway, I am wondering - what the current state of this project is? Is there any chance it will be integrated into GRASS ...

I have been thinking about this project a lot lately, so I appreciate the ping. I was never satisfied or happy with myself the way I left it in, and have wanted to return to it and see it finalized and integrated. I'll look over it today and update myself with the recent gui changes since the project was started. After that I can give a more definitive update & response.

In the short term, I am in the midst of prepping for qualifying exams but I should be able to dedicate some effort to the project. They will be finished in a month, and after I will have the available effort to see that it is integrated.

[HuidaeCho]

... this took me to another thing related to the design of the Projection page itself - there is a PR on projpicker page in Location Wizard #1891. This spatial selection might also be good for projection selection although for the local coodinate settings, it is probably not too useful as in Location Wizard where it is very useful for first-time users. Anyway, I am wondering - what the current state of this project is? Is there any chance it will be integrated into GRASS ...

I have been thinking about this project a lot lately, so I appreciate the ping. I was never satisfied or happy with myself the way I left it in, and have wanted to return to it and see it finalized and integrated. I'll look over it today and update myself with the recent gui changes since the project was started. After that I can give a more definitive update & response.

In the short term, I am in the midst of prepping for qualifying exams but I should be able to dedicate some effort to the project. They will be finished in a month, and after I will have the available effort to see that it is integrated.

@lindakarlovska Thanks for the ping about our almost abandoned (not yet ;-) PR and @ocsmit Thanks for your comments and good luck on your qualifying exam. It was not perfect, but it was usable enough. We need to

• test it again
• update it as needed (even at this point, I think we can merge it)
• update the PROJ projection database (or better after this update)
• and create a new script for updating the PROJ database (this would save our future efforts significantly)

[petrasovaa]

I must say, reviewing this has been on my todo list for a looong time, so I do apologize.

[lindakarlovska]

Thank you for this info! No hurry needed 🙂. Please let me know once it is ready for testing, I can also help..