Integrate Swiss Coordinates and Conversion Tool in Locality Table

[grantfitzsimmons]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
There is a growing need among users involved in the SwissCollNet project for the inclusion of Swiss coordinates in the Locality table. Currently, Swiss users face challenges in managing and referencing Swiss coordinates effectively within the system since they do not use WGS84 by default.

Describe the solution you'd like
Alexis proposes the addition of two dedicated fields in the locality table: "Swiss Coordinate X" and "Swiss Coordinate Y."

There would be a conversion tool that automatically populates the corresponding WGS84 coordinates in their respective fields if they are empty. Furthermore, we request the inclusion of a button that links to the external website [MAP GEOADMIN](https://map.geo.admin.ch) to allow users to easily display the Swiss coordinates on the national reference map.

Describe alternatives you've considered
While they have considered manually converting Swiss coordinates to WGS84 or using third-party tools, these methods are inefficient and prone to error. Integrating this functionality directly into our system would streamline the process and enhance user experience for Swiss users.

This is somewhat of an alternative approach to #4761, so I would be in favor of first exploring this to have a direct integration as well as a link to the external site for more options.

Reported By
Alexis Beck at Geneva

[beach53]

Copying this to Aimee who has had much experience with coordinate and spatial data transformations. I am a little hesitant about putting in a custom coordinate convertor for one country into Specify's code. There are many country systems, different kinds of grids, projected and unprojected coordinate systems. Would we be doing a one-off with no extensibility? I think this request from Geneva needs broader discussion particularly in regard to how this fits in our philosophy to be general and adaptable in implementing new capabilities. Might be OK, but needs more discussion. Jim

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On Thu, Dec 5, 2024 at 9:58 AM Grant Fitzsimmons ***@***.***> wrote: *Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.* There is a growing need among users involved in the SwissCollNet project for the inclusion of Swiss coordinates in the Locality table. Currently, Swiss users face challenges in managing and referencing Swiss coordinates effectively within the system since they do not use WGS84 by default. *Describe the solution you'd like* Alexis proposes the addition of two dedicated fields in the locality table: *"Swiss Coordinate X"* and *"Swiss Coordinate Y."* There would be a conversion tool that automatically populates the corresponding WGS84 coordinates in their respective fields if they are empty. Furthermore, we request the inclusion of a button that links to the external website [MAP GEOADMIN <https://map.geo.admin.ch/>]( https://map.geo.admin.ch) to allow users to easily display the Swiss coordinates on the national reference map. *Describe alternatives you've considered* While they have considered manually converting Swiss coordinates to WGS84 or using third-party tools, these methods are inefficient and prone to error. Integrating this functionality directly into our system would streamline the process and enhance user experience for Swiss users. This is somewhat of an alternative approach to #4761 <#4761>, so I would be in favor of first exploring this to have a direct integration as well as a link to the external site for more options. *Reported By* Alexis Beck at Geneva — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5444>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACTDB4SSHAXCADJGWGGWZJT2EBZ2RAVCNFSM6AAAAABTCZD3R2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43ASLTON2WKOZSG4ZDANZZGUZDKMA> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[grantfitzsimmons]

@beach53 This GitHub issue just represents a request submitted by Geneva that should be vetted, as I agree with your points.

Without any code changes, you can use Web Links and some magic to add a couple of "swiss coordinate" fields and have it link directly to the https://map.geo.admin.ch/ ✨

[grantfitzsimmons]

There are many country systems, different
kinds of grids, projected and unprojected coordinate systems. Would we be
doing a one-off with no extensibility?

We could make the application responsive to different datums and coordinate systems. I don't believe a solution only for a single region is the best option, of course.