I think everyone agrees the current state of spatial code organization in Lucene is not desirable. We have a spatial module that has almost nothing in it, we have mature spatial code in the sandbox that needs to "graduate" somewhere, and we've got a handful of geo utilities in Lucene core (mostly because I didn't notice). No agreement has been reached on what the desired state should be.
I'd like to hear opinions on this from members of the community. I am especially interested in listening to people that normally don't seem to speak up about spatial matters. Perhaps Uwe Schindlerand Alan Woodward – I respect both of you guys a ton for your tenure with Lucene and aren't too pushy with your opinions. I can be convinced to change my mind, especially if coming from you two. Of course anyone can respond -- this is an open discussion! As I understand it, there are two proposals loosely defined as follows: (A) Common spatial needs will be met in the "spatial" module. The Lucene "spatial" module, currently in a weird gutted state, should have basically all spatial code currently in sandbox plus all geo stuff in Lucene core. Thus there will be no geo stuff in Lucene core. (B) Common spatial needs will be met by Lucene core. Lucene core should expand it's current "geo" utilities to include the spatial stuff currently in the sandbox module. It'd also take on what little remains in the Lucene spatial module and thus we can remove the spatial module. With either plan if a user has certain advanced/specialized needs they may need to go to spatial3d or spatial-extras modules. These would be untouched in both proposals. I'm in favor of (A) on the grounds that we have modules for special feature areas, and spatial should be no different. My gut estimation is that 75-90% of apps do not have spatial requirements and need not depend on any spatial module. Other modules are probably used more (e.g. queries, suggest, etc.) Respectfully, ~ David p.s. if I mischaracterized any proposal or overlooked another then I'm sorry, please correct me. -- Lucene/Solr Search Committer, Consultant, Developer, Author, Speaker LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/davidwsmiley | Book: http://www.solrenterprisesearchserver.com
