New GEO Extension with commonly needed functions for GIS, geography, etc.

[thadguidry]

In the forum there seems to be some interest in OpenRefine perhaps bundling a GEO extension with various GREL functions (perhaps menu also in the future?) for performing conversions, great circle distance calculations, etc.)

Proposed solution

Add a new GEO Extension to OpenRefine that would have a few functions that are useful.
Initially, perhaps the following kind of functions:

1. decToGMS() which converts decimal coordinates into GMS (degrees, minutes, seconds)
2. Great Circle Distance calculator that takes 2 coordinates (decimal, GMS, ???) and returns the great circle distance between them.

The implementations might use some existing Java libraries such as:

• code like this
• or bits of Apache Sedona libraries)

it also may be worth reviewing this existing (but old) extension https://github.com/ryanfb/georefine to see if any aspects of this can be reused / updated to work with the current OpenRefine release and extension mechanisms we have currently in 3.x versions.

Please ask questions prior to development, so that the team agrees with the complete minimum scope and version of OpenRefine to support initially. (we have an upcoming release, but current is 3.7.9)

Alternatives considered

Additional context

---

IssueHunt Summary

Backers (Total: $100.00)

• thadguidry ($100.00)

Become a backer now!

Or submit a pull request to get the deposits!

Tips

• Checkout the Issuehunt explorer to discover more funded issues.
• Need some help from other developers? Add your repositories on IssueHunt to raise funds.

[issuehunt-oss]

@thadguidry has funded $100.00 to this issue.

---

• Submit pull request via IssueHunt to receive this reward.
• Want to contribute? Chip in to this issue via IssueHunt.
• Checkout the IssueHunt Issue Explorer to see more funded issues.
• Need help from developers? Add your repository on IssueHunt to raise funds.

[ostephens]

It may be worth reviewing this existing (but old) extension to see if any aspects of this can be reused / updated to work with the current OpenRefine release https://github.com/ryanfb/georefine