Hi,
I have the following suggestions regarding the OpenGIS support in phpMyAdmin.
Problem: There is no proper representation of spatial data. The current version shows the bytes occupied by the spatial data value. Suggestion: A visual representation of data will be more apt or at least a representation to show which type of geometry class it is has to be there.
Problem: Inserting data of spatial type. Suggestion: A simple interface where user can select the geometry class from the list and enter the data in a convenient form. For example, If a MULTILINESTRING has to be entered, the user has to manually type MULTILINESTRING and then type its constituents. MULTILINESTRING(LINESTRING(....), LINESTRING(...), .....). Since these datatypes are fixed, a simple interface to select the types will be useful.
Problem: The user cannot edit the fields of spatial data. Raw data is displayed. Suggestion: A similar interface mentioned above can be used to edit the value of a spatial field. The corresponding visual representation can be displayed if required.
Problem: No support for spatial indexes. Suggestion: Provision for specifying spatial indexes on spatial fields can be added.
Problem: Search on spatial data tables. Suggestion: Currently the search functionality on spatial tables is not appropriate. The search has to return the matching geometric entries. A visual representation can be additionally displayed to show the matching geometrics that has the given search item.
Problem: Specifying values in WKB format. Suggestion: When user wishes to enter the values in WKB format, an interface must be built to generate the bits in appropriate endian form and conversion from WKB to WKT must be provided.
Problem: Spatial table on export produces raw data. Suggestion: The spatial data can be exported as svg or png for the given scale or at least in a form that represents data in a proper way.
These are some of my suggestions, improvements have to be done everywhere to support spatial data types. What else can I add to the above list?
Thank you