[ENH] Put the `geometry` field of the qwat_od.valve table BEFORE all other geometry fields.

[nicolas-sitylb]

Hello,

What is the purpose of the handle_geometry field in the qwat_od.valve table:

qwat-data-model/ordinary_data/valve/od_valve.sql

Line 23 in d552ec9

ALTER TABLE qwat_od.valve ADD COLUMN handle_geometry geometry(PointZ,:SRID);

?

If the geometry field in the qwat_od.valve table is intended to store the real geometry of the features and if the importance of the handle_geometry field is less than the geometry field in this table, I would suggest to place the geometry field BEFORE all other geometry fields.

Why?

Because some software is unfortunately not able to deal with other than the very first geometry column encountered in a PostGIS table. Therefore, as that very first geometry column in the qwat_od.valve table is currently handle_geometry and because it occurs to be empty in most data sets which store the real geometry of features in the geometry column (and because such other software doesn't offer a solution to manually catch the real geometry), I would suggest to put the geometry field BEFORE all other geometry fields in the qwat_od.valve table.

Thanks.

Warm Regards.

[ponceta]

@3nids @tudorbarascu @kandre @tproduit is anyone actively using this handle_geometry attribute?

[ponceta]

@nicolas-sitylb for your information this bother me since day one I got onto QWAT project :

This is my initial issue where you can find interesting workarounds but I think it should be tackled with the next release of QWAT.

#265

[kandre]

@3nids @tudorbarascu @kandre @tproduit is anyone actively using this handle_geometry attribute?

Sorry for the late reply, but as the issue it is still open, I confirm that we are currently not using it.

[rbovard]

I just faced the same issue while trying to read this table with FME. It's very annoying, since we cannot read the geometry of this table straightforward.

Actions I see:

• If the field is no more used --> remove it
• If the field is still used --> put it after the main geometry field (geometry)

If there is a concensus here, I can open a PR to address this issue.

[rbovard]

I opted for action 2 with my PR 🙃