Jacques Le Roux wrote:
Yes actually, I was just thinking about the EntityNameContactMech
pattern, not a rule indeed.
And because I wondered why we'd use this pattern in most other cases and
not for GPS Geolocation, I just reviewed how Len Silverston
suggests to deal with contact informations.
At this stage I must admit that things were not much more clear. As far
as I read Len speaks only about PartyContactMech and
FacilityContactMech, but it's easy to extrapolate more usages as it's
done in OFBiz.
Now, please let me think loud. What is the difference between a postal
address and a GPS point ? Is there more differences between
them than between, say a telecom number and a postal address ?
Obviously telecom numbers and a postal addresses have something in
common that a GPS point does not share: they are mechanismes to
contact somebody (or something at large). A GPS point is only a mean to
locate somebody (or something at large), you can't contact a
GPS point. So yes, it makes sense to differntiate a GPS point from other
contact mech. A GPS point is not a contact mech as Len
Silverstion defines one. It's a mean to locate not to contact. So now I
better understant why you wanted things to point to it
rather than having it point to other things. I still wonder though if we
should not think a bit more about it. Putting a
terrestrialPositionId in ContactMech does not make sense, as it's not a
mean to contact but locate. Should we not introduce
something else. Like a LocateMech, which could be maybe used for other
stuff in future ?
I like the idea of making terrestrial position another contact mech type.
I disagree that you can't contact a GPS point. You can if you have a GPS
device and a means of transportation - the same as a postal address. How
is locating someone via car plus GPS device any different than locating
someone via car plus a map?
I can think of other uses for a terrestrial position contact mech type -
locating facilities or fixed assets like electrical transmission towers,
cell towers, etc. They aren't going to have a postal address or phone
number. If terrestrial position was another contact mech type, then we
could use existing services, etc to associate that location to the facility.
-Adrian
