geo 6.x-1.0-alpha2

This is an important and useful release as far as I'm concerned, but hopefully not a big change for users:

I have added an Interface class to represent the entire OpenGIS specification for geospatial features. I have also implemented classes for MySQL, PostGIS, and a strictly PHP-based class to handle basic manipulations and calculations.

This differs from the previous implementation, which had a sorta hackneyed, as-needed pile of function definitions. It was challenging and messy to draw calculations between different sources of GIS info (e.g. a point that represents the currently-logged-in user, and an area represented in a database). Now you can use the PHP-based and SQL-based backends interchangeably.

It was also not possible to tell what was working and what wasn't. How were we ever going to know which functions we can and call from the spec? Now you can use any of them; and you'll get back something helpful or an "unimplemented" error.

Right now, both implementations continue to exist, but I will be phasing out the geo() function and its related backend handlers in the next release or two, and other module developers are encouraged to do the same.

Also:

• Every Geo dataset is now tracked in a handy table, and you can get at them with some handy API functions like geo_list() and geo_load(). We can start writing cool stuff like finding the inter-relationships between all your data. More on this in upcoming releases.
• The "Geospatial data" menu item and corresponding import functionality has been REMOVED from the geo_data module, and ADDED to a shiny, new geo_ui module. Geo now "owns" these data collections, but geo_data still allows you to link to it with a CCK field.
• Imported shape files now use the Schema API, so you don't just have a bunch of orphaned tables floating around in your database.
• Moving some files around for clarity and consistency
• "Various bug fixes."

Who should use this version

I'm keen on getting feedback from folks with input on the Interface thing, and I definitely need to work with developers of modules who are using Geo's API, so that we can work together on deprecating the old functions.

As far as I know, I haven't broken anything, so it *should* be safe for others to upgrade, but if you have no burning need, don't do it.