Simplify Input of Search Envelopes

@dalelutz3 One possible solution might be if the FeatureReader (best transformer ever, by the way) could be combined with the normal readers - i.e. every reader has an optional input connection which allows you to do the spatial intersection / attribute join?

@rolypole Literally as you were typing this we were looking at exactly this issue today. Definitely room for improvement here.

@rolypole Very interesting idea. We'll continue to give this thought -- already this has made me think perhaps we need an "AreaOfInterestCreator" which pops up a background map and lets you draw a rectangle -- it then emits a feature with these bounds that can be used as input to FeatureReader Good discussion.

A graphical AOI Creator would be awesome.... it would allow user to change AOI envelope quickly to verify and test difficult issues.

Why not : (1) enable a leaflet-like pop-up window with user's choice of background map (eg. pre-configured into Data Inspector) (2) let the user draw a bounding box with his/her mouse and (3) import corner coordinates back to the search envelope dialog.

 

Helps enormously when testing with huge datasets and you know an area where you can pick a representative sample.

 

 

Agreed. Alternatively, if a reader can browse to a shapefile or Esri featureclass in FGDB, or SDE as a AOI, it would be a PLUS.