Fwd: Subsurface Locality information

[Willem Ferguson]

Maybe this message went un-noticed? originally posted Jan 23rd
Kind regards,
wf

Apologies for a long mail. It looks like one should be careful when 
changing the name of an existing divesite using the GUI. If the new dive 
site name is not listed in the divesite list at the beginning of the 
dive log, the present coordinates are cleared and a new divesite is 
created in the divesite list. I have frequently edited the divesite list 
in the dive log with a text editor, changing the XML divesite names and 
coordinates directly as I see fit because then I know exactly what I am 
doing, e.g. merging two divesites under a single name (quite interesting 
hash management) or providing a new name for an existing divesite. But 
this is a risky approach for several reasons. So I am trying to get more 
information so that I can perhaps update the user manual with info on 
how to deal with this type of situation.

On the DESKTOP Subsurface: If I wish to change the dive site to a new 
one, it is clear: specify the new name, save it, specify the coordinates 
appropriately and save again. But let's say I want to change the 
divesite from *Anacapa* to *Ventura: Anacapa* or any other dive site 
name taxonomy I want to use. The moment I type the different name, I 
break the connection with the coordinates stored in the XML divesite 
list at the start of the dive log. So, the safest strategy is possibly 
to display the coordinates of the existing site before changing 
anything, save coordinates to the clipboard or any other safe place, 
change the locality from Anacapa to Ventura: Anacapa, save the new name, 
paste the coordinates back into the appropriate field and save again. So 
effectively, a totally new XML entry is created in the divesite list at 
the start of the dive log. But is there anyway to change the divesite 
name in the existing XML divesite entry in the log (i.e. changing the 
existing entry and without creating a new entry)? The moment when one 
starts implementing a fixed taxonomy for dive site names, e.g. 
USA/California/Ventura/Anacapa then this becomes a much more pressing issue.

On the MOBILE app, what is the situation? Exactly the same as for the 
desktop program? Do both the desktop program and the mobile app maintain 
a coherent XML divesite namelist at the start of the dive log saved on 
the Cloud? Is the list of divesites at the start of the dive log 
maintained in exactly the same way by the mobile app and are new XML 
divesite entries created for new divesite names? What happens if I give 
a new name to an existing dive site?
The practical problem arises when one has tagged the existing dives with 
coordinates collected by the mobile app and several sites are labeled 
*Auto-created dive*. At this stage one would wish to change the name of 
the divesite to something understandable. It looks like if one changes 
the divesite name in the edit panel of the mobile app, the coordinates 
are lost. This is a very similar situation to that in the paragraph 
above (dealing with the desktop program). I changed divesite names on 
the mobile app and then re-tagged the dives from the divesite server. 
But this did not go well and several dive sites kept the coordinates of 
our home, not divesite coordinates. I tried reversing the order, first 
typing in the locality names then doing geo-tagging, but the tagging was 
not successful. What is the best approach?

The issue, I think is to maintain the sanity of divesite information at 
the start of the dive log without creating a zillion new entries that 
are unlikely to be used again.
Kind regards,
willem



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