In certain gvSIG tools it is necessary to enter coordinates as input parameters. For example in graphical editing, in geoprocessing (Visibility and lighting geoprocesses such as “Visibility” or “Line of sight”, or some tools for hydrological analysis such as “Flow line profile” or “Upslope area from a single point”) or in the field calculator, coordinates are necessary so that they can run. Until version 2.4 this task had to be done manually, being easy to make mistakes when entering the numbers.

From 2.5 version, and thanks to the new plugin that allows to capture coordinates and its integration with the geoprocesses framework or the expression tool, this task has been facilitated.

This plugin is not installed by default in the first builds of gvSIG 2.5, but it will be included in the final version by default. It you don’t have it installed, it must be installed previously from the Add-ons Manager (“Tools” menu). Accessing to “Installation from URL” and connecting to the default URL, in the following window you can search by “coord” text and you will find “Coordinate capture” plugin. You must mark it, and after installing it you have to restart gvSIG. With this you will have the plugin ready to use.

Once gvSIG is restarted, the tool will appear at View-> Query menu. After loading the desired layers, a new window will be opened if the new tool is executed. At that window, you will have two options:

• Tool to copy the coordinates of a point and paste them in any external document.
• Tool that allows to capture and memorize the coordinates of several points to be used later at these tools:
  • • In graphical editing.
    • At the geoprocesses framework.
    • At the field calculator.
    • At “Selecting by attribute” tool.

Besides when capturing the coordinates we can indicate the reference system for them, to be copied at the clipboard as well as to be memorized at the list of coordinates.

In the following video you can see how to use the coordinate capture tool in different functionalities in detail: