SoGeoOrigin(3)

📦
version 4.0.10 · 4 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

🎀 SoGeoOrigin 💖

okay so this is the SoGeoOrigin(3) page from the Coin manual, and honestly? it's giving anchor of the entire universe. Buckle up bestie, we're getting geographic 🌍✨

✨ NAME ✨

SoGeoOrigin — the class that is used to specify an absolute geographic location that your geometry gets referenced against. Like, it's the "hey, everything here is relative to this spot on Earth" node. Periodt. 🌎💅

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

#include <Inventor/nodes/SoGeoOrigin.h>

Inherits SoNode. iconic lineage honestly 👑

🫶 Public Member Functions 🫶

  • virtual SoType getTypeId (void) const
  • SoGeoOrigin (void)
  • virtual void doAction (SoAction *action)
  • virtual void callback (SoCallbackAction *action)
  • virtual void GLRender (SoGLRenderAction *action)
  • virtual void getBoundingBox (SoGetBoundingBoxAction *action)
  • virtual void getMatrix (SoGetMatrixAction *action)
  • virtual void pick (SoPickAction *action)
  • virtual void getPrimitiveCount (SoGetPrimitiveCountAction *action)

💜 Public Member Functions inherited from SoNode 💜

the family tree is long bestie, we're going through all of it 🌳

  • void setOverride (const SbBool state)
  • SbBool isOverride (void) const
  • void setNodeType (const NodeType type)
  • NodeType getNodeType (void) const
  • virtual SoNode * copy (SbBool copyconnections=FALSE) const
  • virtual SbBool affectsState (void) const
  • virtual void GLRenderBelowPath (SoGLRenderAction *action)
  • virtual void GLRenderInPath (SoGLRenderAction *action)
  • virtual void GLRenderOffPath (SoGLRenderAction *action)
  • virtual void handleEvent (SoHandleEventAction *action)
  • virtual void rayPick (SoRayPickAction *action)
  • virtual void search (SoSearchAction *action)
  • virtual void write (SoWriteAction *action)
  • virtual void audioRender (SoAudioRenderAction *action)
  • virtual void grabEventsSetup (void)
  • virtual void grabEventsCleanup (void)
  • virtual void startNotify (void)
  • virtual void notify (SoNotList *l)
  • SbUniqueId getNodeId (void) const
  • virtual SoChildList * getChildren (void) const
  • virtual void writeInstance (SoOutput *out)
  • virtual SoNode * addToCopyDict (void) const
  • virtual void copyContents (const SoFieldContainer *from, SbBool copyconnections)
  • virtual SoFieldContainer * copyThroughConnection (void) const

🌸 Public Member Functions inherited from SoFieldContainer 🌸

  • void setToDefaults (void)
  • SbBool hasDefaultValues (void) const
  • SbBool fieldsAreEqual (const SoFieldContainer *container) const
  • void copyFieldValues (const SoFieldContainer *container, SbBool copyconnections=FALSE)
  • SbBool set (const char *const fielddata)
  • void get (SbString &fielddata)
  • virtual int getFields (SoFieldList &l) const
  • virtual int getAllFields (SoFieldList &l) const
  • virtual SoField * getField (const SbName &name) const
  • virtual SoField * getEventIn (const SbName &name) const
  • virtual SoField * getEventOut (const SbName &name) const
  • SbBool getFieldName (const SoField *const field, SbName &name) const
  • SbBool enableNotify (const SbBool flag)
  • SbBool isNotifyEnabled (void) const
  • SbBool set (const char *fielddata, SoInput *input)
  • void get (SbString &fielddata, SoOutput *out)
  • virtual SbBool validateNewFieldValue (SoField *field, void *newval)
  • virtual void addWriteReference (SoOutput *out, SbBool isfromfield=FALSE)
  • SbBool getIsBuiltIn (void) const
  • virtual void getFieldsMemorySize (size_t &managed, size_t &unmanaged) const
  • void setUserData (void *userdata) const
  • void * getUserData (void) const

🦋 Public Member Functions inherited from SoBase 🦋

  • void ref (void) const
  • void unref (void) const
  • void unrefNoDelete (void) const
  • int32_t getRefCount (void) const
  • void touch (void)
  • SbBool isOfType (SoType type) const — returns TRUE if the type of this object is either of the same type or inherited from type. (vibe check on the lineage, basically 💅)
  • virtual SbName getName (void) const
  • virtual void setName (const SbName &newname)
  • void addAuditor (void *const auditor, const SoNotRec::Type type)
  • void removeAuditor (void *const auditor, const SoNotRec::Type type)
  • const SoAuditorList & getAuditors (void) const
  • SbBool shouldWrite (void)
  • void assertAlive (void) const

⭐ Static Public Member Functions ⭐

  • static SoType getClassTypeId (void)
  • static void initClass (void)

🧚 Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoNode 🧚

  • static uint32_t getCompatibilityTypes (const SoType &nodetype)
  • static SoType getClassTypeId (void)
  • static SoNode * getByName (const SbName &name)
  • static int getByName (const SbName &name, SoNodeList &l)
  • static void initClass (void) — sets up initialization for data common to all instances of this class, like submitting necessary information to the Coin type system. (the behind-the-scenes bestie doing the paperwork 📋✨)
  • static void initClasses (void)
  • static SbUniqueId getNextNodeId (void)
  • static int getActionMethodIndex (const SoType type)
  • static void getBoundingBoxS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void GLRenderS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void callbackS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void getMatrixS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void handleEventS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void pickS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void rayPickS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void searchS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void writeS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void audioRenderS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
  • static void getPrimitiveCountS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)

💜 Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoFieldContainer 💜

  • static void initClass (void) — sets up initialization for data common to all instances of this class, like submitting necessary information to the Coin type system.
  • static SoType getClassTypeId (void) — this static method returns the SoType object associated with objects of this class.
  • static void cleanupClass (void)
  • static void initCopyDict (void)
  • static void addCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig, const SoFieldContainer *copy)
  • static SoFieldContainer * checkCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig)
  • static SoFieldContainer * findCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig, const SbBool copyconnections)
  • static void copyDone (void)

🌈 Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoBase 🌈

  • static void initClass (void) — sets up initialization for data common to all instances of this class, like submitting necessary information to the Coin type system.
  • static SoType getClassTypeId (void) — this static method returns the SoType object associated with objects of this class.
  • static void addName (SoBase *const base, const char *const name)
  • static void removeName (SoBase *const base, const char *const name)
  • static void incrementCurrentWriteCounter (void)
  • static void decrementCurrentWriteCounter (void)
  • static SoBase * getNamedBase (const SbName &name, SoType type)
  • static int getNamedBases (const SbName &name, SoBaseList &baselist, SoType type)
  • static SbBool read (SoInput *input, SoBase *&base, SoType expectedtype)
  • static void setInstancePrefix (const SbString &c)
  • static void setTraceRefs (SbBool trace)
  • static SbBool getTraceRefs (void)
  • static SbBool connectRoute (SoInput *input, const SbName &fromnodename, const SbName &fromfieldname, const SbName &tonodename, const SbName &tofieldname)
  • static SbBool readRoute (SoInput *input)

👑 Public Attributes 👑

the actual main character fields, right here: 💖

  • SoSFVec3d geoCoords
  • SoMFString geoSystem

🍓 Protected Member Functions 🍓

  • virtual const SoFieldData * getFieldData (void) const
  • virtual ~SoGeoOrigin ()

🌸 Protected Member Functions inherited from SoNode 🌸

  • SoNode (void)
  • virtual ~SoNode ()
  • virtual SbBool readInstance (SoInput *in, unsigned short flags)

🌸 Protected Member Functions inherited from SoFieldContainer 🌸

  • SoFieldContainer (void)
  • virtual ~SoFieldContainer ()

🌸 Protected Member Functions inherited from SoBase 🌸

  • SoBase (void)
  • virtual ~SoBase ()
  • virtual void destroy (void)
  • SbBool hasMultipleWriteRefs (void) const
  • SbBool writeHeader (SoOutput *out, SbBool isgroup, SbBool isengine) const
  • void writeFooter (SoOutput *out) const
  • virtual const char * getFileFormatName (void) const
  • virtual SoNotRec createNotRec (void)

🧁 Static Protected Member Functions 🧁

  • static const SoFieldData ** getFieldDataPtr (void)

💜 Static Protected Member Functions inherited from SoNode 💜

  • static const SoFieldData ** getFieldDataPtr (void)
  • static void setNextActionMethodIndex (int index)
  • static int getNextActionMethodIndex (void)
  • static void incNextActionMethodIndex (void)
  • static void setCompatibilityTypes (const SoType &nodetype, const uint32_t bitmask)

💜 Static Protected Member Functions inherited from SoBase 💜

  • static uint32_t getCurrentWriteCounter (void)
  • static void staticDataLock (void)
  • static void staticDataUnlock (void)

🌟 Additional Inherited Members 🌟

🫶 Public Types inherited from SoNode 🫶

  • enum NodeType { INVENTOR = 0x0000, VRML1 = 0x0001, VRML2 = 0x0002, INVENTOR_1 = 0x0004, INVENTOR_2_0 = 0x0008, INVENTOR_2_1 = 0x0010, INVENTOR_2_5 = 0x0020, INVENTOR_2_6 = 0x0040, COIN_1_0 = 0x0080, COIN_2_0 = 0x0100, EXTENSION = 0x0200, COIN_2_2 = 0x0400, COIN_2_3 = 0x0800, COIN_2_4 = 0x1000, INVENTOR_5_0 = 0x2000, COIN_2_5 = 0x4000, COIN_3_0 = 0x8000, INVENTOR_6_0 = 0x10000, COIN_4_0 = 0x20000 }

🎀 Protected Types inherited from SoBase 🎀

  • enum BaseFlags { IS_ENGINE = 0x01, IS_GROUP = 0x02 }

🦋 Protected Attributes inherited from SoNode 🦋

  • SbUniqueId uniqueId

🦋 Protected Attributes inherited from SoFieldContainer 🦋

  • SbBool isBuiltIn

⭐ Static Protected Attributes inherited from SoNode ⭐

  • static SbUniqueId nextUniqueId = 1
  • static int nextActionMethodIndex = 0
bestie we are literally only halfway through this page 💀 don't you dare close the tab, the rest is right there 👀✨

✨ DETAILED DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so the SoGeoOrigin class is literally here to specify an absolute geographic location that your geometry gets referenced against 💖 like, it's the anchor, the home base, the "everyone measure from here" node.

FILE FORMAT/DEFAULTS:

GeoOrigin {
  geoSystem ["GD", "WE"]
  geoCoords 0 0 0
}

now. the vibe check on why this exists: a super common problem when you're dealing with geographic data is the reduced floating point precision you often get 😭 UTM coordinates are often in the 10^5 a 10^6 magnitude, and that leaves very little precision for the details at that position. it's giving "the numbers are so big that the small stuff falls off the end" 💀

so the SoGeo nodes are useful when you wanna keep your data in its original system but still get good floating point precision when rendering ✨ both things!! at once!! we love that for us 🫶

Coin needs a local Cartesian coordinate system when it renders. so when a SoGeoOrigin node is used, Coin will create a coordinate system at the SoGeoOrigin position, and all geometry (and the camera) in the scene graph gets projected into that coordinate system. everyone's in the same room now 💅

that coordinate system always has the Z-axis pointing up from the ground. the Y-axis points towards the north pole, and the X-axis is found using the right hand rule 👑

a scene graph should only contain ONE GeoOrigin node. not two. not five. one. 🙈

and all geometry in the scene graph will, as stated earlier, be rendered relative to that position. which means the precision will be best if the GeoOrigin position is as close to the actual camera position as possible. so if you're moving around on a large area, it might be a good idea too actually move the GeoOrigin position instead of the camera 👀 lowkey genius.

to place geometry in the scene graph, you can either use an SoGeoSeparator node or an SoGeoCoordinate node. when you're using a GeoSeparator node, all geometry inside that separator will be rendered relative to its geo-system position and orientation, and then you use regular shapes and regular SoCoordinate3 nodes to specify data — meaning the points in an SoCoordinate3 must be adjusted to be relative to the GeoSeparator position. don't forget that part bestie 😭

the SoGeoCoordinate node on the other hand can contain double precision geo-coordinates, and that node will internally recalculate the double precision array into a single precision array which is relative to the SoGeoOrgin node. it does the math so you don't have to ✨

one note regarding UTM projections: since it's quite common to assume a flat earth when working with UTM data, it is possible to supply a "FLAT" keyword for UTM coordinate systems:

GeoOrigin {
  geoSystem [ "UTM", "Z17", "FLAT" ]
  geoCoords  846889 4313850 0
}

Example scene graph:

GeoOrigin { geoSystem "GD" geoCoords 40.77 -73.97 0 }

GeoSeparator {
  # New York, NY
  geoSystem  "GD"
  geoCoords 40.67 -73.94 0

  BaseColor { rgb 0 1 0 }
  Cube { width 25000 height 25000 depth 25000 }
  Translation { translation 0 0 30000 }
  Text2 { string "New York" }
}

GeoSeparator {
  # Los Angeles, CA
  geoSystem "GD"
  geoCoords 34.11 -118.4 0

  BaseColor { rgb 1 0 0 }
  Cube { width 25000 height 25000 depth 25000 }
  Translation { translation 0 0 30000 }
  Text2 { string "Los Angeles" }
}

GeoSeparator {
  # Washington, DC
  geoSystem [ "UTM", "Z17" ]
  geoCoords  846889 4313850 0

  BaseColor { rgb 0 1 1 }
  Cube { width 25000 height 25000 depth 25000 }

  Translation { translation 0 0 30000 }
  Text2 { string "Washington" }
}

# add a small geogrid
GeoCoordinate {
  geoSystem "GD"
  point [
  32 -120 0,
  32 -110 0,
  32 -100 0,
  32 -90 0,
  32 -80 0,
  32 -70 0,

  34 -120 0,
  34 -110 0,
  34 -100 0,
  34 -90 0,
  34 -80 0,
  34 -70 0,

  36 -120 0,
  36 -110 0,
  36 -100 0,
  36 -90 0,
  36 -80 0,
  36 -70 0,

  38 -120 0,
  38 -110 0,
  38 -100 0,
  38 -90 0,
  38 -80 0,
  38 -70 0,

  40 -120 0,
  40 -110 0,
  40 -100 0,
  40 -90 0,
  40 -80 0,
  40 -70 0

  42 -120 0,
  42 -110 0,
  42 -100 0,
  42 -90 0,
  42 -80 0,
  42 -70 0
  ]
}

DrawStyle { style LINES }
BaseColor {}
ShapeHints { vertexOrdering COUNTERCLOCKWISE }
QuadMesh { verticesPerRow 6 verticesPerColumn 6 }

Since

Coin 2.5 🎀 (so like, this has been around a minute, it's a classic)

🧚 CONSTRUCTOR & DESTRUCTOR DOCUMENTATION 🧚

SoGeoOrigin::SoGeoOrigin (void )

Constructor. that's it, that's the whole thing. it makes one 💖

SoGeoOrigin::~SoGeoOrigin () [protected], [virtual]

Destructor. it unmakes one. goodbye bestie 💜

⭐ MEMBER FUNCTION DOCUMENTATION ⭐

SoType SoGeoOrigin::getClassTypeId (void ) [static]

this static method returns the SoType object associated with objects of this class. iykyk ✨

SoType SoGeoOrigin::getTypeId (void ) const [virtual]

returns the type identification of an object derived from a class inheriting SoBase. this is used for runtime type checking and "downward" casting 👑

Implements SoBase.

const SoFieldData ** SoGeoOrigin::getFieldDataPtr (void ) [static], [protected]

this API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer 🙈

Returns the SoFieldData class which holds information about fields in this node.

const SoFieldData * SoGeoOrigin::getFieldData (void ) const [protected], [virtual]

returns a pointer to the class-wide field data storage object for this instance. if no fields are present, returns NULL.

Reimplemented from SoFieldContainer.

void SoGeoOrigin::initClass (void ) [static]

(the docs just say this one exists, no extra lore — main character energy with zero backstory 💅)

void SoGeoOrigin::doAction (SoAction * action) [virtual]

this function performs the typical operation of a node for any action.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

void SoGeoOrigin::callback (SoCallbackAction * action) [virtual]

action method for SoCallbackAction.

simply updates the state according to how the node behaves for the render action, so the application programmer can use the SoCallbackAction for extracting information about the scene graph 🔍

Reimplemented from SoNode.

void SoGeoOrigin::GLRender (SoGLRenderAction * action) [virtual]

action method for the SoGLRenderAction.

this is called during rendering traversals. nodes influencing the rendering state in any way, or that want to throw geometry primitives at OpenGL, override this method 🔥

Reimplemented from SoNode.

void SoGeoOrigin::getBoundingBox (SoGetBoundingBoxAction * action) [virtual]

action method for the SoGetBoundingBoxAction.

calculates bounding box and center coordinates for the node and modifies the values of the action to encompass the bounding box for this node and to shift the center point for the scene more towards the one for this node.

nodes influencing how geometry nodes calculate their bounding box also override this method to change the relevant state variables.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

void SoGeoOrigin::getMatrix (SoGetMatrixAction * action) [virtual]

action method for SoGetMatrixAction.

updates action by accumulating with the transformation matrix of this node (if any).

Reimplemented from SoNode.

void SoGeoOrigin::pick (SoPickAction * action) [virtual]

action method for SoPickAction.

does common processing for SoPickAction action instances.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

void SoGeoOrigin::getPrimitiveCount (SoGetPrimitiveCountAction * action) [virtual]

action method for the SoGetPrimitiveCountAction.

calculates the number of triangle, line segment and point primitives for the node and adds these to the counters of the action 🔢

nodes influencing how geometry nodes calculate their primitive count also override this method to change the relevant state variables.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

💖 MEMBER DATA DOCUMENTATION 💖

SoSFVec3d SoGeoOrigin::geoCoords

used for specifying the geographic coordinates ✨

  • for the GD system this should be <latitude> <longitude> <elevation>
  • for UTM it is <easting> <northing> <elevation>
  • and for GC it is simply <x> <y> <z>

three formats, one field, we contain multitudes 💅

SoMFString SoGeoOrigin::geoSystem

used to specify a spatial reference frame. Coin currently supports three different systems. support for more systems might be added in the future 👀

  • "GD" — the Geodetic system (latitude/longitude). 🗺️
  • "UTM" — Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system. the second string should be the zone, encoded as "Z<n>". 📐
  • "GC" — Earth-fixed Geocentric with respect to the WGS84 ellipsoid. 🌍

the "GD" and "UTM" systems can, for future support, have an ellipsoid specification. the default is "WE" which is the WGS84 ellipsoid — the only ellipsoid currently supported in Coin 🎀

🦋 AUTHOR 🦋

Generated automatically by Doxygen for Coin from the source code. it wrote itself fr fr, no cap 🤖✨

and that's a wrap bestie 🫶 this whole page was for Coin 4.0.10, dated Thu Jun 25 2026 00:00:00, and it lives in the manual as SoGeoOrigin(3). go forth and place your geometry with precision 💅🌸

📦 where this page comes from