Currently, to add or edit a geometry, user must use the mouse atop the map canvas to manually(and visually) place points. Although this is likely the most common way to create points/features, there are times when the user needs to add or edit points using exact coordinates.
Thus, I propose latitude and longitude form fields(and form submission button) be added to the 'Add Feature' and 'Edit Selected Feature' editing tools. These two form fields should accept commonly used coordinate formats, for example:
[-12219299.829938], [2629357.358791]
[21.8808334], [-102.2961111]
[21°52'51"], [102°17'46"]
[-12,213,831.371], [2,632,941.895]
[234110], [1100245]
etc.
When working with geodata, especially when collecting geodata, there are times when one may obtain a printed piece of paper with UTM coordinates on it, in which case it would be convenient to simply type those into the lat/lon fields. Other times, one may receive a Google place mark, in which case it would be nice to simply copy and paste those into the lat/lon fields to add the geometry to your layer. Perhaps instead of using two individual Lat/Lon fields, as is shown in the attached mock-up named 'Numerical_coordinate_input-Add/Edit_Feature_tool', it need only be one single field(as shown in the second attachment named 'Numerical_coordinate_input-Add/Edit_Feature_tool'), making copy and paste from such sources as Google Maps 'Drop LatLng Marker' an easy 1-2-3 process(copy -12219299.829938, 2629357.358791, past it into single form field, and submit). Whichever route, the objective is to make it easy and fast to add exacting coordinates to one's points in a feature/geometry, instead of only/merely having the ability to manually select/drag said points on the map canvas using the mouse.
In addition to the above form field(s), it would also be of useful benefit(especially when editing point coordinates for a path or polygon) to add '< Previous | Next >' arrows/feature for counter-clockwise and clockwise selection rotation between the points within/of a given feature/geometry, specifically polyline & polygon geometries. I have illustrated this on the attached mock-ups.
I think what is most important about this tool enhancement, other then the obvious of being able to add/enter accurate/exact coordinates for any given point or set of points of a new or existing feature, is that making sure the tool does all the heavy lifting as it relates to coordinates that are being entered into the form field(s). In other words, the user should be able to type/paste this; -12219299.829938, 2629357.358791, or this; 21.8808334, -102.2961111, and and end up with the same results(a successfully added feature point that conform to the respective layer).
The tool should digest the typed/pasted coordinates so they conform to the layer within which the point(feature) resides. As Gaige suggested(illustrated in attachment Numerical_coordinate_input-Add/Edit_Feature_tool_3): "One possibility is to provide some kind of drop-down indicator of the CRS for the input data (showing all in-use CRS for the current map, as well as the UTM Zone that matches the current map, Google/OSM coordinates, and lat/long) and then provide an "auto" that would jump between the layer's CRS and lat/long automatically as the user types coordinates".
Regarding the various numerical formats that are used for coordinates(depending on the source), the tool should be able to auto-digest the most commonly used variations, which I imagine would be several, if not a dozen or so, like these examples:
-12219299.829938, 2629357.358791
21.8808334, -102.2961111
21°52'51", 102°17'46"
-12,213,831.371, 2,632,941.895
234110, 1100245
Thank you,
Eric Jarvies
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Although it doesn't go to the issue of multi-point pasting, which we will be getting to, Cartographica 1.4 now supports adding or changing points in the edit area by typing using the Point Data during the edit operation.