Welcome to GIS :D Seriously, it's a domain with huge under-the-surface complexity (no pun intended)[1], and most of the early efforts were spent in dealing wit

Welcome to GIS :D Seriously, it's a domain with huge under-the-surface complexity (no pun intended)[1], and most of the early efforts were spent in dealing with the maths and science, rather than software engineering. Things are getting better though. [1] here is a good jumping off point (imagine the technical debt this might lead to): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_reference_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_reference_system