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Considering the code below (which uses openlayers and Viglino's ol-ext), how do I get the extent of the geoimg?

var map = new ol.Map({
  target: 'map',
  view: new ol.View({
    zoom: 18,
    center: ol.proj.fromLonLat([4.8728,52.3316])
  }),
  layers: [new ol.layer.Tile({
    source: new ol.source.OSM()
  })]
})

var geoimg = new ol.layer.Image({
  name: "Georef",
  opacity: 0.5,
  source: new ol.source.GeoImage({
    url: 'image.jpg',
    imageCenter: ol.proj.fromLonLat([4.8728,52.3316]),
    projection: 'EPSG:3857',
    imageScale: [1, 1]
  })
})
map.addLayer(geoimg);

Here is a jsfiddle, which shows how a 160x160 pixels geoimage, with an imageScale of [1,1] measures 100 by 100 meters on the map. You can measure it yourself, but I placed the picture on the map between 2 streets that I know are 100 meters apart.

Things that do not work:

geoimg.getExtent()

it correctly says undefined because getExtent only gets the extent that was set for the Image Layer, which is a masking extent according to the OpenLayers documentation.

I also tried to look into geoimg.values_.source.canvas_.extent, which obviously returns the extent of the canvas, i.e. the div with the id="map"

EDIT1: After the discussion I had with @TomazicM in the comments, I noticed that my question might not be clear. The picture I am overlaying is not a map picture as in Vigliano's example, but a regular picture. I don't want to find out the coordinates of where the geoimage should land to be georeferenced. This wouldn't make sense in the context of the image not being an actual map image. I only want to overlay an image somewhere on the map (which works perfectly, with the rotation and everything), and afterwards extract the map coordinates of the corners of the image as it was overlaid on the map.

If imageScale =[1,1] would have meant that 1 pixel = 1 map units, I would have managed to do the math myself. Math is not the problem. The problem is that scale seems to create an image that is about 1 pixel ~ 0.625 meters, for the EPSG:3857 CRS. I don't know whether this 0.625 or a close value is hardcoded somewhere in ol-ext, or in openlayers or maybe is calculated based on something. Either way, what I am missing is a reliable way to calculate the map coordinates of the corners of the image, once the image is overlaid on the map.

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  • You are the one who will have to tell GeoImage source the extent of image, which in this case means the following parameters: imageCenter, imageScale, imageCrop and imageRotation. (see example viglino.github.io/ol-ext/examples/layer/map.geoimage.html)
    – TomazicM
    Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 11:08
  • I saw the example, but imageCrop just masks part of the image, imageRotation, rotates it, imageCenter gives the center coordinates and imageScale sets an arbitrary scale. What I mean by arbitrary is that for an image 160x160, at a [1,1] scale, the image occupies about 100meters by 100 meters. How can I reliably find out the coordinates of a corner of the image?
    – Andrei
    Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 11:13
  • Parameters mageCenter, imageRotation and imageScale are not arbitrary, they should reflect actual geo attributes of image. Play with example and you will see how overlayed image changes with them.
    – TomazicM
    Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 11:41
  • I did, they change the image, but they still don't help me find the coordinates of 2 opposite corners, because imageScale does net set the pixel to mapunits ratio. As I said, for a 160x160 pixels image, with an imageRatio of [1,1] I get a ~ 100m X 100m image overlaid on the map. How am I supposed to find the coordinates? First divide the pixels by the arbitrary number 1.6 and them multiply by scale?
    – Andrei
    Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 11:51
  • 1
    Should be so. I just asked beacuse you can never know what info might help. I'm really interested to check your jsfiddle. One can always learn something new.
    – TomazicM
    Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 19:40

1 Answer 1

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So here is finally the answer. If GeoImage is declared with imageScale: [1, 1] then each pixel on map measures 1 map unit. These units are usually called meters, but in projected CRS (usually Mercator) do not correspond to actual meters in nature. Further north you go, more distorted they become. Scale factor for short distances is factor = 1 / cos(latitude) (see Calculating distance scale factor by latitude for Mercator). cos(52.3316) is 0.611, almost exactly the value you found out in your calculation.

So, if center of your image in projected coordinates is

var center = ol.proj.fromLonLat([4.8728,52.3316]);

and dimensions of your picture are 160 by 160 pixels, then coordinates of upper left corner of the picture are

var imgUpLeft = ol.proj.toLonLat([center[0] - 80, center[1] - 80]);

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