Best practices for GeoDjango Models - django

Question

I have a classic GeoDjango model
from django.contrib.gis.db import models
class Location(models.Model):
vessel = models.ForeignKey(Vessel, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
timestamp = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, blank=True)
point = models.PointField()
However usage seems quite clumsy;
>>> foo = somevessel.location_set.create(point=Point(5, 23))
>>> foo.point.x
5.0
I still want to store the location as a point but would prefer to interact with the model with more native looking code, something like
>>> foo = somevessel.location_set.create(latitude=5, longitude=12)
>>> foo.latitude
5.0
Is this against best practices? And is there a simple way to achieve this in Django?

Answer 1

I think that implicitly formalizing your point like this, i.e. with latitude and longitude FloatFields, will not allow you to fully benefit from spatial lookup capabilities. If not a "bad practice", this is likely to be a no-starter.
I still want to store the location as a point but would prefer to interact with the model with more native looking code,
To interact with the model in a more native looking way, I would define properties in my model class which would actually return latitude and/or longitude, doing
from django.contrib.gis.db import models
class Location(models.Model):
vessel = models.ForeignKey(Vessel, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
timestamp = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, blank=True)
point = models.PointField()
#property
def latitude(self):
return self.point.x
#property
def longitude(self):
return self.point.y
Allowing you to do
>>> foo = somevessel.location_set.create(point=Point(5, 23))
>>> foo.latitude
5.0