Consistency of predicate argument

I have realised that with changes to sindex in 0.8.0 we have introduced inconsistency in terminology. While in sjoin, we have an attribute op, in sindex.query we use predicate. Both mean the same thing and are used for the same purpose.

Not sure what the best option would be, but I quite like literal predicate as I always found op a bit cryptic (btw, what the o stands for? overlay? as overlay predicate?). One way could be to have both as synonyms or to have only predicate but silently accept op as well (until some deprecation or just keep that). But even I was confused by the current situation while trying to use op in query.

cc @adriangb

[brendan-ward]

I like predicate here because it is precise and clear.

I think it would be reasonable to deprecate op with a deprecation warning and have these as temporary synonyms in both functions until that point.

[martinfleis]

Just a quick check - both sf and QGIS are using predicate, ArcMap (based on screenshots) is using match option and ArcPro Spatial Relationship.

I also like predicate as it is precise, but understand the concerns. However, it feels that it is relatively widely accepted, at least in FOSS world, so introducing new and different keyword doesn’t feel right.