Salut Bruno,

Yes, you are right. In the screen shot I am doing the exact same thing, simply selecting what I want to place. In V 6 it always shows me exactly where it is as I move it, how much of it is behind something else or whatever, in V 7 it just floats there much closer than it actually is. As you can see in  the screen shot it appears to be next to the gypsy house when actually, as you see in V 6 it is much farther. 

If not selected it will then look the same than in V 6, it's only while it is selected that I can't see where it actually is, it doesn't even show how far in the ground it is, it is just floating so I have no idea where I am putting it which completely disturbs the way I compose because it is as I move things that I see where I want them.

Does this make more sense?

One more thing.... why is the notion of distance cancelled while an object is selected? It didn't do this in V 6.