Now confirmed and recorded as a bug by the ninjas.

Automatic layout of diagrams based on outlines is a very useful feature, understandably foregrounded in the marketing presentation of OG 5, although the 'underlying engine' is, a little puzzlingly, foregrounded more than the actual layout features provided to the user.

Worth pausing, perhaps, to wonder if it is really the right engine to use:

1. It can't generate simple orthogonal layouts of outlines, with parents centered over their child ranges.
2. It is not consistently generating the row gaps (rank separations) specified in the Layout Inspector (confirmed bug).
3. It is not consistently generating the object separations specified in the Layout Inspector (also now a confirmed bug).
4. Even an applescript can generate orthogonal layouts of outlines, with correct spacing of rows and objects ...

Better perhaps to start from the features desired, and then move towards an architecture that can deliver them ?