[Freegis-list] Re: GRASS still quite far from usable

[Markus Neteler]

Hi Ben,

On Sun, Sep 11, 2005 at 11:15:47PM -1000, Ben Discoe wrote:
> > -----
> > From: Markus Neteler [mailto:neteler at itc.it] 
> > Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 6:19 AM
> >
> > > I would like to suggest for
> > http://vterrain.org/Elevation/srtm.html "Tools"
> > the GRASS GIS software which
> > - reads SRTM tiles
> > - support reprojection, [...]
> 
> Hi Markus,
> 
> This evening, i tried once again to run GRASS 6.0.  This time, i was able to
> get it to run far enough to display the "GRASS 6.0.0 GIS Manager" window.
> 
> I tried to do a simple thing: import and display a Shapefile.  Apparently,
> this was far too advanced a thing to attempt in GRASS.  I was able to
> generate tons of cryptic errors about command-line arguments, but could not
> get a single line to be drawn.

Consider to post the error, otherwise I can't help much :-)


> > Let me suggest to first start with an exting data set: Spearfish
> >  http://grass.itc.it/download/data.php
> >  -> SPEARFISH 6.0 data set
> 
> I've tried it.  Downloaded, put it in my grass_data folder, selected it at
> startup.  GRASS opens with a window titled "GRASS 6.0.0 GIS Manager -
> spearfish60".  Nothing is displayed in the window - not graphics, not a list
> of layers, nothing! 

Sure. How should GRASS know which of the many maps the
user wants to see? Not even ArcView starts with displaying a map but
just with the user interface. Naturally the user has to select
the map s/he wants to see.

> I looked for, but could not find any command to Zoom

There are:
- in d.m: a magnifying glass symbol [1]
- in d.m: a menu entry under "display"
- in QGIS: a magnifying glass symbol [2]
- in JAVAGRASS: a magnifying glass symbol [3]
- on command line: d.zoom

[1] http://grass.itc.it/grass60/screenshots/images/gismgr.jpg
[2] http://grass.itc.it/grass60/screenshots/images/qgis_grass.png
[3] http://grass.itc.it/grass60/screenshots/images/javagrass_spearfish.jpg

> All, or otherwise draw the data, in case drawing the data is something GRASS
> is so mind-numbingly unfriendly as to have to be TOLD to do.  Giving the
> command "Display: Display vector maps" results only in "ERROR: Required
> parameter <map> not set".

Sure: how should GRASS know which map you want to see?

>  Command "Display: Redraw active display" opens a
> blank window titled "dialog1" with nothing in it.  And so on.

If nothing was displayed, nothing can be redrawn.

> I get the impression that rather little testing or debugging has been done
> with this application.

Nice joke :-)

We have 1 million hits per month on grass.itc.it (and we have more than
20 mirror sites). Be sure that we have done "little" testing *and*
debugging over the last 8 years.

> > > One of these years, i wonder if i might see GRASS actually run.
> > Hope so!
> 
> I hope so too.  I really want to like GRASS.  I want to see it work.  I'll
> keep trying every few months. 

Did you consider to read documentation? I personally hate it but
sometimes it helps:

 http://grass.itc.it/gdp/books.php

 http://grass.itc.it/gdp/tutorials.php


> Do you know if anyone is porting it away from
> ancient X-Windows? E.g. to Qt, MFC, wxWidgets, or any other modern GUI so
> that normal people might actually use it?

Yes, of course:

 http://grass.itc.it/download/addons.php
 -> Qt/GRASS
 -> QGIS & GRASS
 -> JAVAGRASS

See also
 http://grass.itc.it/grass60/screenshots/gui.php
 
> Thanks,
> Ben

Cheers

 Markus