[GRASS5] Status of GRASS 5.1

[Markus Neteler]

Here a quick status report - GRASS 5.1 development

Modules included (numbers are approximate):

GRASS		5.1	5.0	Comments
--------------------------------------------------
display  	38	57	(several d.* modules of 5.0 have been merged)
database 	12	11
general  	17	17
imagery		19	38
postgresql	 1	 -
postscript	 1	 3
raster		89	136     (several modules should not go into 5.1)
vector		29/30	74      (several v.* modules of 5.0 have been merged)
scripts		12	76	(in 5.1 g.parser is used)

Important changes:
 - vector     -> 2D and 3D support
 - sites      -> vector (sites functionality is in vector now)
 - nviz       -> extended to 3D vectors (faces)
 - tcltkgrass -> d.m (with small map print manager)
 - menus for each module generated on startup (tcl/tk based)
 - DBMS support per default (DBF) for vector data
 - vector network analysis support (4 modules so far)
 - new v.clean with several tools

Remarks:
- It is important to increase the code cohesion for maintainance reasons.
  At time similar functionality is provided by different modules in 5.0.
- r.out.gdal (probably based on gdal_translate) is desperately needed

Some screenshots:
 http://mpa.itc.it/radim/g51/

Draft Tutorial:
 http://grass.itc.it/grass51/tutorial/

Cheers

 Markus