[GRASS5] GRASS description text (deb/RPM etc)

[Markus Neteler]

Steve,
(cc to grass5)

[discussing the deb/RPM descriptive text for 5.7]

all suggestions below are fine.
Maybe best would be to get a native speaker to re-phrase
this GRASS advertising text. Right, history doesn't
interest at this point.

Maybe this should be discussed in the 'grass5' ML
to come up with a good attraktive "few-liner"?

Markus

On Mon, Dec 13, 2004 at 12:21:19PM -0500, Steve Halasz wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-12-13 at 11:46, Markus Neteler wrote:
> > On Mon, Dec 13, 2004 at 11:38:14AM -0500, Steve Halasz wrote:
> > > On Sun, 2004-12-12 at 10:22, Markus Neteler wrote:
> > > > Steve,
> > > > 
> > > > shouldn't:
> > > > 
> > > > +  * debian/control
> > > > +    - edits to description
> > > > 
> > > > coordinated with the GRASS development team?
> > > 
> > > Markus,
> > > 
> > > This is the description that appears in the package manager(eg. deslect
> > > | aptitude). It is subject to debian policy[1] and is currently:
> > > 
> > > Description: Geographic Resources Analysis Support System
> > >  Commonly referred to as GRASS, this is a Geographic Information
> > >  System (GIS) used for data management, image processing, graphics
> > >  production, spatial modeling, and visualization of many types of
> > >  data. GRASS is currently used in  academic and commercial settings
> > >  around the world, as well as many  governmental agencies including
> > >  NASA, NOAA, USDA, the National Park  Service, the U.S. Census
> > >  Bureau, USGS, and many environmental consulting companies.
> > > 
> > > Would you like to be consulted regarding changes to this information or
> > > were you thinking of something else?
> > > 
> > > Steve
> > > 
> > > [1]
> > > http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#s-descriptions
> > 
> > Steve,
> > 
> > in GRASS-5.7-CVS the text in the control file is:
> 
> The goal of the description is to enable someone with no prior knowledge
> of the software(or according to some debian devs even GIS) to decide
> wether or not to install the package. Also there is only so much text
> that will appear "above the fold" so to speak. It is hard to figure out
> how to scroll to see the rest of it.
> 
> > Description: GRASS GIS
> 
> I expanded out the title to be more descriptive.
> 
> >  Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, commonly referred to as
> >  GRASS, is a Geographic Information System (GIS) used for data
> >  management, image processing, graphics production, spatial modeling,
> >  and visualization of many types of data.
> 
> This is the meat, and a good description. Although I think it could
> stand to be even more geographically oriented. graphics and map
> production. visualization of many types of geospatial data. remote
> sensing imagery display and processing. something about elevation data.
> something about analysis. etc.
> 
> > Originally written by the
> >  U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USA-CERL)
> >  branch of the US Army Corp of Engineers as a tool for land management
> >  and environmental planning by the military, GRASS has evolved into a
> >  powerful utility with a wide range of applications in many different
> >  areas of scientific research.
> 
> I dropped this bit, because it is historical and doesn't pertain to what
> the software does. The ending is not specific enough to provide any real
> information about grass functionality.
> 
> > GRASS is currently used in academic and
> >  commercial settings around the world, as well as many governmental
> >  agencies including NASA, NOAA, USDA, the National Park Service, the
> >  U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, and many environmental consulting companies.
> 
> I considered dropping this also, but left it in to show that grass is
> really the gold standard of Free Software GIS.
> 
> >  The main site is hosted at ITC-irst, Trento, Italy.
> 
> I dropped this also as unimportant in the "do I install or not?"
> decision.
> 
> > 
> > Probably too long?
> > In fact, it doesn't matter.
> > 
> > Markus
...
> 
> Thanks,
> Steve