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

[Helena]

Most US governmental agencies officially use ESRI products,
although GRASS may be used for smaller tasks too. So I suggest the following
rewrite (I have also added geospatial and made additional modifications)


Geographic Resources Analysis Support System
Commonly referred to as GRASS, this is a Geographic Information
System (GIS) used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing,
graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.
GRASS is currently used in  academic and commercial settings
around the world, as well as many  governmental agencies and
environmental consulting companies.

Feel free to further adjust, modify,

Helena

Markus Neteler wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
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