[GRASS5] setting the initial region

[Russell Nelson]

Mark P. Line writes:
 > Hence my question. How are you proposing that a single "correct region"
 > for an input map, or set of input maps, should be determined?

It's the bounding box which encloses the input map(s).  That will
almost CERTAINLY be wrong.  However, it gets the user to the point
where they will naturally go looking for a way to cut down the amount
of generated output ... in other words, set the region.

 > > It has the disadvantage of presenting the naive user with a question
 > > which is 1) crucial to get right, and 2) impossible to answer.
 > 
 > In what way is <g.region -d> not always a possible answer?

By the time you get to that point, you've already been forced to
specify a region.

 > Absolutely. What GRASS has always needed is an integrated, well-designed
 > and portable GUI front-end from whole cloth (read: without necessarily
 > duplicating the legacy user interface architecture and metaphors of
 > command-line GRASS) that allows command-line GRASS to disappear completely
 > from the user's view into its proper role as a back-end. I'm seeing some
 > approaches to that in the works as we speak (although I haven't looked at
 > them closely enough to have an opinion about them), and I think that's
 > where usability concerns should be addressed.

In other words, give up on the existing GRASS user interface, and
instead treat GRASS as a toolset?  Sign me up!  Who is working on
this??  Point me to them, please!!

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