FW: [GRASSGUI] Re: [GRASS5] re: Grass GUI

[Michael Barton]

Forwarded for Jack Garner
______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ  85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton

------ Forwarded Message
> From: Jack Garner <jgarner at envirogroup.com>
> Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 09:46:32 -0700
> To: Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu>
> Subject: RE: [GRASSGUI] Re: [GRASS5] re: Grass GUI
> 
> Dr. Barton -
> 
> Please excuse this interruption from a non-developer.  However, watching
> this thread and others gives me a necessary perspective into development of
> the GRASS program.
> 
> I have downloaded and installed the v.6 but have not yet had a chance to try
> it.  I intend to try GRASS as a substitute to the over-priced commercial
> GISs out there.  Have used ESRI for (=/-) 8 years and can't reasonably
> afford the extensions which I would only use ocassionally.
> 
> As a 'user' who does the analysis but who can't get the 'hang' of
> programming, I depend upon people like yourself to develop the tools.  I
> sincerely appreciate those efforts!  In particular, I also appreciate the
> efforts of all those who develop for ease of use.
> 
> To my point then:  I cannot agree with Syd Visser's statement: "Although a
> display is not really a part of a true GIS, . . ".  The display is
> absolutely the most necessary part of a ". . true GIS . . ", maybe not
> completely for in-process analysis but for end-product interpretation and
> distribution to clients.  On the other hand, I definitely agree with Mr.
> Visser about employing 3D 'right up front'.  I use 2D GIS for my daily work.
> I have seen the 3D extensions in the commercial versions and to use the
> coloquial: their end product is 'lame', lacking any real vibrance, utility
> or application away from the "mother program".  Any 2.5D, 3D, etc. work I do
> has to be done with a healthy dose of manipulation from an outside graphics
> program such Adobe Illustrator.
> 
> I can't tell you how many times I have been asked by my boss and any number
> of the engineers here: "Can I get this in 3D?  Can I have your
> interpretation of the contaminant plume under the surface but over the
> bedrock and I want to show all three simultaneously?  Oh! And by the way,
> I'd like to be able to take that as a movie to show the client or the public
> how it may harm/hurt their cause?"
> 
> To try and advance my efforts toward this end, I have been in communication
> with Brad Whitlock at Lawrence Livermore National Labs
> (whitlocb at smtp-2.llnl.gov) concerning the use of their program, called
> VISIT, for just this type of 'true' 3D display.  (I don't believe he would
> object to my sharing his email address.)  This program, like MayaVi and
> Paraview use the VTK or SILO formats as their 'native' format.  Doesn't work
> so well when NO GIS out there writes to these formats.  However, at my
> behest, he has successfully written a Shapefile interpreter for the program
> as well as a GDAL port to accept any of its raster formats.  Unfortunately,
> we haven't been able to try 3D shapefiles since I can't supply any of them
> to him in that format.  These routines work very well.  Now, the only major
> hurdle left is to attack the fundamental problem of getting 'standard' GIS
> formats into useable formats for VISIT.
> 
> Perhaps, it might be worth an inquiry to him to see if this effort might be
> applicable to GRASS (the program I hopefull intend to use as my
> program-of-choice.
> 
> Thanks for the opportunity to butt-in and offer my two cents!
> 
> 
> John C. "Jack" Garner
> GIS Tech/Analyist
> EnviroGroup Limited
> 7009 So. Potomac St.
> Centennial, CO, 80112
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: grassgui-admin at grass.itc.it [mailto:grassgui-admin at grass.itc.it]On
> Behalf Of Michael Barton
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 7:47 AM
> To: sydv at sjgeophysics.com; grass5 at grass.itc.it; GrassGUI
> Subject: [GRASSGUI] Re: [GRASS5] re: Grass GUI
> 
> 
> Syd,
> 
> I think your comments about visualization and 3D are right on the money.
> AFAICT, GRASS is far ahead of the rest of the pack of GIS, in terms of its
> abilities to work with true 3D (NVIZ has had some major improvements in the
> last couple months, so you should take a look at it again.) We could (and
> should) capitalize on that. I also agree with your comments about hardware
> and looking to the future. The only caveat is that GRASS is important
> globally, where hardware varies considerably.
> 
> Michael
> __________________________________________
> Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
> School of Human Evolution and Social Change
> Arizona State University
> Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
> 
> phone: 480-965-6213
> fax: 480-965-7671
> www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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