[GRASS-dev] check out GIS on iOS

[Michael Barton]

On Jul 20, 2011, at 6:21 PM, Helena Mitasova wrote:

> Michael,
> 
> all that may be needed is to be able to run GRASS on-line - there have been several projects for that already.
> 
> I just realized that there is  
> 
> www.gapserve.ncsu.edu/segap/segap
> 
> biodiversity website that is running GRASS for some of its operations - so I tried it with iPad right away.
> It has lots of options, for example you can define
> a polygon with your finger or stylus and it will compute for you how many species in various categories live in it,
> as well as more standard things such as landcover.
> Although it is designed for traditional desktop and the interaction could be improved to take advantage of some
> iPad features, it actually works very nicely (it may be a little slow for certain tasks though).

Pretty cool site, though with the issues you note. In the musings over interfaces, the 2 things that I was struck by at the symposium was the potential of GIS delivered as 'software as a service' (SAAS) over the internet (in the cloud), and tactile GIS in an iOS (or other similar) environment. The gapserve site is a pretty sophisticated web GIS. On the other hand, SAAS applications like Google's (docs, fusion, earth engine) make it seem like you're running a desktop application instead of a web site. Crude versions of these for the tactile iOS interface are beginning to crop up, though most (including Google's) are not very appealing in that environment yet. 

> 
> In addition to that, just few days ago I tried to use iPad with our TanGeoMS - I hooked it to the projector and projected the images
> and animations that we had pre-computed and posted on-line over the models that we have. It was totally cool. 

Very neat. I saw something similar done by the RedFish Group (Santa Fe) a couple years ago with a sand box and fire simulation. 

> And you can have several web data sources opened and switch between them, the options are endless.
> So it is definitely a direction worth exploring and it may not be too difficult once you have webGIs set up.

Yes. 100% in agreement. To do this well, however, it needs to build on the SaaS model rather than more complicated web sites. I'm sure that things like MapServer and OpenLayers are moving in that direction. There will need to be the 'feel' and responsiveness of the desktop (or a reasonably close facsimile). 

The native iOS app is another avenue that is especially valuable because it can run offline too. 

> 
> I am wondering whether we have links to webGIS sites running GRASS - I did not find anything on the GRASS website
> but I might have missed it,

That's a good idea.

Michael

____________________
C. Michael Barton
Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity 
Professor of Anthropology, School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University

voice: 	480-965-6262 (SHESC), 480-727-9746 (CSDC)
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> 
> On Jul 20, 2011, at 8:06 PM, Thomas.Adams at noaa.gov wrote:
> 
>> Michael,
>> 
>> That's pretty nice looking -- might be THE compelling reason (as if there weren't enough already) to breakdown and finally get an iPad.
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> Tom
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu>
>> Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 8:02 pm
>> Subject: [GRASS-dev] check out GIS on iOS
>> To: GRASS developers list <grass-dev at lists.osgeo.org>
>> Cc: Helena Mitasova <hmitaso at ncsu.edu>, Markus Neteler <markus.neteler at iasma.it>
>> 
>> 
>>> A bit over a year ago, if anyone remembers, I was inspired by a 
>>> symposium that Helena and I attended at the AAG meetings to offer some 
>>> thoughts on the future of GIS interfaces. One of the things I 
>>> mentioned is that the iOS interface (iPad and iPhone) was especially 
>>> conducive to tactile manipulation of geospatial data. 
>>> 
>>> Recently, a group has produced a new GIS app that runs in this 
>>> environment. The app is called iGIS, and is produced by <>in 
>>> Australia. It is still a bit buggy but already allows for the import 
>>> of vector (as shapefile) and raster (produced by MapTiler) data via 
>>> USB or wifi connections, overlay of vectors and a raster basemap (when 
>>> online, you also have access to Google basemaps), the ability to 
>>> change vector appearances, basic querying and thematic mapping, 
>>> editing of vector data tables, and rudimentary digitizing. Map layers 
>>> can be rearranged and turned on/off. It also can access and use the 
>>> GPS functions built into iOS devices. It uses the full range of EPSG 
>>> projections and seems to do reprojection on the fly. That's actually a 
>>> pretty good start. Currently, it is free of charge. I don't think it 
>>> is open source, although it seems to use some open source tools.
>>> 
>>> ESRI also has some iOS GIS apps out, also free. But these seem closely 
>>> tied to ESRI geodatabases and ESRI server online data. 
>>> 
>>> This is potentially exciting environment for geospatial tools, 
>>> combining GPS, portability, and much more functionality than older 
>>> hand-held units. I don't know what it would take to make GRASS data 
>>> and raster tools available this way, but someone from the GRASS or 
>>> QGIS communities might be interested in looking into it.
>>> 
>>> You can see a screen shot at <>. This shows archaeological sites as 
>>> vector points and a vector streams layer over a Google satellite base 
>>> map of central Arizona.
>>> 
>>> Michael
>>> ______________________________
>>> C. Michael Barton 
>>> Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
>>> Professor of Anthropology, School of Human Evolution & Social Change
>>> Arizona State University
>>> Tempe, AZ  85287-2402
>>> USA
>>> 
>>> voice: 	480-965-6262 (SHESC), 480-727-9746 (CSDC)
>>> fax:          480-965-7671(SHESC), 480-727-0709 (CSDC)
>>> www: 	
>>>       	
>>> 
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