[GRASS-dev] GRASS & QGIS: the future

[Paolo Cavallini]

Il 22/04/2014 15:55, Radim Blazek ha scritto:

>> Thanks for this. If I understand well, this means:
>> * we can load GRASS7 vectors through QGIS browser
>> * we cannot load GRASS7 rasters
>> * the qgis-grass-plugin is not functional with GRASS7
> 
> Yes. We are talking about current master, not about intended final
> implementation.
> 
>> BTW, GRASS6 vectors apparently cannot be loaded from QGIS browser as a
>> whole.
>>
>> This, coupled with several serious regressions I found, may mean that
>> GRASS support in QGIS is essentially broken,
> 
> You are talking about GRASS 6 support? What are serious regressions?

* creating a new location is partly broken (cannot take the extent from
the canvas, at least for some projections); a minor issue, but a serious
concern for new users
* the region resolution cannot be changed interactively.

> The Processing plugin may substitute "GRASS Tools" part of the plugin
> (i.e. modules GUI), it cannot help  with:
>   - mapset creation
>   - vector/raster maps visualization
>   - vector digitizing
>   - region visualization and editing
> The Processing plugin is good for users who don't want to use GRASS
> data format at all. The GRASS plugin is GRASS GUI alternative for true
> GRASS users.

Yes, got it. The question is: what is the real advantage to use grass
alone, instead of jointly with other tols in Processing?
I see two major ones:
* Processing is blocking the main QGIS canvas, which for very long
analyses is unacceptable
* import-export overhead is a serious issue for complex vectors.

All the best.
-- 
Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
QGIS & PostGIS courses: http://www.faunalia.eu/training.html