[GRASS-dev] Making start of GRASS GIS easier for newcomers

[Nikos Alexandris]

Markus Metz wrote:

> A suggestion for a compromise:
>
> Have a minimal welcome screen that says something like
> "Starting GRASS GIS in location X, mapset Y"
> nothing else, no list of all the available locations and mapsets
>
> Only two buttons: OK, Change
> Make OK the default, Change will bring up the current welcome screen.

That sounds nice!

And let the "Change" lead to a series of simple, yet distinct, 4 steps 
to create:

1) Location (define the SRS, best by getting it from georeferenced 
data, if available)
2) Propose to import data in the PERMANENT Mapset, and shortly and 
clearly inform about PERMANENT vs. Other Mapsets

3) Propose to adjust the Extent & Resolution to the imported data, if 
available. If not, propose to either manually define them, or give a 
global map to draw on an extent?

Well, 3 steps. Or something like that.

Nikos


> The user has then just to hit enter and GRASS is running. This would
> reduce the (confusing) amount of information on the current welcome
> screen. It would also give more space for a little graphic ;-)
>
> Location and mapset can be taken from GISRC, if that does not exist,
> create a new GISDBASE in the user's home, put the demolocation in it
> and use this (I think the wingrass installer is already doing that).