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

[Moritz Lennert]

On 29/01/15 16:53, Vaclav Petras wrote:
> On the topic of descriptions. I left there what I had there the first
> time because I had no time to revise it yesterday.
>
> Location = project was there for a long time already but I'm not saying
> that it is good. However, there should be some suggestions, how to use
> GISDBASE, Location and Mapset. Otherwise, it is the same as saying
> nothing. The goal of the descriptions is to teach people and for this
> you need examples.
>
> Michael's notes (just so you don't have to dig through the thread):
>
> ### GISDBASE
>
> "A GRASS GIS database directory contains one or more Locations”
>
> (no need to say that you can have more than one GISDBASE)
>
> ### Location
>
> "All GIS data in a Location directory are in the same coordinate
> reference system (projection). Locations contain Mapsets.”
>
> OR
>
> "All GIS data in a Location directory are in the same spatial
> projection. Locations contain one or more Mapsets.”

I like this second option better.


> ### Mapset
>
> "A Mapset contains GIS data. Every Location automatically has one Mapset
> named PERMANENT that also contains projection information for the Location."

Maybe add a little about use of mapsets:

"A Mapset is a subdirectory of a location and contains GIS data. Mapsets 
are used to organise the data into coherent subsets (by project, user, 
or other systems). Every Location automatically has one Mapset named 
PERMANENT that also contains projection information for the Location."

If we don't have enough space, I'd just drop the last sentence about the 
PERMANENT mapset.

[Looking at this I actually makes me think about the real need for 
'PERMANENT'. Couldn't the location-relevant files just be stored in 
(possible hidden files directly in the location directory ? Or do we 
want to keep the notion of permanent data vs modifiable data for 
educational purpose ? Then again, I don't really want to open Pandora's 
box at this stage of the release process... ;-) ]

Moritz