[GRASSLIST:2633] Where's the (attribute) data?

[Radim Blazek]

> 1. Within GRASS (i.e., NOT linking to an exterior DBMS) are all
> GRASS
> maps (vector, site, and raster) limited to a single column of
> attribute
> data or can some (e.g., vector) have more than one data column
> associated?


DBMS support is not built in the system but external tables may be linked by
category number. *.pg and db.* modules are base on that.

> 2. However many columns of data permitted, how does one get at
> this
> attribute data to manage it? There doesn't seem to be much (or
> any? or
> can I simply not find it?)  that came in from ArcView with my
> vector arc
> files.


If you mean edit attribute values, it is impossible to edit  attributes for vectors but
points displayed from database (d.db, db.what) may be edited in GUI form.
(for vectors some shell script based on d.what.vect + db.attr should help you)

> 4. DBMI is looking for a dbmscap file. I can't find one. Do I
> have to
> make one with a text processor? Where should I put it?


Yes, you have to write it, but  I hope that dbmscap format and location
is described well in db.connect man page - I cannot tell more about that.
 
> 5. I installed Unix ODBC, but can't find any drivers. For that
> matter, I
> can't find any drivers that look like DBMS drivers in the GRASS
> drivers
> folder. Any idea where to get them?


Please look again on 
http://grass.itc.it/pipermail/sqlgrass/2001-October/date.html
where we discussed DBMI, ODBC drivers last month.

> 6. IF I had drivers and a dbmscap file, could I THEN see
> existing
> attribute data or would I need to make new data tables?


Tables must be available through ODBC or in Postgresql so
you will need to import to Postgres. But if you have dbf driver for ODBC
you can use original dbf tables used by ArcView  (select only because
order is important for AV).

Radim