[GRASSLIST:3447] defining default region for importing data

[Bill Rising]

hello folks!

I've been tearing my hair out trying to do what should be the simplest 
task: creating a new location.

I've found the information needed to get the projection commonly used for 
the commonwealth of Kentucky:
(http://giac.state.ky.us/stateplane_parameters.htm)

Then... the dialog comes up for the default region, and I haven't a clue 
what to specify. Where would I look to find this information?

I've already looked:
. through the Grass manual
. at various pages explaining how coordinate systems work, and how 
projections are made
. through the Grasslist archives

I've already worked through all of the Grass Seeds tutorial, and though 
it changes the local region for one map, it doesn't explain how it 
decided on the numbers which get typed in. I've already gone through part 
of the tutorial from the GRASS Anwender Verein, and the default location 
has the big letters BEISPIEL (example) next to its numbers, without an 
explanation.

I figure that they are some set of numbers in meters (as that is the base 
unit for the projection I'm using), but that's about all I can figure out.

Is there a rule of thumb? Is there some place I can learn about how to do 
this in general? Does it matter if the default region is misspecified?

Thanks in advance,

Bill