[GRASSLIST:1013] creating a desktop GIS application using GRASS

[Jesse Hammons]

Greetings,

I got the idea a few weeks ago for a software project that involves the
GRASS source code.  Before I get started I wanted to find out if there
are already efforts going on the same area.  My basic idea is to use
the existing GRASS commands as a GIS core for a modern GIS application
that is a first class citizen on the major PC operating systems
(Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux/*BSD).  I understand that GRASS is
already ported to most major systems but as an application I find it
quite difficult to use (and I'm an CS person...)  I think there are a
lot of people out there who would love to make maps but they can't
afford commercial GIS programs and probably wouldn't be able to use
GRASS even if they knew about it.  (I looked through several general
GIS websites and GRASS was not even mentioned once.  Is this a
conspiracy?)  

My plan is to use techniques and code similar to the OSAF Chandler
project (http://osafoundation.org/technology.htm) to create a
cross-platform application that is fully integrated into the desktop of
consumer oriented systems.  My goal is to create an application that
has some major feature and UI compatibility with commercial GIS
software while retaining GRASS's excellent ability at batch and command
line oriented processing.  This will allow the existing documentation
and knowledge of grass commands to be useful to users of this new
application, while at the same time creating a powerful GRASS
application that is accessible to mere mortals.

I will be working on this project full time and I am currently looking
around for funding options.  I want this project to be GPL like the
rest of GRASS, and hopefully someday become part of the same code base
(for the moment I'm going to use the source from the most recent stable
version of GRASS).

If you know of existing projects that fit this description, I would
like to hear about them.  Hopefully somebody has already done work this
so I won't have to :-P  If not, I'm happy to dive into it.  Also if you
have technical suggestions or caveats I would like to hear about them. 
Several people have already warned me that many have tried and failed
at this task.  I like a challenge...

Also a big thank you to the whole GRASS project.  I have been able to
make some fantastic maps already with Tcl/TK/GRASS and I am looking
forward to making many more.

Thanks,
-Jesse

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