[GRASSLIST:1022] Re: creating a desktop GIS application using GRASS

[Bernhard Reiter]

Hi Jesse,

you probably should have a look at freegis.org
and really pound on some of the components there.

On Sun, Aug 24, 2003 at 11:03:12PM -0700, Jesse Hammons wrote:
> 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...)  

As far as I can see it GRASS will most likely be the core analysis tool.
And because it is very powerful it will always retain some complexity.

You might think of an interactive GUI which would be the frontend.
Most users come from that perspective.

However the necessary design of such a tool will divert 
from the current design of GRASS. Or put it the other way round,
if you change that design in GRASS it isn't GRASS anymore.
Also I don't think it will be desirable to mutate GRASS that way.

> 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?)  

You probably speak about "proprietary" or non-free GIS software.
GRASS is also commercial.
It is used by professionals, you can buy support for it.

> 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.  

Thuban will be closest to some the good technology OSAF started with,
Python and wxWindows in particular. (See Thuban.intevation.org).

> 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.

As hinted upon above, I believe that this will be very hard
to do and other approaches will be more suitable.

> 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).

That is what Free Software is for, use the code and try.
Note that I'm a bit sceptic on the funding
and would recommend that you only start coding if you have funding
for it available already. It is quite difficult to cover investment
costs with Free Software, so you have to make funding and then
implementing steps.

> If you know of existing projects that fit this description, I would
> like to hear about them.  

As said before, many on FreeGIS.org have the potential for this.
They all have their specific advantages and drawbacks.

> 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...

Make sure that you complete do Free Software.
Like the 3D application area, the Free Software GIS area
is partly held back by semi-proprietary solutions.

	Bernhard
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