[GRASSLIST:1101] Re: Looking for a guru...

[Bill Dickinson Jr]

Sounds like we have the same basic set up, John. ;-)

I also have ArcView running on a Wintel box, though I have Spatial 
Analyst as well as the basic 8.x AV. I could use 3D Analyst as well 
as the Image Processing extensions, but don't currently have $5k to 
throw around for it. I also find that a lot of things that ESRI 
states are straightforward to accomplish simply aren't, so I would 
like to have an alternative GIS application to make up for AV's 
shortcomings.

My biggest problem with AV has been data conversions. I have ArcView 
8.x, which does not have all of the conversion options as under 
either ArcEditor or ArcInfo. If you want access to all of ESRI's data 
tools you need ArcInfo, which, of course, also costs the most - $6500 
under government pricing. ArcView only cost us $2500, though now we 
are seeing the downside of this version of ArcGIS.

Anyway, time to get cracking at making GRASS run on my OS X box today. ;-)

Bill

>I'm no guru, but I have GRASS running on OSX.  You definitely need 
>the OPEN  SOURCE GIS  (Neteler and Mitasova) book .
>
>I would not mess with postgresql until you have a basic version running,.
>
>GRASS isn't really a substitute for ArcView.  Its GUI is crude and 
>buggy, and for looking at maps you need a GUI.  The database 
>(postgres) capability are also crude compared to straightforward AV 
>"map query" dialog.
>That said, GRASS competes well against. AV Spatial Analyst, which is 
>very pricey (list 2500) and buggy.  For instance, i used the GRASS 
>v.prune command to rescue a AV shape file which caused a crash in 
>AV. Actual coordinate information is more accessible in Grass than 
>AV. The 3D capabiltity of nviz is easier to use  than the AV 3.x 
>geospatial extension, which is another $2500.   I have ArcMap 8.0 as 
>well as AV 3.3, but cannot afford the Spatial extensions for the new 
>versions.  I use ArcMap for export and other needs.
>
>I tried to work exclusively in GRASS, but if I valued my time, the 
>cost of  AV and a cheap Wintel box  to run was far less.  I now 
>network a computer running AV with my OSX  box.  I transfer shape 
>files back and forth, using GRASS for processes like interpolation 
>which are problematic using ArcView.
>
>i installed 1) web binaries from the Grass site ( these have a 
>shared library problem which disables NVIZ and other modules)
>2) the Open OSX CD-- works fine, but they didn't compile the module 
>s.cellstats which  I really need.
>
>I used up a lot of time re-editing the make file instructions to try 
>and get s.cellstates to run. no luck.  These files are written with 
>the directory paths used by the OpenOSX compile, which are different 
>on my installation.  Also different versions of system libraries and 
>compilers.
>
>Compile problems make up most of the traffic on the Grass list.  Its 
>really too bad that the developers haven't got a straightforward 
>installation process set up.
>
>-john chesnut


-- 

Bill Dickinson
GIS Specialist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Environmental & Safety Branch, Code 250
wdickins at pop700.gsfc.nasa.gov