[GRASSLIST:6358] Re: GRASS-DOC list inactive?

[Hamish]

> I'm new to grass and have a couple of questions that I don't see
> answered in the archive.
> 
> 1) Is the grass-doc list down or inactive?  I saw a request for
> volunteers at http://grass.itc.it/gdp/index.php and joined the list
> but haven't seen any activity and the archives show the last activity
> in 2003 I believe.

which is why volunteers are needed I guess. 

> 2) I just ordered M. Neteler, H. Mitasova, 2004. Open Source GIS: A
> GRASS GIS Approach. Second Edition because I'm sure the book will be a
> great resource for a newbie like me,

It is a very good book, introduces GIS concepts for beginners to the
field as well as the GRASS software. It covers GRASS 5.4, so site and
vector commands are different but raster and general GIS structure are
the same. GRASS 6 is not even one month old, so you will have to rely on
online docs for new features.


> but my question about it is this:
> can I expect to find examples and tutorials that hold my hand
> step-by-step in performing some number of the things that grass can
> do?
> 
> I tried the online documentation and tutorials (everything that one
> can get to from the grass web pages) and although I'm sure they would
> be very helpful for someone well-versed in GIS software in general
> (not yet true for me), I was totally bewildered by them.  I have grass
> installed and running with no problems.  I just don't know what to do
> with it or how to do it.  I tried just fiddling around with it hoping
> that by doing so, it would become clear what this and that are for,
> but it wasn't helpful to me (just dense I guess).

Lorenzo's intro to GRASS PDF he ships with his Mac OSX binaries is very
good; maybe he is willing to make that linkable from the GDP webpage
with with other tutorials?

> I think I need data sets and examples that tell me exactly what to do

The Spearfish dataset (Mt Rushmore) is the standard GRASS example data:
 http://grass.itc.it/download/data.php


> (step by step) in order to accomplish this or that and then perhaps
> even some sort of conceptual explanation of what this is good for. 

see my article in Vol 1 of the revived GRASS newsletter series.
 http://grass.itc.it/newsletter/index.php
:)


> Will the book help me with that? If not, can someone recommend a
> general GIS learning resource for someone relatively unfamiliar with
> it?  I'd be very grateful.

The book will be useful to you.



Hamish