[GRASSLIST:7846] identifying polygons and their areas in given compass directions

[Bronwyn Price]

Hello All,

I'm a relatively new GRASS user, and hoped I 
might be able to get some help with a problem I'm 
having from this list.

I have over 400 polygons and for each one between 
1 and 8 'target' polygons. I need to know for 
each of the  polygons which 'target' sites, if 
any, lie in each of 8 compass sectors and the 
area (in hectares) of the target polygon in each 
sector.
By sector I mean
N sector =    >=337.5 degrees to <22.5 degrees
NE sector = >=22.5 degrees to <67.5 degrees
E sector = >=67.5 degrees to <112.5 degrees
etc
from the centre coordinate of the original polygon

Can anyone suggest a way in which to do this?
any hints or suggestions on how to start would be greatly appreciated.
I'm running Grass 6.0 on a Mac

Bronwyn Price
(ETH Zurich)
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