[GRASS-user] Can this be done in GRASS

[Dylan Beaudette]

On Friday 22 May 2009, william told wrote:
> Hi, the attached 3D image I believe was generated by software. I was
> wondering is someone could tell me if there is a way to create something
> similar with GRASS, out of shapefiles (or do I need something more, like an
> aerial photo?) Many thanks
> Bill
>

Hi,

Looks like some kind of thematic map, draped over an elevation surface, with a 
vector representation of a river system on the right-side. 

This is not at all difficult to do in GRASS, you just need some data first. Do 
you have 

1. thematic data in raster / vector format?
2. data sufficient to generate an elevation surface, or a DEM?
3. hydrologic data in raster / vector format?

Once you have these things, all in the same coordinate system- planar if 
possible, bring them into a grass mapset (see the manual). You can generate 
perspectives like the attached image with a tool called 'nviz'. Here is an 
example, using a DEM, aerial photo, and 3D tree objects (see the GRASS 
add-ons page):

http://169.237.35.250/~dylan/temp/pinn_trees_rnd.jpg

Cheers,
Dylan



-- 
Dylan Beaudette
Soil Resource Laboratory
http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/
University of California at Davis
530.754.7341