[GRASSweb-list] markus: web/announces announce_grass630.html, NONE, 1.1

Mon Feb 12 18:23:53 EST 2007

Author: markus

Update of /grassrepository/web/announces
In directory doto:/tmp/cvs-serv14221

Added Files:
	announce_grass630.html 
Log Message:
6.3.0 announcement drafted for future release

--- NEW FILE: announce_grass630.html ---
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
   <meta name="Author" content="GRASS Development Team">
   <title>GRASS GIS 6.3.0 released</title>
   <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://grass.itc.it/sitestyle.css">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff">

<div align="right">
[ <a href="http://grass.itc.it/index.php">HOME</a> ]
</div>

<center>
<img src="http://grass.itc.it/images/grasslogo_vector_small.png" alt=" _\|/_ GRASS GIS logo" hspace="22">
<BR>
<BR>

<b>The GRASS Development Team announces</b>

<h2>GRASS GIS 6.3.0 released [DATE]</h2>
</center>
<BR>

We are happy to announce that a new technology preview version of
<a href="http://grass.itc.it">GRASS GIS</a> has been released today.
This release adds hundreds of new features, support for the latest GIS
data formats, and includes new translations for many languages.

The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, commonly referred to
as GRASS, is a Geographic Information System (GIS) combining powerful raster,
vector, and geospatial processing engines into a single integrated software
suite. GRASS includes tools for spatial modeling, visualization of raster and
vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of
satellite and aerial imagery. It also provides the capability to produce
sophisticated presentation graphics and hardcopy maps.

GRASS is currently used around the world in academic and commercial settings
as well as by many governmental agencies and environmental consulting companies.
It runs on a variety of popular hardware platforms and is Free open-source
software released under the terms of the
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>.

Joining GRASS's well-developed raster engine, the GRASS 6 series introduced
a new topological 2D/3D vector engine featuring support for vector network
analysis and SQL-based DBMS management of linked attributes.
This new release improves the integration and functionality of the raster and
vector engines, and greatly enhances 3D raster volume (voxel) support.

Additionally, this release debuts a new graphical GIS manager and menu system,
while an improved version of the old GUI display manager has been retained for
legacy support. The NVIZ visualization tool has been enhanced to display 3D
vector data and voxel volumes, and now supports the creation of on-the-fly
MPEG animations. Further improvements include substantial message translations
(i18n) with support for FreeType fonts, including multi-byte Asian characters,
and the inclusion of tools to create new project locations automatically
given a georeferenced data file or EPSG code.

This is the second release of GRASS as a proposed founding project of the new
<a href="http://www.osgeo.org/">Open Source Geospatial Foundation</a>.
In support of the movement towards consolidation in the open source geospatial
software world, GRASS is tightly integrated with the latest GDAL/OGR libraries.
This enables access to an extensive range of raster and vector formats,
including OGC-conformal Simple Features. GRASS also makes use of the highly
regarded PROJ.4 software library with support for most known map projections
and the easy definition of new and rare map projections via custom
parameterization.

<h3>Screenshots</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://grass.itc.it/grass61/screenshots/index.php">Screenshots</a>
of GRASS 6.3 in action
</ul>

<h3>Platforms supported by GRASS</h3>

GNU/Linux, Mac OS X/Darwin, Microsoft Windows (native using MinGW or with
full UNIX support via Cygwin), Sun Solaris (SPARC/Intel), Silicon Graphics
Irix, HP-UX, DEC-Alpha, AIX, BSD, iPAQ/Linux and other UNIX compliant platforms.
GRASS runs on both 32 and 64 bit systems with large files (&gt;2GB) supported by
many key modules.

<h3>Software download/CDROM</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://grass.itc.it/download/index.php">http://grass.itc.it</a></li>
<li><a href="http://grass.ibiblio.org/download/index.php">http://grass.ibiblio.org</a></li>
<li>numerous <a href="http://grass.itc.it/mirrors.php">mirror sites</a></li>
<li><a href="http://grass.itc.it/download/cdrom.php">GRASS on CDROM/DVD</a></li>
</ul>

<p>
The new source code is available now and binary packages for major operating
systems will be published shortly.</p>

For details on GRASS software capabilities please refer to:
<a href="http://grass.itc.it/intro/general.php">http://grass.itc.it/intro/general.php</a>,
the previous <a href="announce_grass630.html">GRASS 6.2.0 Announcement</a> and
<a href="announce_grass631.html">GRASS 6.2.1 Announcement</a>,
and the <a href="http://grass.gdf-hannover.de/wiki/Main_Page">Wiki
collaborative help system</a>.

<h3>What's new in GRASS 6.3.0</h3>

(selected improvements)

<!--
2006-08-11 12:52  markus
	* include/VERSION: Switched development to 6.3.cvs
-->

See the ChangeLogs (<a href="http://grass.itc.it/grass63/source/ChangeLog_6.3.0.gz">ChangeLog 6.3</a>)
for details.
<ul>
 <li>Source code quality/libraries:
 <ul>
  <li> Mayn ported fixes for native support on MS-Windows (MinGW based)
  <li> <a href="http://grass.itc.it/devel/index.php#prog">Programmer's Manual</a>:
       continued Doxygen integration and automated generation into PDF and HTML
       formats. Publicly available for download and perusal.
  <li> Improved policies for code submission specified in the SUBMITTING, SUBMITTING_TCLTK, and SUBMITTING_SCRIPTS files
  <li> GRASS-SWIG prototype interface improved (library bindings for Perl and Python)
  <li> DBMI: SQL parser extended (support for DROP COLUMN, ASC/DESC keyword in ORDER BY clause, etc.)
  <li> Partial differential equations library with OpenMP support (gpdelib)
  <li> Moved aggregate functions into separate statistics library; modified r.series, r.neighbors to use statistics library
  <li> Display driver: add R_bitmap() and supporting infrastructure
  <li> segment library polished
  <li> cdhc library polished
  <li> fixed wrong plurals of projection units
  <li> pkgconfig/grass.pc now usable
  <li> Use G_mkdir() instead of system("mkdir ...")
  <li> Slovakia/hermannskogel datum updated, Krovak support added
  <li> "Default" datum transformation parameters are now first in the list instead of last
  <li> fixed <a href="https://intevation.de/rt/webrt?q_queue=grass">bugs</a>:
     #2765, #2801, #2811, #3096, #3112, #3179, #3387, #3506, #3729, #3960,
     #4037, #4110, #4138, #4954, #4992, #5002, #5003, #5028, #5029, #5030, #5037, #5042,
     #5118, #5158, #5176, #5179, #5205, #5206, #5209, #5210, #5212, #5248, #5341, #5361,
     #5387, #5396
</ul>

<li> Graphical User Interface (GUI):
<ul>
 <li> startup screen: various improvements including searchable EPSG codes list and better custom datum support
 <li> gis.m: GIS manager extended with geocoding tool placement of text and scale bars with the mouse and menu updates
 <li> QGIS integration: GRASS toolbox extended, available from <a href="http://www.qgis.org">Quantum GIS</a>
 <li> all modules: --script flag generates boilerplate for shell scripts with parser/GUI support
 <li> changed limited Tcl HTML browser to system wide HTML browser for help system
 <li> updated descriptive text on GRASS intro screen
 <li> major clean-up to the display architecture (libraries and drivers): the drivers no longer maintain a palette; all colours are specified directly as R/G/B values.
</ul>

<li> Modules/Scripts:
<ul>
 <li> Message translation (i18N): translations continued, new language Vietnamese, Arabic
 <li> All modules: keywords added in description
 <li> Documentation/man pages: various fixes and improvements (more examples added, including graphics, improved style, new introductory pages)
 <li> Documentation: various terminology issues fixed and terms unified
 <li> Batch job support: if "GRASS_BATCH_JOB=/path/to/script.sh" is set, the script is executed as a batch job and exit when it is complete
 <li> Scripts: grass-xterm-wrapper script instead of hardcoded xterm
 <li> d.barscale: north arrow for lat/lon locations
 <li> db.login: interactive password added (for invisible password)
 <li> d.text.freetype: several encoding and positioning fixes
 <li> d.text.new: NEW - merge of d.text and d.text.freetype (status ??)
 <li> g.mremove: fix for prompting in GUI
 <li> g.pnmcomp: allow writing out alpha (mask) image
 <li> g.region: b>t bug fixed
 <li> g.setproj: move projection parameter information from C source code into external text files; Krovak added
 <li> i.group: simple group listing bugfix
 <li> i.landsat.rgb: use C implementation of r.univar for speed
 <li> nviz: improved user interface, fix for Tk8.5
 <li> ps.map: add border controls, allow geogrid from lat/lon locations, disallow scalebar from lat/lon locations (incorrect due to curvature)
 <li> ps.map: various fixes
 <li> r3.gwflow: NEW - confined groundwater flow in 3D
 <li> r.bilinear: This module is deprecated. Please use 'r.stats.interp' instead.
 <li> r.colors: new predefined color tables added
 <li> r.flow: 3d length fix and 64bit crash fix
 <li> r.gwflow: NEW - confined and unconfied groundwater flow in 2D
 <li> r.in.srtm: added PIXELTYPE SIGNEDINT to header file for r.in.gdal to recognize negative values (SRTM etc)
 <li> r.in.wms: various fixes
 <li> r.le.*: various updates to GRASS 6
 <li> r.li.*: new landscape structure analysis suite
 <li> r.out.gdal: NEW - new C implementation, region sensitive, with color export if present
 <li> r.out.vrml: formerly called p.out.vrml
 <li> r.out.xyz: NEW - export a raster map as x,y,z, to a text file
 <li> r.proj: Fix cubic interpolation equation
 <li> r.proj.seg: improved implementation of r.proj for large raster maps (to substitute r.proj)
 <li> r.resamp.interp: NEW - Resamples raster map layers using interpolation
 <li> r.resamp.stats: NEW - resamples raster map layers using aggregation
 <li> r.univar: extended stats
 <li> r.watershed: speedup
 <li> v.centroids: NEW - add missing centroids
 <li> v.db.dropcol: NEW - drops column from attribute table
 <li> v.digit: split v.digit icons into two rows for 800x600 screens
 <li> v.dissolve: NEW - dissolve common boundaries
 <li> v.edit: NEW - edits a vector map; allows adding, deleting and modifying objects in a vector map
 <li> v.extract: don't crash on DBMI failure
 <li> v.in.db: no longer copy the entire table if where= option is used
 <li> v.in.ogr: locale bug fixed; memory leak fixed
 <li> v.lidar.*: NEW - new Lidar data analysis tools
 <li> v.out.svg: NEW - vector to SVG export
 <li> v.proj: leave z co-ordinates in 3-D vectors untouched by default
 <li> v.surf.bspline: NEW - bspline interpolation
 <li> v.surf.idw: don't require topology to be built for input vector points file</ul>
</ul>

<P>
For a comprehensive list of changes to modules see the 
  <a href="http://grass.itc.it/grass63/source/ChangeLog_6.3.0.gz">6.3</a> ChangeLog file.</p>
<P>
For a complete list of commands available in GRASS 6.3.0 see the
<a href="http://grass.itc.it/grass63/manuals/html63_user/index.html">online manuals</a>.</p>

<p><BR><i>We are always looking for testers, code developers, and technical
writers to <a href="http://grass.itc.it/devel/index.php">help us</a> maintain and accelerate
the development cycle.</i>

The GRASS GIS project is developed under the terms of the
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>
(the GPL) <a href="http://grass.itc.it/devel/index.php">in the open</a> by
<a href="http://grass.itc.it/community/index.php">volunteers</a> the
<a href="http://mapserver.gdf-hannover.de/grassusers/map.phtml">world over</a>.

GRASS differs from many other GIS software packages used in the professional
world in that it is developed and distributed by users for users, mostly on a
volunteer basis, in the open, and is given away for free.

Emphasis is placed on interoperability and unlimited access to data as well as
on software flexibility and evolution rate.

<p>
Release history:
<ul>
<li> GRASS GIS 6.3.0beta1 released [DATE]
</ul>

<hr>
<a href="abstract_grass630.txt">Short version</a> |
<a href="abstract_grass630_CZ.txt">Short version (CZ)</a> |
<a href="abstract_grass630_DE.txt">Short version (DE: Kurzfassung)</a> |
<a href="riassunto_grass630.txt">Short version (IT: riassunto)</a>

<hr>
<address>
<a href="http://grass.itc.it/community/team.php">GRASS Development Team</a><br>
Date: [DATE] (last changed: $Date: 2007/02/12 23:23:51 $)
</address>
</body>
</html>