[OSGeo-Discuss] Your Online Resources - what license is it published under and have you not released information due to licensing issues
Hi, ** sorry for the duplication on lists, but I am keen to get a large sample ** I would like to canvas all of you. Please either send your response to the lists or to me directly (the latter will avoid clogging the lists with responses). I will tally and publish the summary of results ASAP. I don't intend to specify individuals just provide tallies of licenses used and reasons for not publishing. I hope to use this in future discussions regarding licensing relevant to OSGeo Members and potential obstacles to the release of valuable reference material and how these obstacles can be addressed. The questions are... 1. Under what license do you release online resources (forum posts, blogs, books, videos, tutorials, documents) that you publish? 2(a). Have you not released information due to licensing issues? 2(b). If so, why? (short answers please) If you do not specify the license implicitly on your work please indicate not specified. It is implied then that local copyright laws apply in which case indicate the country forum hosted in. If you publish under different licenses depending on your output please split you response into type of material created. If you accept the license of the site provider indicate this and preferably indicate what license this is. For example... 1. stuff released... - Ubuntu forum posts; site provider license; not specified (UK) - OSGeo forum posts; site provider license; not specified (USA) - Make-Believe forum post; Public Domain - private blogs; not specified (Aust) - company website; work protected under Australian Copyright Act 1969. - tutorials; Creative Commons (+Attr. -Deri. -Comm.) 2a. stuff not released... - tutorials using sample projects, data use prevented by someone else's copyright or by a Data Supply Agreements. - tutorials showing specific methods, avoid competitors knowing how to conduct certain analysis - any documents, concern quality will be degraded as others translate or change works to meet their own means. - any documents, concern that work will be used for commercial gain by others to no benefit to myself. - any documents, too much like hard work to get permission to use local datasets relevant to my industry (i.e. red tape) If you know of other people that publish or don't publish on the web involved in the FOSS4G community please feel free to send this email to them. Hopefully I will get enough responses that the result is meaningful. Please have you results in by Friday, 30 July 2010 at 07:00:00 UTC Time. [1] Thanks in advance... PS. I know that this is only a short time but my experience is that people either answer straight away or not at all. [1] http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=7day=30year=2010hour=7min=0sec=0p1=0 -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Auto-cataloging of image files
Paul, Does not appear to work with wild cards e.g. *.jpg or *.ecw, and does not recognize ecw files (even when the name is explicitly referenced). Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 11/02/2010 11:06 AM, Paul Ramsey wrote: http://www.gdal.org/gdaltindex.html On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd)scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au wrote: Hi, First, sorry for cross-posting to anyone also on the gvSIG-International List. I just received a CD, and regularly receive CDs, with ~100 1km x 1km ECW Tiles as part of a contract. Does anyone know of a routine to scan these files or their associated header files and creates a shapefile showing the extent of each image? I sort of imagine running the routine, being asked to specify the directory containing the image data then having a polygon layer appear with the extent of each tile. The attribute table would be populated with layer name, coordinates, and any other metadata that can be gleaned from the files. -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Auto-cataloging of image files
Tyler, gdaltindex did not work. The Windows EXE does not like 'wildcards' and does not recognize ECWs. Your python program looks promising as a catalog of datasets in a directory but does not create a spatial representation of this information, which is what I need. Additional functionality worth considering is the ability feed the routine OSGeo Project Files for the various open source GIS packages and have the datasets used extracted and used to create a project catalog with all the relevant metadata. The users could also be allowed to augment certain fields. A utility like this would be good to reference what vector and data was used in a project when the information is still on the system. If you are like me, I am bound by Data Supply Agreements, which require me to remove the data from my computer once the project is finished. Prior to deletion it would be great to get as much information on what was used as possible. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 11/02/2010 11:49 AM, Tyler Mitchell wrote: Sounds like gdaltindex is what you're after, but I thought I'd mention my attempts at creating a vector and raster metadata collection script. It recursively scans and interrogates almost all OGR and GDAL support formats and outputs XML. Not sure if it's beyond alpha quality yet, but in case anyone is interested: http://code.google.com/p/spatialguru/wiki/SpatialDataCataloguingScript Always interested in further improvements to this little python learning exercise. :) - Original Message - From: Paul Ramsey pram...@cleverelephant.ca Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 4:35 pm Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Auto-cataloging of image files To: OSGeo Discussions discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://www.gdal.org/gdaltindex.html On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au wrote: Hi, First, sorry for cross-posting to anyone also on the gvSIG- International List. I just received a CD, and regularly receive CDs, with ~100 1km x 1km ECW Tiles as part of a contract. Does anyone know of a routine to scan these files or their associated header files and creates a shapefile showing the extent of each image? I sort of imagine running the routine, being asked to specify the directory containing the image data then having a polygon layer appear with the extent of each tile. The attribute table would be populated with layer name, coordinates, and any other metadata that can be gleaned from the files. -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Auto-cataloging of image files
Paul, After ferreting around the web I found some other people who had the same problem with the Windows EXE files you can download from the link you provided. They suggested that you could try to use the version compiled with FWTools. I triued this and it worked. Go figure. Different compilers or something. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 11/02/2010 11:58 AM, Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) wrote: Paul, Does not appear to work with wild cards e.g. *.jpg or *.ecw, and does not recognize ecw files (even when the name is explicitly referenced). Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 11/02/2010 11:06 AM, Paul Ramsey wrote: http://www.gdal.org/gdaltindex.html On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd)scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au wrote: Hi, First, sorry for cross-posting to anyone also on the gvSIG-International List. I just received a CD, and regularly receive CDs, with ~100 1km x 1km ECW Tiles as part of a contract. Does anyone know of a routine to scan these files or their associated header files and creates a shapefile showing the extent of each image? I sort of imagine running the routine, being asked to specify the directory containing the image data then having a polygon layer appear with the extent of each tile. The attribute table would be populated with layer name, coordinates, and any other metadata that can be gleaned from the files. -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web:www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Open Source Raster Tracing - Results
Landon, These links are good but I am interested in the outcome of your investigation. Once you have reviewed these options I would be very interested in what you decided to do -- purchase Vextractor or use one of the proposed solutions -- and why?. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 6/02/2010 9:37 AM, Landon Blake wrote: Thank you for all of the responses. I will summarize here for everyone's benefit: - Line Trace Plugs was a raster to vector conversion program used by the SCS, BLM and Forest Service. It was historically distributed with GRASS. It may now be available at ltplus.org. - The OTB plug-ins for QGIS will do this task or something similar in the Python programming language. http://whatnicklife.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html - Grass has the r.thin and r.to.vect commands. http://grass.itc.it/grass64/manuals/html64_user/r.thin.html http://grass.itc.it/grass64/manuals/html64_user/r.to.vect.html - Inkscape has Potrace. http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Tools http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Potrace - gvSIG uses Potrace as well. http://www.oadigital.net/software/gvsigoade/gvsigoade2010beta - Sextant has some raster tracing functions. Landon Office Phone Number: (209) 946-0268 Cell Phone Number: (209) 992-0658 From: discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Miller, Craig Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010 12:23 PM To: OSGeo Discussions Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Open Source Raster Tracing - What Is Available? Line Trace Plus was a very powerful raster to vector conversion program used by the SCS, BLM, and US Forest Service for years. At one point it was distributed along with GRASS, but that no longer seems to be the case. It pretty much dropped out of existence after project 615 made the ESRI suite available to all of these Federal Agencies. We used a port of it on 24 Linux kernel 0.9.1 slackware boxes in 1992 to convert a huge amount aerial photo interpretation data to vector polygons as part of the Interior Columbia Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP) mid-scale assesment. As far as I know, this was the first large scale use of Linux within the US Forest Service/BLM. I digress though The product continued to be developed by Infotec as a commercial product and I believe David Mandel who once worked for them still has a copy of the public domain source code. The GRASS source code and Linux Binaries are available at http://grass.itc.it/oldprojects/ltplus/ David had a page up at ltplus.org, but it seems to be dead today. Craig On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Landon Blakelbl...@ksninc.com wrote: Is anyone aware of a raster tracing tool for geospatial users released under an open source license? I'm looking for something similar to: http://www.vextrasoft.com/vextractor.htm I found the Autotrace program (http://autotrace.sourceforge.net/), but it seems to be a little more limited, and not geared to the GIS user. Vextractor allows you to georeference your tracing output and supports export of the traced vectors to SHP and DXF. The price for a single license of Vextractor isn't bad ($99 US), but I'd love to find a similar open source project. I've thought about trying to write something up using JTS, but I know it would be a very challenging project. I'd like to know if any of you have worked on open source projects in this area. Thanks for any info. Landon Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] HELP PLEASE - Does anyone know where I can get high resolution GIS data for use in tutorials?
Hi, *** Sorry for cross-posting for those people on both lists *** Does anyone have or know of some high resolution vector and raster data that can be used in tutorials? The datasets need to be unfetted by intellectual property constraints. Essentially I want to build a set of tutorials around this data and have the users able to download and manipulate the data without breaking any laws. Preferably I would like data for Australia, even better southeast Australia. Data * georeferenced aerial photography (ECW or JPG, 0.15m/pixel) * shapefiles showing cadastral data, soils, contours, roads * DWG files showing details of a development or plan Spatial Reference System * GDA94 MGA55 -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] HELP PLEASE - Does anyone know where I can get high resolution GIS data for use in tutorials? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Bruce, I have been looking at the GeoScience Australia Downloads but all these are too broad for most of what I do. Need something at 1:25,000 or better. I suppose the biggest problem is aerial photography. What little is out there is very broad scale regional stuff. Nothing showing just one small area at a scale typically used by people such as myself. I am aware of the Australia Spatial Directory but I was hoping to find some freely downloadable and free to use datasets, before I go begging to data suppliers or data custodians. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 13/01/2010 11:07 AM, Bruce Bannerman wrote: Simon, Check out the Australian Spatial Data Directory [1]. Geoscience Australia also have a wide range of datasets that I understand are now available via Creative Commons. Bruce Bannerman [1] http://asdd.ga.gov.au/asdd/tech/zap/basic.html -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) Sent: Wednesday, 13 January 2010 10:36 AM To: OSGeo Discussions; Users and Developers mailing list Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] HELP PLEASE - Does anyone know where I can get high resolution GIS data for use in tutorials? Hi, *** Sorry for cross-posting for those people on both lists *** Does anyone have or know of some high resolution vector and raster data that can be used in tutorials? The datasets need to be unfetted by intellectual property constraints. Essentially I want to build a set of tutorials around this data and have the users able to download and manipulate the data without breaking any laws. Preferably I would like data for Australia, even better southeast Australia. Data * georeferenced aerial photography (ECW or JPG, 0.15m/pixel) * shapefiles showing cadastral data, soils, contours, roads * DWG files showing details of a development or plan Spatial Reference System * GDA94 MGA55 -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] HELP PLEASE - Does anyone know where I can get high resolution GIS data for use in tutorials? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Bruce, Yes I have DSE/CALP contacts. Although data can be extracted from land.vic.gov.au under data supply agreements, these contracts do not extend to third parties. I would need to get special permission to allow a dataset to be downloaded by whomever would visit my website. I could put up a special case to the right people but wanted to exhaust using available datasets already able to be downloaded. As it is, it appears most of what exists on the web is broad scale and I need much finer resolution. I wait to see if anyone else responds to my post. If nothing turns up in a couple of days I approach some people within land.vic.gov.au. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 13/01/2010 2:01 PM, Bruce Bannerman wrote: Simon, IMO: After the recent Victorian Government Inquiry into public sector information, the outcome was that Vic Govt data should also be provided via Creative Commons. You should be able to see most of their VicMap datasets via the ASDD. There will be a lot of other more detailed data via DSE/Catchment Management Authority partnerships. Probably to the scale that you're after. Again check the ASDD. I'm assuming that you have DSE/SII contacts. Contact me off line if you don't. Bruce -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) Sent: Wednesday, 13 January 2010 11:20 AM To: OSGeo Discussions Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] HELP PLEASE - Does anyone know where I can get high resolution GIS data for use in tutorials? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] Bruce, I have been looking at the GeoScience Australia Downloads but all these are too broad for most of what I do. Need something at 1:25,000 or better. I suppose the biggest problem is aerial photography. What little is out there is very broad scale regional stuff. Nothing showing just one small area at a scale typically used by people such as myself. I am aware of the Australia Spatial Directory but I was hoping to find some freely downloadable and free to use datasets, before I go begging to data suppliers or data custodians. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au mailto:scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au On 13/01/2010 11:07 AM, Bruce Bannerman wrote: Simon, Check out the Australian Spatial Data Directory [1]. Geoscience Australia also have a wide range of datasets that I understand are now available via Creative Commons. Bruce Bannerman [1] http://asdd.ga.gov.au/asdd/tech/zap/basic.html -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) Sent: Wednesday, 13 January 2010 10:36 AM To: OSGeo Discussions; Users and Developers mailing list Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] HELP PLEASE - Does anyone know where I can get high resolution GIS data for use in tutorials? Hi, *** Sorry for cross-posting for those people on both lists *** Does anyone have or know of some high resolution vector and raster data that can be used in tutorials? The datasets need to be unfetted by intellectual property constraints. Essentially I want to build a set of tutorials around this data and have the users able to download and manipulate the data without breaking any laws. Preferably I would like data for Australia, even better southeast Australia. Data * georeferenced aerial photography (ECW or JPG, 0.15m/pixel) * shapefiles showing cadastral data, soils, contours, roads * DWG files showing details of a development or plan Spatial Reference System * GDA94 MGA55 -- Cheers Simon Simon
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Will there be an OSGeo Desktop shootout atFOSS4G 2010?
I agree with Stefan. I have found comparison tables of little use as the compiler has to summarize what is probably quite complex routines. They rarely give a potential user like myself the complete picture. My view has been that the only way to evaluate the usefulness of a program is to use it on actual data trying to do actual things. I have tried multiple OS GIS packages and they all do different things in different ways. Some useful some novel (to me). What really counts is if you can use one program to complete your normal workflow without needing to use other packages. I am not saying that someone should not use multiple packages during their normal work week only that you should be able to do your normal work without having to transfer data (and half the time actually convert data) between various packages to get what you need done. So from my point of view projects should not look at other projects, developers should not list functionality of their program or any other combination. Users should provide standard workflow tasks -- repetitive tasks sequences they complete regularly. Then be asked to complete those tasks on each of the programs being tested. Then the users rate ease of setup, ease of use, suitability of output, support, etc. The actual list of user experience ratings can be knocked up by an overview committee. This committee could also vet the users who put their hand up to ensure a good spectrum of users and tasks, from different sections of society (academic, commercial, newbie) are all represented and no bias exists. If developers think this might be too harsh (as users may not fully understand what is going on or how the program works), maybe a middle ground would be that the developers submit a solution to these workflow processes. The users follow these instructions and evaluate the outcome. This avoids users baulking at some quite eccentric GUI interfaces or program setup (solution must provide clear setup instructions for Windows and Linux). These solutions are tried and reviewed by the user. The workflows, results, comments and developer solutions can be collated onto one site (the OSGeo site seems appropriate) as a valuable resource for developers and user alike. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au Stefan Steiniger wrote: Hei all, thanks for Cameron on keeping me in the loop, and to Markus for remembering :) I am now subscribed to this list. I think Pauls idea sounds interesting - because this whole comparison thing is a) quite cumbersome when we have 10 desktop GIS (+ X), and b) neither really worth because desktop GIS are used for a multitude of tasks, while web map Servers or databases aren't that much - right? So as Paul is quoted on the osgeo wiki: one needs to set up use cases first (just wrote that today in a new article too, which contains a section on selecting free GIS software). And I also discovered that just most of the projects have a different focus during my evaluation. Which of course does not mean that such thing should not be presented - but it must be focussed in some way or the other to have a benefit. And as a side note, I am not sure if measuring processing times makes sense either, as GIS analysis feature sets are so different. However, I am in for testing with OpenJUMP. Two more notes: - my comparison tables are now already 2 years old now (from 2007), i.e. need some update (but the last pub in Ecological Informatics took into account newer developments too, but is superficial and focused towards the "average" GIS users). - I gave a talk about this at OGRS: http://www.ogrs2009.org/doku.php?id=keynotes pdf can be downloaded from there. cheers from Germany right now (Xmas) stefan PS: I know also of this comparison by T. Hengl et al. on Grass vs. SAGA for Geomorphologic Analysis http://www.igc.usp.br/pessoais/guano/downloads/Hengl_etal_2009_gmorph.pdf Paul Ramsey schrieb: Interested in a different approach that is lower impact, but still interesting and entertaining? Have developers review a "competing" project and then present their findings, in the form of "What I love about ___, what I hate about". Jody Garnett presents "What I love about QGIS, what I hate about QGIS." Jorge Sanz presents "What I love about uDig, what I hate about uDig." Tim Sutton presents "What I love about gvSIG, what I hate about gvSIG." Not only do you get an unvarnished view, but you can have shorter presentations with a discussion segment at the end of each one. Works for almost any application category too. __
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Will there be an OSGeo Desktop shootout atFOSS4G 2010?
Title: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Re: Will there be an OSGeo Desktop shootout atFOSS4G 2010? Maxim, I looked at the webpage but could not find an outcome -- which system worked the best? Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au Maxim Dubinin wrote: Sometime ago, we were also interested in why are there so many desktop open GIS packages. So what we did was the following, we created a model project with several groups of different type layers and recreated it with 10+ packages, opensource, proprietory, even some web-based ones. It is was quite interesting exercise, where a dozen of people participated and it was pretty clear in the end where opensource GIS are in comparison with proprietory and in between themselves. Of course this only covers simple project building and does not compare analysis etc. Moreover, the initial goal of this dataset was not comparison, but easy start with any common desktop GIS package + assistance to devs and education purposes, some ability to conclude which one was better was sort of a side-effect. You can check the results here, (originally in Russian): http://translate.google.com/translate?js=yprev=_thl=enie=UTF-8layout=1eotf=1u=http%3A%2F%2Fgis-lab.info%2Fqa%2Fgeosample.htmlsl=rutl=en Maxim ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
[OSGeo-Discuss] Quick hello and request for assistance finding Open Source
Hi Everyone, My name is Simon and I am an environmental consultant. I use a variety of open source GIS systems and tools almost every day to analyse flora, fauna and vegetation data. I am interested in OSGeo both from the standpoint (or my underlying belief) that software and data should be free (you know how the mantra goes) and my desire to contribute to a broader community effort to develop appropriate software for users. I have been actively using OpenJUMP, Kosmo, OpenEV, EveryDWG and Sextante. I have tinkered with Ilwis, GRASS, Quantum (various versions) and a few others I have lost track of. I am currently using GVSIG+Sextante, which I find very useful and easy to use. I am an old user of ArcView 3.1+(numerous scripts/extensions). I have a common GIS problem but can not find any OSGeo project that has provided a set of tools to combat it. I need to establish the distance+angle between various geometries (points, lines, polygons) in same layer and in different layers. A specific problem I currently have is finding the minimum distance and angle between 200 odd polygons in the same layer. Each polygon has a unique id and I want to get a table with UID_A, UID_B, MINIMUM_DISTANCE, ANGLE. I know that ArcGIS and ArcView have this functionality, and script exist for old versions of ArcView, but I am looking for an Open Source alternative. Ideally such a tool would create the following data for each geometry type... POINTS -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE, ANGLE LINES -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE_AT_CLOSEST _POINT POLYGON -- UID_A, UID_B, MIN_DISTANCE, MAX_DISTANCE, HAUSDORFF_DISTANCE, CENTROID_DISTANCE, ANGLE_BETWEEN_CENTROIDS What I have found already... I have noted that Sextante can create a matrix of distances between points within the same layer. With rows and column representing the complete set of points being compared. I have also found QGIS has a fTools Plugin that allows you to "Measure distances between two point layers, and output results as a) Square distance matrix, b) Linear distance matrix, or c) Summary of distances." QGIS 2009. I suspect that GRASS would provide this functionality but can't get that package to work on my system (even WinGRASS), so if you point me here please also point me to a tutorial on getting the thing to work (this system is not intuitive; My problem has been in establishing a repository and getting data into it for viewing, let alone analysis; it failed the age old test that if you can't even get the thing running in half an hour, the learning curve is going to be way too high to use in in normal business activities; I have tried - yes following their instructions - several times, and spent several days reading manuals, wiki's,etc to no avail). BUT I can't find any tool that allows me to calculate the minimum distance between polygons and indicate the direction of the polygon. Anyone out there know of such a tool? Note: I am using Windows XP Pro SP3 and store all my GIS data as shapefiles. -- Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Quick hello and request for assistance finding Open Source
Peter others,
With PostGIS what is the best option for installation to trial this
option. Where would you enter the SQL query?
If you go to the PostGIS page it pushes you to UDig. Does UDig have the
functionality to send SQL statements to the database? Does PostGIS
install if I install UDig or should I install in a set sequence, a bit
like Giovanni suggested for Grass.
Dumb question - "Is PostGIS-UDig" setup to operate as a desktop type
system? Everytime I looked at UDig I got the impression it used web
resources and was geared to enterprise solutions to multiple users to a
online-resource repository.
Alternatively is anyone aware whether gvSIG can query the database in
this way with beantools or Jython? If so, how? I know gvSIG can connect
to PostGIS?
Cheers Simon
Simon Cropper
Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
mailto:
scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
web:
www.botanicusaustralia.com.au
Peter Batty wrote:
Simon, you could do this as a PostGIS query. To take the
polygon case, if you loaded the data into a table in PostGIS called
parcel (say), you could run a query something like the following (not
guaranteeing this is exactly correct but something along these lines):
select a.id, b.id,
ST_distance(a.geom, b.geom),
ST_distance(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom)),
ST_azimuth(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom))
from parcel a, parcel b
This would give you ids, shortest distance, distance between
centroids and angle between centroids. There are no doubt others here
who can correct my SQL syntax :) !
There is a simple utility to load a shape file into PostGIS.
Cheers,
Peter.
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Simon
Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
wrote:
Hi Everyone,
My name is Simon and I am an environmental consultant. I use a variety
of open source GIS systems and tools almost every day to analyse flora,
fauna and vegetation data. I am interested in OSGeo both from the
standpoint (or my underlying belief) that software and data should be
free (you know how the mantra goes) and my desire to contribute to a
broader community effort to develop appropriate software for users. I
have been actively using OpenJUMP, Kosmo, OpenEV, EveryDWG and
Sextante. I have tinkered with Ilwis, GRASS, Quantum (various versions)
and a few others I have lost track of. I am currently using
GVSIG+Sextante, which I find very useful and easy to use. I am an old
user of ArcView 3.1+(numerous scripts/extensions).
I have a common GIS problem but can not find any OSGeo project that has
provided a set of tools to combat it. I need to establish the
distance+angle between various geometries (points, lines, polygons) in
same layer and in different layers. A specific problem I currently have
is finding the minimum distance and angle between 200 odd polygons in
the same layer. Each polygon has a unique id and I want to get a table
with UID_A, UID_B, MINIMUM_DISTANCE, ANGLE. I know that ArcGIS and
ArcView have this functionality, and script exist for old versions of
ArcView, but I am looking for an Open Source alternative.
Ideally such a tool would create the following data for each geometry
type...
POINTS -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE, ANGLE
LINES -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE_AT_CLOSEST _POINT
POLYGON -- UID_A, UID_B, MIN_DISTANCE, MAX_DISTANCE,
HAUSDORFF_DISTANCE, CENTROID_DISTANCE, ANGLE_BETWEEN_CENTROIDS
What I have found already...
I have noted that Sextante can create a matrix of distances
between points within the same layer. With rows and column representing
the complete set of points being compared.
I have also found QGIS has a fTools Plugin that allows you to
"Measure distances between two point layers, and output results as a)
Square distance matrix, b) Linear distance matrix, or c) Summary of
distances." QGIS 2009.
I suspect that GRASS would provide this functionality but
can't
get that package to work on my system (even WinGRASS), so if you point
me here please also point me to a tutorial on getting the thing to work
(this system is not intuitive; My problem has been in establishing a
repository and getting data into it for viewing, let alone analysis; it
failed the age old test that if you can't even get the thing running in
half an hour, the learning curve is going to be way too high to use in
in normal business activities; I have tried - yes following their
instructions - several times, and spent several days reading manuals,
wiki's,etc to no avail).
BUT I can't find any tool that allows me to calculate
the
minimum distance between polygons and indicate the direction of the
polygon.
Anyone out there know of such a tool?
Note: I am using Windows XP Pro SP3 and store all my GIS data as
shapefiles.
--
Cheers Simon
Simon Cropper
Botanic
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Quick hello and request for assistance finding Open Source
Peter,
Tried loading PostGIS 8.4 crashed because no Postresaql.
Tried loading Postressql then PostGIS - this worked but no "simple
utility to load a shape file into PostGIS" could be found.
I found a SQL dialog box in the pgAdmin (GUI) but I found nothing but
HTML links in the PostGIS directory. How is this utility started. It
appears to be a driver for PostgreSQL, not a software utility. If this
is the case the GUI for the pgAdmin does not have a utility or tools
that imports shapefiles. The manual takes of running certain programs
but it example appears to be using demonstrating the terminal in linux.
Do you run some command line program in the command prompt?
Cheers Simon
Simon Cropper
Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
mailto:
scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
web:
www.botanicusaustralia.com.au
Peter Batty wrote:
Simon, you could do this as a PostGIS query. To take the
polygon case, if you loaded the data into a table in PostGIS called
parcel (say), you could run a query something like the following (not
guaranteeing this is exactly correct but something along these lines):
select a.id, b.id,
ST_distance(a.geom, b.geom),
ST_distance(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom)),
ST_azimuth(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom))
from parcel a, parcel b
This would give you ids, shortest distance, distance between
centroids and angle between centroids. There are no doubt others here
who can correct my SQL syntax :) !
There is a simple utility to load a shape file into PostGIS.
Cheers,
Peter.
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Simon
Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
wrote:
Hi Everyone,
My name is Simon and I am an environmental consultant. I use a variety
of open source GIS systems and tools almost every day to analyse flora,
fauna and vegetation data. I am interested in OSGeo both from the
standpoint (or my underlying belief) that software and data should be
free (you know how the mantra goes) and my desire to contribute to a
broader community effort to develop appropriate software for users. I
have been actively using OpenJUMP, Kosmo, OpenEV, EveryDWG and
Sextante. I have tinkered with Ilwis, GRASS, Quantum (various versions)
and a few others I have lost track of. I am currently using
GVSIG+Sextante, which I find very useful and easy to use. I am an old
user of ArcView 3.1+(numerous scripts/extensions).
I have a common GIS problem but can not find any OSGeo project that has
provided a set of tools to combat it. I need to establish the
distance+angle between various geometries (points, lines, polygons) in
same layer and in different layers. A specific problem I currently have
is finding the minimum distance and angle between 200 odd polygons in
the same layer. Each polygon has a unique id and I want to get a table
with UID_A, UID_B, MINIMUM_DISTANCE, ANGLE. I know that ArcGIS and
ArcView have this functionality, and script exist for old versions of
ArcView, but I am looking for an Open Source alternative.
Ideally such a tool would create the following data for each geometry
type...
POINTS -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE, ANGLE
LINES -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE_AT_CLOSEST _POINT
POLYGON -- UID_A, UID_B, MIN_DISTANCE, MAX_DISTANCE,
HAUSDORFF_DISTANCE, CENTROID_DISTANCE, ANGLE_BETWEEN_CENTROIDS
What I have found already...
I have noted that Sextante can create a matrix of distances
between points within the same layer. With rows and column representing
the complete set of points being compared.
I have also found QGIS has a fTools Plugin that allows you to
"Measure distances between two point layers, and output results as a)
Square distance matrix, b) Linear distance matrix, or c) Summary of
distances." QGIS 2009.
I suspect that GRASS would provide this functionality but
can't
get that package to work on my system (even WinGRASS), so if you point
me here please also point me to a tutorial on getting the thing to work
(this system is not intuitive; My problem has been in establishing a
repository and getting data into it for viewing, let alone analysis; it
failed the age old test that if you can't even get the thing running in
half an hour, the learning curve is going to be way too high to use in
in normal business activities; I have tried - yes following their
instructions - several times, and spent several days reading manuals,
wiki's,etc to no avail).
BUT I can't find any tool that allows me to calculate
the
minimum distance between polygons and indicate the direction of the
polygon.
Anyone out there know of such a tool?
Note: I am using Windows XP Pro SP3 and store all my GIS data as
shapefiles.
--
Cheers Simon
Simon Cropper
Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 343
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Quick hello and request for assistance finding Open Source
Peter,
Sort of answered my own question. Found the EXE in the binary directory
of PostgreSQL.
Tried to get the program to work but I could not get the file to import
the shapefile into a database. I will need to spend more time working
on coming to grips with PostgreGIS, PostGIS and others components. This
option is not a 'quick fix' rather 'a alternative way of thinking' --
resulting in a high learning curve as I have to master each individual
component and the nuances of how the 2-3 utilities interact. Thanks
anyway.
Cheers Simon
Simon Cropper
Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
mailto:
scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
web:
www.botanicusaustralia.com.au
Peter Batty wrote:
Simon, you could do this as a PostGIS query. To take the
polygon case, if you loaded the data into a table in PostGIS called
parcel (say), you could run a query something like the following (not
guaranteeing this is exactly correct but something along these lines):
select a.id, b.id,
ST_distance(a.geom, b.geom),
ST_distance(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom)),
ST_azimuth(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom))
from parcel a, parcel b
This would give you ids, shortest distance, distance between
centroids and angle between centroids. There are no doubt others here
who can correct my SQL syntax :) !
There is a simple utility to load a shape file into PostGIS.
Cheers,
Peter.
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Simon
Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
wrote:
Hi Everyone,
My name is Simon and I am an environmental consultant. I use a variety
of open source GIS systems and tools almost every day to analyse flora,
fauna and vegetation data. I am interested in OSGeo both from the
standpoint (or my underlying belief) that software and data should be
free (you know how the mantra goes) and my desire to contribute to a
broader community effort to develop appropriate software for users. I
have been actively using OpenJUMP, Kosmo, OpenEV, EveryDWG and
Sextante. I have tinkered with Ilwis, GRASS, Quantum (various versions)
and a few others I have lost track of. I am currently using
GVSIG+Sextante, which I find very useful and easy to use. I am an old
user of ArcView 3.1+(numerous scripts/extensions).
I have a common GIS problem but can not find any OSGeo project that has
provided a set of tools to combat it. I need to establish the
distance+angle between various geometries (points, lines, polygons) in
same layer and in different layers. A specific problem I currently have
is finding the minimum distance and angle between 200 odd polygons in
the same layer. Each polygon has a unique id and I want to get a table
with UID_A, UID_B, MINIMUM_DISTANCE, ANGLE. I know that ArcGIS and
ArcView have this functionality, and script exist for old versions of
ArcView, but I am looking for an Open Source alternative.
Ideally such a tool would create the following data for each geometry
type...
POINTS -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE, ANGLE
LINES -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE_AT_CLOSEST _POINT
POLYGON -- UID_A, UID_B, MIN_DISTANCE, MAX_DISTANCE,
HAUSDORFF_DISTANCE, CENTROID_DISTANCE, ANGLE_BETWEEN_CENTROIDS
What I have found already...
I have noted that Sextante can create a matrix of distances
between points within the same layer. With rows and column representing
the complete set of points being compared.
I have also found QGIS has a fTools Plugin that allows you to
"Measure distances between two point layers, and output results as a)
Square distance matrix, b) Linear distance matrix, or c) Summary of
distances." QGIS 2009.
I suspect that GRASS would provide this functionality but
can't
get that package to work on my system (even WinGRASS), so if you point
me here please also point me to a tutorial on getting the thing to work
(this system is not intuitive; My problem has been in establishing a
repository and getting data into it for viewing, let alone analysis; it
failed the age old test that if you can't even get the thing running in
half an hour, the learning curve is going to be way too high to use in
in normal business activities; I have tried - yes following their
instructions - several times, and spent several days reading manuals,
wiki's,etc to no avail).
BUT I can't find any tool that allows me to calculate
the
minimum distance between polygons and indicate the direction of the
polygon.
Anyone out there know of such a tool?
Note: I am using Windows XP Pro SP3 and store all my GIS data as
shapefiles.
--
Cheers Simon
Simon Cropper
Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
mailto:
scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au
web:
www.botanicusaustralia.com.au
___
Discu
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Quick hello and request for assistance finding Open Source
Peter, Trying the QGIS+Grass option now. Lets see how that goes - experiences to date put into the same 'steep learning curve' category but I try it again using Giovanni's instructions. I will post my experiences about trying to get this to work. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au Paul Ramsey wrote: Thanks for sticking with it, and also reporting on your pain, Simon. Knowing where your pain is will help us lower it for those in your train. P On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 5:55 PM, Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au wrote: Peter, Sort of answered my own question. Found the EXE in the binary directory of PostgreSQL. Tried to get the program to work but I could not get the file to import the shapefile into a database. I will need to spend more time working on coming to grips with PostgreGIS, PostGIS and others components. This option is not a 'quick fix' rather 'a alternative way of thinking' -- resulting in a high learning curve as I have to master each individual component and the nuances of how the 2-3 utilities interact. Thanks anyway. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au Peter Batty wrote: Simon, you could do this as a PostGIS query. To take the polygon case, if you loaded the data into a table in PostGIS called parcel (say), you could run a query something like the following (not guaranteeing this is exactly correct but something along these lines): select a.id, b.id, ST_distance(a.geom, b.geom), ST_distance(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom)), ST_azimuth(ST_centroid(a.geom), ST_centroid(b.geom)) from parcel a, parcel b This would give you ids, shortest distance, distance between centroids and angle between centroids. There are no doubt others here who can correct my SQL syntax :) ! There is a simple utility to load a shape file into PostGIS. Cheers, Peter. On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd) scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au wrote: Hi Everyone, My name is Simon and I am an environmental consultant. I use a variety of open source GIS systems and tools almost every day to analyse flora, fauna and vegetation data. I am interested in OSGeo both from the standpoint (or my underlying belief) that software and data should be free (you know how the mantra goes) and my desire to contribute to a broader community effort to develop appropriate software for users. I have been actively using OpenJUMP, Kosmo, OpenEV, EveryDWG and Sextante. I have tinkered with Ilwis, GRASS, Quantum (various versions) and a few others I have lost track of. I am currently using GVSIG+Sextante, which I find very useful and easy to use. I am an old user of ArcView 3.1+(numerous scripts/extensions). I have a common GIS problem but can not find any OSGeo project that has provided a set of tools to combat it. I need to establish the distance+angle between various geometries (points, lines, polygons) in same layer and in different layers. A specific problem I currently have is finding the minimum distance and angle between 200 odd polygons in the same layer. Each polygon has a unique id and I want to get a table with UID_A, UID_B, MINIMUM_DISTANCE, ANGLE. I know that ArcGIS and ArcView have this functionality, and script exist for old versions of ArcView, but I am looking for an Open Source alternative. Ideally such a tool would create the following data for each geometry type... POINTS -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE, ANGLE LINES -- UID_A, UID_B, DISTANCE_AT_CLOSEST _POINT POLYGON -- UID_A, UID_B, MIN_DISTANCE, MAX_DISTANCE, HAUSDORFF_DISTANCE, CENTROID_DISTANCE, ANGLE_BETWEEN_CENTROIDS What I have found already... I have noted that Sextante can create a matrix of distances between points within the same layer. With rows and column representing the complete set of points being compared. I have also found QGIS has a fTools Plugin that allows you to "Measure distances between two point layers, and output results as a) Square distance matrix, b) Linear distance matrix, or c) Summary of distances." QGIS 2009. I suspect that GRASS would provide this functionality but can't get that package to work on my system (even WinGRASS), so if you point me here please also point me to a tutorial on getting the thing to work (this system is not intuitive; My problem has been in establishing a repository and getting data into it for viewing, let alone analysis; it failed the age old test that if you can't even get the thing running in half an hour, the learning curve is going to be way too high to use in in normal business activities; I have tried - yes following their instructions - sev
Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Quick hello and request for assistance finding Open Source
Giovanni, I installed the QGIS + GRASS + PLUGIN as you suggested using the OSGeo4W installer. I can only use Grass Tools IF the layers are grass layers imported into a new map set. I do this but v.distance does not allow me to select the "From" vector file so the routine baulks. I am either (a) importing the shapefiles wrong, or (b) the development version of QGIS is not fully integrated with Grass Tools. I presumed that by going through QGIS I would be able manipulate the shapefiles directly. The problem with this option is to do simple vector queries requires a complete new GIS setup, two distinct programs (QGIS + GRASS) running, the need to convert shapefiles to grass format (the preference would be the ability to manipulate shapefiles natively) and the move project files to a central repository. What I will try is to run WinGrass again to cut out the middleman (in this case QGIS). Maybe it will work this time. tick, tick, tick... OK, I have installed WinGrass again. Since I created a mapset using QGIS the program opened once I pointed it to the default map location. Looking in more detail at v.distance I note it "Find(s) the nearest element in vector 'to' for elements in vector 'from'". Not what I needed. I need the distance of every feature from every other feature. That aside I find the routines are infinitely prescriptive - I presume you would be able to made the wizards choose defaults that could be changed by a user. As it is, it assumes you want to pick everything so it is a tedious task to figure out what needs to be done just to get one minor task completed. I spent about 40 minutes trying to select the various options to get this one routine to work - yes, I did read the manual. Eventually I gave up. Grass promises to provide immense power but in the absence of a easy to use GUI interface make it extremely difficult to utilize. I was hoping for the workflow... VECTOR1 + VECTOR2 == new tool, simple command line or GUI interface, one button == TABLE As its turning out with this option and the PostgreSQL option... (VECTOR1 = NEWVECTOR1) + (VECTOR2 = NEWVECTOR2) == new tool, complex, finicky, multiple processes == PROPRIETY TABLE == TABLE (if you are persistent). Giovanni, thanks for the tip of where to look. I'll keep playing with Grass but I don't think it will solve any of my short term needs as I don't have large amounts of time available to master this system (same problem with PostgreSQL). As it is I have already spent 5 hours trying to get the various options proposed to work - what is frustrating is that neither did. Cheers Simon Simon Cropper Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020. P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437. mailto: scrop...@botanicusaustralia.com.au web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au Giovanni Manghi wrote: Hi * I suspect that GRASS would provide this functionality but can't get that package to work on my system (even WinGRASS), so if you point me here please also point me to a tutorial on getting the thing to work Try install qgis (I suggest the dev version, the next 1.4) and GRASS using the osgeo4w installer. http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/ Then use GRASS trough QGIS using the GRASS qgis plugin (be careful to install it, you find it in the "libs" section of the osgeo4w installer). Regards ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
