GRASS migration hints
Migrating to GRASS
Welcome! There is a lot of help on the web and a wealth of expertise available on the mailing lists and via IRC.
GIS "The GRASS way"
Interoperability
Collaboration with external software is highly encouraged.
- GDAL/OGR for Import/Export
- R statistics: GRASS/R interface
- DXF: v.in.dxf, v.out.dxf
- Matlab/Octave: r.in.mat, r.out.mat, v.in.mapgen, v.in.ascii, v.out.ascii
- POV-Ray rendering: r.out.pov, v.out.pov
- VMRL: r.out.vrml (3D virtual realilty)
- GMT - Generic Mapping Tools for cartography: r.in.bin, r.out.bin
- Google Earth/KML: v.out.ogr
- VTK (Paraview, etc): r3.out.vtk, r.out.vtk, v.out.vtk
- V5D: r3.in.v5d, r3.out.v5d
Portability
- All code POSIX C and generic UNIX compatible
- Most code MinGW compatible for native MS-Windows
Scriptability
- GRASS is made up of modular tools specifically designed for easy scriptability in any number of common scripting languages
- SWIG interface for direct hooks into higher scripting languages
- if "GRASS_BATCH_JOB=/path/to/script.sh" is set GRASS 6.3+ will run the script as a batch job and exit when it is complete. Start GRASS with the full path to the mapset to avoid the startup menus. See also GRASS and Shell.
Freedom
GRASS Concepts
Tips for recent migrants
- Tips for ArcGIS users
- GIS Software to GRASS command translation table and discussion
- GRASS 4 and 5 users: GRASS Module Porting List (check here if you don't find a certain command in GRASS 6)
Software Comparisons
- ArcGIS & GRASS (in Italian)