GRASS GIS Report 2012

- DRAFT, please expand

• Contact name: Helena Mitasova, PSC Vice-Chair

Key Accomplishments

• Updated and modernized GRASS GIS Web site launched (press release)
• GRASS GIS 6.4.2 released, see details
• GRASS GIS 6.4.3RC2 released, see details
• WinGRASS 6.4.3RC2 stand-alone package, MacOSX installer and Linux package released
• Google Summer of Code 2012 participation with three successful projects:

Pietro Zambelli : Python high level map interaction for GRASS GIS

Eric Momsen: Image Segmentation in GRASS GIS

Stepan Turek: GRASS GIS WxGui front end for vector analysis modules

• Many improvements in GRASS GIS 7 development version, see new features

Participation in conferences

• 21-23 May 2012: GRASS GIS Community Sprint 2012, Prague, Czech Republic (press release)
• Presentations at FOSS4G and geoscience conferences:
  • 21-22 May 2012: FOSS4G-CEE, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 3-7 December 2012:AGU, Open source geospatial for geosciences session
• Feb 2012: GRASS and FOSS4G-IT user meeting 2012, Italy - XIII Meeting degli utenti di lingua Italiana di GRASS e FOSS4G, Italy

Education and Research

• OSGeo Research and Education Laboratories with GRASS GIS applications and development among their activities launched at
  • North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
  • Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
• GRASS GIS used at university courses:
  • North Carolina State University, USA
  • Archeology, Arizona State University, USA
  • University of Basilicata, Italy. (Some training course material in Italian available here)
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium (Some training course material in French available here)
  • University of Genoa, Italy (Numerical cartograpy and GIS (IT) [1])
• Many papers that include GRASS GIS were published in scientific journals and conference proceedings in 2012:
  • some examples in earth sciences
  • Looking for the future in the past: Long-term change in socioecological systems
  • Reference paper: Neteler, M., Bowman, M.H., Landa, M. and Metz, M. (2012): GRASS GIS: a multi-purpose Open Source GIS. Environmental Modelling & Software, 31: 124-130 (DOI)
• Training:
  • GRASS used for GIS training by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA
  • Workshop Introduction to GRASS GIS. GEOSTAT 2012, 3-8 Sep 2012, Muenster, Germany
  • Workshop The temporal GRASS GIS framework: Introduction and application. GEOSTAT 2012, 3-8 Sep 2012, Muenster, Germany

Areas for Improvement

• Develop a migration guide for public administration
• Improve the existing sponsorship program

Opportunities to Help

• Developers, power users providing support to newcomers, translators, documentation editors and others who would like to help are always welcome,

see more details on how to get involved

• Help in preparing more marketing material: update flyers and poster in different languages

Outlook for 2013

• Release of GRASS GIS 6.4.3
• Continue improvements in GRASS GIS 7.0, technology preview release planned
• Organize GRASS GIS Community Sprints
• Participation at FOSS4G and other conferences
• Participation in Google Summer of Code