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We are pleased to announce the stable release of GRASS GIS 7.2.0

What’s new in a nutshell

After almost two years of development the new stable major release GRASS GIS 7.2.0 is available. It provides more than 1950 stability fixes and manual improvements compared to the former stable release version 7.0.5. The new version includes a series of new modules to analyse raster and vector data along with new temporal algebra functionality.More than 50 new addons are also available. A summary of the new features is available at New Features in GRASS GIS 7.2.

About GRASS GIS 7: Its graphical user interface supports the user to make complex GIS operations as simple as possible. The updated Python interface to the C library permits users to create new GRASS GIS-Python modules in a simple way while yet obtaining powerful and fast modules. Furthermore, the libraries were again significantly improved for speed and efficiency, along with support for huge files. A lot of effort has been invested to standardize parameter and flag names. Finally, GRASS GIS 7 comes with a series of new modules to analyse raster and vector data, along with a full temporal framework. For a detailed overview, see the list of new features. As a stable release series, 7.2.x enjoys long-term support.

Binaries/Installer download:

• winGRASS 7.2.0: 32bit standalone installer | 64bit standalone installer
• winGRASS 7.2.0 OSGeo4W – testing area: 32bit OSGeo4W installer | 64bit OSGeo4W installer
• Debian Linux installer
• Fedora Linux installer
• MacPorts
• openSUSE Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• … further binary packages for other Linux distributions and Mac OSX will follow shortly.

Source code download:

• https://grass.osgeo.org/grass72/source/
• https://grass.osgeo.org/grass72/source/grass-7.2.0.tar.gz
• To get the GRASS GIS 7.2.0 source code directly from SVN, see here.

More details:

See also our detailed announcement:

• https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Release/7.2.0-News
• https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/wiki/Grass7/NewFeatures72 (overview of new 7.2 stable release series)
• https://grass.osgeo.org/grass72/manuals/addons/ (list of available addons)

First time users may explore the first steps tutorial after installation.

About GRASS GIS

The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (https://grass.osgeo.org/), commonly referred to as GRASS GIS, is an Open Source Geographic Information System providing powerful raster, vector and geospatial processing capabilities in a single integrated software suite. GRASS GIS 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 GIS has been translated into about twenty languages and supports a huge array of data formats. It can be used either as a stand-alone application or as backend for other software packages such as QGIS and R geostatistics. It is distributed freely under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). GRASS GIS is a founding member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).

The GRASS Development Team, December 2016

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Press release

From March 2016 onwards, Dr. Markus Neteler, a prominent head of the Open Source GIS scene, will join the management board of mundialis GmbH & Co. KG in Bonn, Germany. Founded in 2015, mundialis combines remote sensing and satellite data analysis in the field of Big Data with Open Source WebGIS solutions.

Since 2008, Dr. Neteler was the head of the GIS and remote sensing unit at the Edmund Mach Foundation in Trento (Italy) and worked in this capacity on numerous projects related to biodiversity, environmental and agricultural research. He is also a founding member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Delaware (USA), that promotes the development and use of free and open source geographic information systems (GIS). Since 1998 he coordinated the development of the well known GRASS GIS software project, a powerful Open Source GIS that supports processing of time series of several thousand raster, 3D raster or vector maps in a short time.

Markus will keep his role as “Mr. GRASS” at mundialis, especially because the company also sees itself as a research and development enterprise that puts its focus on the open source interfaces between geoinformation and remote sensing. Although a new company, mundialis offers more than 50 years of experience in GIS, due to the background of its management. Besides Neteler, there are Till Adams and Hinrich Paulsen, both at the same time the founders and CEOs of terrestris in Bonn, a company that develops Open Source GIS solutions since 2002. These many years of experience in the construction of WebGIS and Geoportal architectures using free software as well as in the application of common OGC standards – are now combined with mundialis’ expertise in the processing of big data with spatial reference and remote sensing data.

Contact: http://www.mundialis.de/

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The post GRASS GIS 7.0.1 released – 32 years of GRASS GIS appeared first on GFOSS Blog | GRASS GIS Courses.

# EPEL7:
yum -y install epel-release
yum -y install wget
# https://copr.fedoraproject.org/coprs/neteler/python-OWSLib/
wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/neteler-python-OWSLib-epel-7.repo https://copr.fedoraproject.org/coprs/neteler/python-OWSLib/repo/epel-7/neteler-python-OWSLib-epel-7.repo
yum -y update
yum -y install python-OWSLib
wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/qgis-epel-7.repo https://copr.fedoraproject.org/coprs/neteler/QGIS-2.8-Wien/repo/epel-7/neteler-QGIS-2.8-Wien-epel-7.repo
yum update
yum install qgis qgis-grass qgis-python qgis-server

# Fedora 20:
wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/qgis-epel-7.repo https://copr.fedoraproject.org/coprs/neteler/QGIS-2.8-Wien/repo/fedora-20/neteler-QGIS-2.8-Wien-fedora-20.repo
yum update
yum install qgis qgis-grass qgis-python qgis-server

# Fedora 21:
wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/qgis-epel-7.repo https://copr.fedoraproject.org/coprs/neteler/QGIS-2.8-Wien/repo/fedora-21/neteler-QGIS-2.8-Wien-fedora-21.repo
yum update
yum install qgis qgis-grass qgis-python qgis-server

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The post New stable release of GRASS GIS 7.0.0! appeared first on GFOSS Blog | GRASS GIS Courses.

GRASS GIS 7 just got better: When reprojecting vector data, now automated vertex densification is applied. This reduces the reprojection error for long lines (or polygon boundaries). The needed improvement has been kindly added in v.proj by Markus Metz.

1. Example

As an (extreme?) example, we generate a box in LatLong/WGS84 (EPSG: 4326) which is of 10 degree side length (see below for screenshot and at bottom for SHAPE file download of this “box” map):

[neteler@oboe ~]$ grass70 ~/grassdata/latlong/grass7/
# for the ease of generating the box, set computational region:
g.region n=60 s=40 w=0 e=30 res=10 -p
projection: 3 (Latitude-Longitude)
zone:       0
datum:      wgs84
ellipsoid:  wgs84
north:      60N
south:      40N
west:       0
east:       30E
nsres:      10
ewres:      10
rows:       2
cols:       3
cells:      6
# generate the box according to current computational region:
v.in.region box_latlong_10deg
exit

Next we start GRASS GIS in a metric projection, here the EU LAEA:

# EPSG 3035, metric EU LAEA:
grass70 ~/grassdata/europe_laea/user1/
GRASS 7.0.0svn (europe_laea): >

Now we first reproject the map the “traditional way” (no vertex densification as in most GIS, here enforced by smax=0):

v.proj box_latlong_10deg out=box_latlong_10deg_no_densification
location=latlong mapset=grass7 smax=0

Then we do a second reprojection with new automated vertex densification (here we use the default values for smax which is a 10km vertex distance in the reprojected map by default):

v.proj box_latlong_10deg out=box_latlong_10deg_yes_densification
location=latlong mapset=grass7

Eventually we can compare both reprojected maps:

g.region vect=box_latlong_10deg_no_densification

# compare:
d.mon wx0
d.vect box_latlong_10deg_no_densification color=red
d.vect box_latlong_10deg_yes_densification color=green fill_color=none

Comparison of the reprojection of a 10 degree large LatLong box to the metric EU LAEA (EPSG 3035): before in red and new in green. The grid is based on WGS84 at 5 degree spacing.

The result shows how nicely the projection is now performed in GRASS GIS 7: the red line output is old, the green color line is the new output (its area filling is not shown).

Consider to benchmark this with other GIS… the reprojected map should not become a simple trapezoid.

2. Sample dataset download

Download of box_latlong_10deg.shp for own tests (1kB).

The post GRASS GIS 7: Vector data reprojection with automated vertex densification appeared first on GFOSS Blog | GRASS GIS Courses.

We are pleased to announce that the 50th ICA-OSGeo Lab has been established at the GIS and Remote Sensing Unit (Piattaforma GIS & Remote Sensing, PGIS), Research and Innovation Centre (CRI), Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Italy. CRI is a multifaceted research organization established in 2008 under the umbrella of FEM, a private research foundation funded by the government of Autonomous Province of Trento. CRI focuses on studies and innovations in the fields of agriculture, nutrition, and environment, with the aim to generate new sharing knowledge and to contribute to economic growth, social development and the overall improvement of quality of life.

The mission of the PGIS unit is to develop and provide multi-scale approaches for the description of 2-, 3- and 4-dimensional biological systems and processes. Core activities of the unit include acquisition, processing and validation of geo-physical, ecological and spatial datasets collected within various research projects and monitoring activities, along with advanced scientific analysis and data management. These studies involve multi-decadal change analysis of various ecological and physical parameters from continental to landscape level using satellite imagery and other climatic layers. The lab focuses on the geostatistical analysis of such information layers, the creation and processing of indicators, and the production of ecological, landscape genetics, eco-epidemiological and physiological models. The team pursues actively the development of innovative methods and their implementation in a GIS framework including the time series analysis of proximal and remote sensing data.

The GIS and Remote Sensing Unit (PGIS) members strongly support the peer reviewed approach of Free and Open Source software development which is perfectly in line with academic research. PGIS contributes extensively to the open source software development in geospatial (main contributors to GRASS GIS), often collaborating with various other developers and researchers around the globe. In the new ICA-OSGeo lab at FEM international PhD students, university students and trainees are present.

PGIS is focused on knowledge dissemination of open source tools through a series of courses designed for specific user requirement (schools, universities, research institutes), blogs, workshops and conferences. Their recent publication in Trends in Ecology and Evolution underlines the need on using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for completely open science. Dr. Markus Neteler, who is leading the group since its formation, has two decades of experience in developing and promoting open source GIS software. Being founding member of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo.org, USA), he served on its board of directors from 2006-2011. Luca Delucchi, focal point and responsible person for the new ICA-OSGeo Lab is member of the board of directors of the Associazione Italiana per l’Informazione Geografica Libera (GFOSS.it, the Italian Local Chapter of OSGeo). He contributes to several Free and Open Source software and open data projects as developer and trainer.

Details about the GIS and Remote Sensing Unit at http://gis.cri.fmach.it/

Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2006 whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open source geospatial technologies and data.

International Cartographic Association (ICA) is the world authoritative body for cartography and GIScience. See also the new ICA-OSGeo Labs website.

In our first posting (“Processing Landsat 8 data in GRASS GIS 7: Import and visualization“) we imported a Landsat 8 scene (covering Raleigh, NC, USA). In this exercise we use Landsat data converted to reflectance with i.landsat.toar as shown in the first posting.

Here we will try color balancing and pan-sharpening, i.e. applying the higher resolution panchromatic channel to the color channels, using i.landsat.rgb.

1. Landsat 8 – RGB color balancing: natural color composites

After import, the RGB (bands 4,3,2 for Landsat 8) may look initially less exciting than expected.This is easy to fix by a histogram based auto-balancing of the RGB color tables.

To brighten up the RGB composite, we can use the color balancing tool of GRASS GIS 7:

As input, we specify the bands 4, 3, and 2:

Using a “Cropping intensity (upper brightness level)” of 99 (percent), the result look as follows:

For special purposes or under certain atmospheric/ground conditions it may be useful to make use of the functions “Preserve relative colors, adjust brightness only” or “Extend colors to full range of data on each channel” in the “Optional” tab of i.landsat.rgb.

You will need to experiment since the results depend directly on the image data.

2. Landsat 8 pansharpening

Pansharpening is a technique to merge the higher geometrical pixel resolution of the panchromatic band (Band 8) with the lower resolution color bands (Bands 4, 3, 2).

GRASS GIS 7 offers several methods through the command i.pansharpen.

1) Brovey transform:

This module runs in multi-core mode parallelized. The management of the resolution (i.e., apply the higher resolution of the panchromatic band) is performed automatically.

2. IHS transform

Here we select as above the bands in the i.pansharpen interface but use the “ihs” method.

HINT: If the colors should look odd, then apply i.landsat.rgb to the pan-sharpened bands (see above).

Color-adjusted IHS pansharpening (with “Cropping intensity: strength=99″):

Comparison of Landsat 8 RGB composite (39m) and IHS pansharpened RGB composite (15m):

3. PCA transform

Here we select as above the bands in the i.pansharpen interface but use the “pca” method.

Likewise other channels may be merged with i.pansharpen, even when originating from different sensors.

3. Conclusions

Overall, the IHS pansharpening method along with auto-balancing of colors appears to perform very well with Landsat 8.

The OSGeo-Live geospatial software collection version 7.0 has been released, featuring more than sixty open source, standards compliant geospatial desktop applications, web applications and frameworks. A complete installation kit and high-quality sample data in multiple industry standard formats are included. The OSGeo Live will be officially launched at FOSS4G 2013 in Nottingham, UK, 17-21 September, 2013.

Release Highlights

Projects new to this release include:

• GeoNode — a web-based application and platform for developing geospatial information systems (GIS) and for deploying spatial data infrastructures (SDI)
• Leaflet — a modern, open source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps
• ncWMS — a Web Map Service (WMS) for geospatial data stored in CF-compliant NetCDF files
• netCDF dataset — daily maximum temperature and rainfall, worldwide

All geospatial applications on the disc have been updated to their latest stable releases.

About OSGeo-Live

OSGeo-Live is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB flash drive and Virtual Machine based upon Ubuntu Linux (version 12.04 LTS). OSGeo-Live is pre-configured with a wide variety of robust open source geospatial software. All applications can be trialled without installing anything on your computer, simply by booting the computer from a DVD or USB drive, or running in a Virtual Machine environment. Each featured package is accompanied by both a publication quality one page descriptive summary and a short tutorial on how to get started using it.

http://live.osgeo.org

OSGeo-Live includes:

• Over sixty quality geospatial Open Source applications installed and pre-configured
• Free world maps and geodata
• One page overview and quick start guide for every application
• Overviews of key OGC standards
• Translations to multiple languages

Credits

Over 160 people have directly helped with OSGeo-Live packaging, documenting and translating, and thousands have been involved in building the packaged software.

Packagers, documenters and translators include:

Activity Workshop, Agustín Dí­ez, Aikaterini Kapsampeli, Alan Beccati, Alan Boudreault, Alessandro Furieri, Alexander Bruy, Alexander Kleshnin, Alexander Muriy, Alexandre Dube, Alexey Ardyakov, Alex Mandel, Amy Gao, Andrea Antonello, Andrea Yanza, Andrey Syrokomskiy, Andry Rustanto, Angelos Tzotsos, Anna Muñoz, Antonio Falciano, Anton Novichikhin, Anton Patrushev, Argyros Argyridis, Ariel Núñez, Assumpció Termens, Astrid Emde, Barry Rowlingson, Benjamin Pross, Brian Hamlin, Bruno Binet, Cameron Shorter, Christophe Tufféry, Christos Iossifidis, Cristhian Pin, Damian Wojsław, Dane Springmeyer, Daniel Kastl, Daria Svidzinska, David Mateos, Denis Rykov, Diego González, Diego Migliavacca, Dimitar Misev, Dmitry Baryshnikov, Dominik Helle, Edgar Soldin, Eike Hinderk Jürrens, Elena Mezzini, Eric Lemoine, Estela Llorente, Etienne Delay, Etienne Dube, Evgeny Nikulin, Fran Boon, François Prunayre, Frank Gasdorf, Frank Warmerdam, Friedjoff Trautwein, Gavin Treadgold, Giuseppe Calamita, Gerald Fenoy, Grigory Rozhentsov, Guy Griffiths, Hamish Bowman, Haruyuki Seki, Henry Addo, Hernan Olivera, Howard Butler, Hyeyeong Choe, Ian Edwards, Ian Turton, Ilya Filippov, Jackie Ng, Jan Drewnak, Jane Lewis, Javier Rodrigo, Javier Sánchez, Jesús Gómez, Jim Klassen, Jing Wang, Jinsongdi Yu, Jody Garnett, Johan Van de Wauw, John Bryant, Jorge Arévalo, Jorge Sanz, José Antonio Canalejo, José Vicente Higón, Judit Mays, Klokan Petr Pridal, Kristof Lange, kuzkok, Lance McKee, Lars Lingner, Luca Delucchi, Lucía Sanjaime, Mage Whopper, Manuel Grizonnet, Marc-André Barbeau, Marco Curreli, Marco Puppin, Marc Torres, Margherita Di Leo, Maria Vakalopoulou, Mario Andino, Mark Leslie, Massimo Di Stefano, Mauricio Miranda, Mauricio Pazos, Maxim Dubinin, Michaël Michaud, Michael Owonibi, Micha Silver, Mike Adair, Milena Nowotarska, M Iqnaul Haq Siregar, Nacho Varela, Nadiia Gorash, Nathaniel V. Kelso, Ned Horning, Nobusuke Iwasaki, Oliver Tonnhofer, Òscar Fonts, Otto Dassau, Pasquale Di Donato, Patric Hafner, Paul Meems, Pavel, Pedro-Juan Ferrer, Pirmin Kalberer, Raf Roset, Ricardo Pinho, Roald de Wit, Roberta Fagandini, Roberto Antolin, Roberto Antolí­n, Roger Veciana, Ruth Schoenbuchner, Samuel Mesa, Scott Penrose, Sergey Grachev, Sergio Baños, Simon Cropper, Simon Pigot, Stefan A. Tzeggai, Stefan Hansen, Stefan Steiniger, Stephan Meissl, Steve Lime, Thierry Badard, Thomas Baschetti, Thomas Gratier, Tom Kralidis, Toshikazu Seto, Trevor Wekel, Valenty González, Vera, Xianfeng Song, Yoichi Kayama, Zhengfan Lin

Sponsoring organisations

• The Open Source Geospatial Foundation OSGeo provides the primary development & hosting infrastructure and personnel for the OSGeo-Live project, and infrastructure for many of the software projects themselves. http://www.osgeo.org/
• LISAsoft provides sustaining resources and staff toward the management and packaging of software onto the Live DVD. http://www.lisasoft.com
• Information Center for the Environment (ICE) at the University of California, Davis provides hardware resources and development support to the OSGeo Live project. http://ice.ucdavis.edu
• Remote Sensing Laboratory at the National Technical University of Athens, provides hardware resources and development support to the OSGeo-Live project. http://www.ntua.gr
• The DebianGIS and UbuntuGIS teams provide and quality-assure many of the core packages. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianGis and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGIS

The GRASS GIS community is delighted to present the outcome of the 4th Community Sprint that took place in a warm and sunny Prague, Czech Republic, from July 12 to July 18, 2013. The event happened after the Geoinformatics conference at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The Community Sprint was once more a creative gathering of both long-term and new developers, as well as users.
This meeting was held in the light of 30 YEARS OF GRASS GIS!

We wish to cordially thank the Department of Mapping and Cartography, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague for hosting and technical support. In particular, we gratefully acknowledge our association sponsors OSGeo  and FOSSGIS e.V., and many individual donors: Peter Löwe, Andrea Borruso, Massimo Di Stefano, Alessandro Sarretta, Joshua Campbell, Andreas Neumann, Jon Eiriksson, Luca Casagrande, Karyn O Newcomb, Holger Naumann, Anne Ghisla, Helena Mitasova and Lubos Mitas, Dimitris Tamp, Mark Seibel, Markus Metz, and Tawny Gapinski. These financial contributions were used to cover costs such as meals and to help reducing travelling and accommodation expenses for participants with far arrival who came on own expenses.

Developers and users who joined the event came from various countries like Italy, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Sri Lanka/France, USA and Germany.
The Community Sprint focused on:

• testing/bugfixing of the upcoming GRASS 7 version,
• backporting new functionalities to the stable GRASS 6.4 series,
• testing/bugfixing related to Mac OS X, MS-Windows and Linux,
• presenting and developing the new Temporal GIS Algebra in GRASS 7,
• connecting GRASS 7 with the planetary science software ISIS,
• discussing integration with rasdaman.org software, a powerful multidimensional raster processor,
• creating 3D vector test data for 3D interpolation,
• discussing vector conflation,
• discussing Bundle Block Adjustments,
• presenting the state of image processing in GRASS 7, and discussing its future,
• improving documentation, with focus on image processing and Temporal GIS Algebra,
• developing/refactoring and bugfixing several wxGUI’s components,
• further developing customizable wxGUI Toolboxes concept,
• improving translation in Polish and Romanian languages,
• fixing v.krige in GRASS7 and proposing merge with the recently developed v.kriging module,
• meeting between Google Summer of Code 2013 mentor and students.

A lot of topic oriented discussions happened among small groups of participants: for more detailed information, please visit the Wiki pages at http://grasswiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GRASS_Community_Sprint_Prague_2013 and the related discussion page at http://grasswiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Talk:GRASS_Community_Sprint_Prague_2013

About GRASS GIS
The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, commonly referred to as GRASS GIS, is an Open Source Geographic Information System providing powerful raster, vector and geospatial processing capabilities in a single integrated software suite. GRASS GIS 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 GIS has been translated into about twenty languages and supports a huge array of data formats. It is distributed freely under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). GRASS GIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).

GRASS GIS Development Team, July 2013

Fourth (and last) release candidate of GRASS GIS 6.4.3 with improvements and stability fixes
A fourth release candidate of GRASS GIS 6.4.3 is now available.

Source code download:

• http://grass.osgeo.org/grass64/source/
• http://grass.osgeo.org/grass64/source/grass-6.4.3RC4.tar.gz

Binaries download:

• winGRASS 6.4.3RC4 standalone installer
• winGRASS 6.4.3RC4 in OSGeo4W installer
• Arch Linux
• openSUSE One-Click installer
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow leopard
• … further packages will follow shortly.

To get the GRASS GIS 6.4.3RC4 source code directly from SVN:
 svn checkout http://svn.osgeo.org/grass/grass/tags/release_20130710_grass_6_4_3RC4

Key improvements of this release include some new functionality (assistance for topologically unclean vector data), fixes in the vector network modules, fixes for the wxPython based portable graphical interface (attribute table management, wxNVIZ, and Cartographic Composer), fixes in the location wizard for Datum transform selection and support for PROJ.4 version 4.8.0, improvements for selecting the Python version to be used, enhanced portability for MS-Windows (native support, fixes in case of missing system DLLs), and more translations (esp. Romanian).