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GRASS Community QuestionnaireThe Rutgers University Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (CRSSA)
has assumed the GRASS support and distribution functions that were formerly
being provided by the Open GRASS Foundation (later Open GIS Foundation) of
Boston Mass. In order to more effectively serve the GRASS user and developmen
t
communities, we are asking that current or potential GRASS GIS users provide
us
with information about their activities and their vision of the future of the
GRASS software and community. Please fax or email your response, as well as a
ny
additional comments or suggestions, to:
Scott Madry or Carine O'Neil
Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis
Box 231 Cook, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0231 USA
tel. (908) 932-1582/3 fax (908) 932-8746
madry@ocean.rutgers.edu coneil@ocean.rutgers.eduName Organization
Cracow University of Technology
Institute of Water Engineering and Water Management
Address
ul. Warszawska 24
Country Poland Postal Code 31-155
Tel. (48-12) 33-03-00 ext.2855 Fax. (48-12) 33-10-83
Name of Person Responding
Robert Szczepanek
Title
MSc
robert@profek.wis.pk.edu.pl
Mosaic URL of Organization
-
Type of Organization: University___X____ National Gov't agency________
Individual ______State Gov't________ Local Gov't________
International agency_____Commercial_______ Non-Profit________
School________Other__________________________________________________GIS Software Used (please indicate number of seats or licenses) GRASS____1___
_
Arc/Info____6____ ILWIS________Idrisi____1____ MGE________
AutoCad____1____MapInfo_______ Genasys________
Other__________________________________________________Hardware environment used for GIS/remote sensing/GPS work
(please indicate general number of computers for each)DOS___GIS-3_____ MAC________ WINDOWS________SUN________ DEC________
Silicon Graphics________LINUX_______ Intergraph________IBM Risc 6000________Other_______HP 9000/715: GIS-1______________________
GIS/Remote Sensing Applications
Archaeology________ Biology________ Coastal Studies________
Environment____X____Military________Mapping________Marine______Urban____
Park Mgmt_______ AM/FM________ Transportation_______ Utilities________ Wildli
fe
Mgmt.________ Other_______Hydrology___X____
What version(s) of GRASS do you currently use? ______4.1_________
How did you find out about GRASS? Magazine (name)_________________ Friend___
_
Mosaic_________ University (name)__Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm)_
_ Other____
How did you acquire GRASS? CD-ROM_____ Internet (moon)_____ Tape______
Friend___X__Agency_________ Other_________________________How would you prefer to acquire GRASS in the future CD-ROM___X__ Internet__X_
__
Tape_____ Friend_____ Agency_________ Other_________________________
Tel. ____________________________Fax.________________________Do you want:
Source code Y___ N___
Compiled code Y___ N___ which compiled code?_________________
Both Y__X_ N___Why do you use the GRASS GIS? Please rank from 1 to 10, meaning most importan
t
(1) to least important (10)
Cost__2___ Open Programming Environment__1__ Customer(s) use GRASS___3___
Ease of
use___9___ Agency or company mandates its use_______
Specific capabilities (list)____C-language__4____________________________
Other__________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________What kind of general uses for GRASS are there at your site?
University teaching _____X_____research___X____applications___X___
code development__X___contracting________short courses_____
other__________________________________________________If you use GRASS for teaching, what kind of
courses?_______________________________________________________What other GIS/RS software do you teach
with?_______IDRISI___________________________________________________How would you rate GRASS as a teaching GIS (on a scale of 1-10 with 1 the bes
t
and 10 the worst) ____________
What do you like about teaching using GRASS?___________________
______________________________________________________________What do you not like about teaching using
GRASS?___________________________________________What developments would you like to see that would help you the most in teach
ing
using GRASS?___USER-FRIENDLY HELP AND PROGRAM ENVIRONMENT____________________
__
_______________________________________________________
GENERAL GRASS CAPABILITIES What do you see as the best general features of
GRASS?______access to the source code_______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
What do you see as the worst features or greatest limitations of
GRASS?_______user-interface____________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
GRASS MEETINGS How should the GRASS user community address the issue of meeti
ngs?
These cost money, and require significant administrative effort to plan and h
ost.
We would like your ideas about how (or if) we should do future meetings.
Should there be future GRASS meetings? Yes__X_No___
What would most influence your decision to attend a GRASS meeting in the futu
re
(put a number in order of importance, with 1 being the most important)
cost__3__location__1__ What is your preferred location?____EUROPE____________
content and quality of papers__2___Vendor booths____Seeing friends___
"Birds of a feather" meetings___Fun__ Hearing Scott Madry Sing_____When would you most prefer such a meeting (month)____ANY TIME__________
Would you consider hosting a future GRASS users meeting? Y__N_X_(not yet)_
where_________________________when_________________________
Would you prefer a: (please rank 1-7, with 1 being the best)
Stand-alone GRASS users meeting___5____ Regional mtgs.__4__
Joint meeting with URISA___3____ASPRS_____GIS/LIS___1____
European meeting___2____ Asian/Pacific rim meeting_________
Other___________________________________________________GRASSCLIPPINGS ISSUES In the past, there has been a color newsletter/magazine
dealing with GRASS, funded partly through paid advertisements. Rutges wants
to
produce a "virtual GRASSCLIPPINGS" as a mosaic home page on the internet. You
r
comments are requested.
Do you like the idea of a Mosaic-based "Virtual GRASSCLIPPINGS" magazine on t
he
Internet? Y__X_ N___
Do you currently have a Mosaic home page URL that could be "connected"?
Yes______No__X___
If yes, please list it:____________________________________________Provide the email address of the person responsible for it
___________________________________________________________Would you be willing to provide articles/papers/news/etc. via Mosaic for the
Virtual Clippings? Yes____ No__X__ Explain___(maybe in the future)__________
_
Do you have a better name for the new electronic
Clippings?___________no________________________________________________How do we serve those without Mosaic
capability_____________________________________________________GRASS USERS GROUP ISSUES In the past, the official functions of organizing GR
ASS
activities have been handled by the Open GRASS Foundation. Now that the OGF i
s
gone, we should discuss the future of the grass users group. We want to prop
ose
that we create a new organization to coordinate GRASS-related activities.
Should there be a new GRASS Users Organization? Y_X__ N___
Do you have a suggestion for a name for the new GRASS users
group____________________________________________________________Should this new organization be :
a legal entity (non-profit corporation, etc.)? Y_X__ N___
a loosely organized user group Y___ N___
other structure____________________________________________
Don't really care _____Do we need to form a new GRASS users group Steering Committee
Y___ N___Would you be willing to participate in a meaningful way (meaning time and eff
ort)
by serving on a Steering Committee? Y__ N__
Can I put your name on a list that will be posted on grass-l to be voted on b
y
the community within the next month or so. Y__ N__
It costs money to provide many of the services that have been available to th
e
GRASS community in the past. How should we (or should we) consider raising fu
nds
for future GRASS activities?
Would you pay individual membership dues? Y__X__ N____
How much would you be willing to pay per year $___20-30______
Should ther be a group or organizational membership? Y___ N_X__
How much would your organization be willing to pay per year ? $______
Should we try to get grants to fund GRASS activities from standard granting
organizations Y_X__ N___
Which ones?___State Committee of Scientific Research (Poland)___________
Other ________________________
Don't feel the need to raise funds_____GRASS DISTRIBUTION AND RELEASE ISSUES
GRASS currently resides in the public domain, with free access to source code
available on the internet. This is one of its great strengths. CD-ROMs and
documentation are available for nominal cost from Rutgers, and there are
commercial spin-off versions that are available. Primary development and rele
ase
coordination costs are significant, and are still provided by CERL (and other
s).
If this model changes, how would you like to see GRASS distribution and relea
se
coordination (which costs real money and staff) handled in the future after t
he
5.0 release (please rate 1-10, with 1 being the most preferable, and 10 being
the least).__1_ As is, in the public domain, with source available on the internet for
free, source and compiled code available on CD-ROM and manuals available for
a
small fee.
__5_Stop public domain status with 5.0, and transition GRASS to an "IDRISI" l
ike
model, with Rutgers providing all support, new development, documentation, ne
w
ports, etc. for a reasonable fee per release.
What is a reasonable fee for each new release for such a complete
product/service?
Academic US $ 100_________ Commercial US $ 100_________
Academic US $ 300____X_____ Commercial US $ 300_________
Academic US $ 500_________ Commercial US $ 500_________
Academic US $ 1,000_________ Commercial US $ 1,000_________
Other US $ _________________Other proposed model___________________________________________________
GRASS DEVELOPMENT ISSUES The GRASS community includes a large number of
technical development sites around the world. The issue of how (or if) we
should coordinate GRASS development in the wider international community alon
g
with the two primary development sites (USA/CERL and USDA SCS) should be
considered, especially if or
when they reduce their development activities significantly.Should future GRASS development be coordinated? Y___ N___
What are the five most important GRASS development areas that need to be
addressed (what does GRASS most need that it doesn't have now)?1)___________________________________________________________
2)___________________________________________________________
3)___________________________________________________________
4)___________________________________________________________
5)___________________________________________________________Would you or your facility be interested in participating in a new GRASS
development consortium or group that will serve as a clearinghouse for
coordinating and sharing development activities. Y__X_ N___How should such a consortium be aranged to produce future GRASS releases beyo
nd
version 5.0 if CERL/SCS no longer supports future releases? How can the
responsibilities and costs be shared?____I don't have such experience and I d
on't
have idea how can the responsibilities and costs be shared.
___________________________________________________________
Would you be willing to support a site at your facility that would be
responsible for grass ports and configuration maintenance for a particular
HW/OS configuration? Y_X_ N__
If yes, what configuration? ___HP 9000, but I'm not sure if I have sufficient
experience___
CERL currently maintains the "moon" server that contains the GRASS source cod
e,
documentation, etc. While there is no immediate intention at CERL to stop, it
is realistic to assume that this arrangement will not continue indefinately.
If
CERL decides to stop maintaining the server in the future, what would you
suggest as an alternative?___X__Find a new site to maintain the public domain server
(Apx. 1 full time system manager time and cost, plus equipment)How would such a site be funded?___MEMBERSHIP FEE ?___
Would you be willing to provide (and fund) such a site at your
facility? Y__ N_X______Find a new site to maintain a server that would charge some access fee.
What charge would be acceptable? US$ __________________Stop the maintenance of a centralized server
Other___________________________________________________________
Good luck,
--
_________________________________________________________________
* *
* Robert Szczepanek *
* """ Cracow University of Technology *
* 'o o` Institute of Water Engineering and Water Management *
* | ul.Warszawska 24 *
* \_/ 31-155 Cracow POLAND *
* *
* tel: (48-12) 33-03-00 ext.2855 *
* fax: (48-12) 33-10-83 *
* E-mail: robert@profek.wis.pk.edu.pl *
_________________________________________________________________