Just to illustrate, here are some statistics about the GCI "Install GRASS
GIS and download NC dataset" beginner task:
As of today (02/01/18), there are 8 students working on this task and 17
have completed the task so far.
However, 24 students have abandoned the task and 15 ran out of time (they
had 3 days to complete it). From these students, we get comments such as:
- "once i open the grass gis console...it opens another application called
layer manager"
- "why is it so hard to do this?"
- "I don't know how to add dataset of north carolina ...what to do next?
how to add map of north carolina"
- "how do you open it after you extracted it"
- "I've downloaded the software and also the data base, but the map
doesn't seem to open in app, I'm kind of stuck here"
- "However, I can't seem to be able to see anything upon opening it. The
UI opens fine, but I can't see a map or anything after selecting the North
Carolina dataset."
Of course, some might reflect a lack of understanding of a GIS, but they
are doing pretty well in OSGeo tasks and such comments I have heard not
only from high school students. IMHO, to make GRASS GIS easier for new-
comers and first-time users is really beneficial for us, we cannot get
more users and future developers if they feel it is that hard to display a
map.
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by cmbarton):
Replying to [comment:1 veroandreo]:
> Thanks Helli for opening this ticket and hopefully triggering some
discussion on this matter. We already discussed about it in the autumn
2017 community sprint
(https://grasswiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Talk:GRASS_GIS_Community_Sprint_Autumn_2017).
>
> Just to illustrate, here are some statistics about the GCI "Install
GRASS GIS and download NC dataset" beginner task:
>
> As of today (02/01/18), there are 8 students working on this task and 17
have completed the task so far.
>
> However, 24 students have abandoned the task and 15 ran out of time
(they had 3 days to complete it). From these students, we get comments
such as:
> - "once i open the grass gis console...it opens another application
called layer manager"
> - "why is it so hard to do this?"
> - "I don't know how to add dataset of north carolina ...what to do next?
how to add map of north carolina"
> - "how do you open it after you extracted it"
> - "I've downloaded the software and also the data base, but the map
doesn't seem to open in app, I'm kind of stuck here"
> - "However, I can't seem to be able to see anything upon opening it. The
UI opens fine, but I can't see a map or anything after selecting the North
Carolina dataset."
>
> Of course, some might reflect a lack of understanding of a GIS, but they
are doing pretty well in OSGeo tasks and such comments I have heard not
only from high school students. IMHO, to make GRASS GIS easier for new-
comers and first-time users is really beneficial for us, we cannot get
more users and future developers if they feel it is that hard to display a
map.
I've taught quite a few beginning GIS classes with GRASS now. I've also
done some short training sessions with QGIS. Most (all?) of the comments
above would apply equally to QGIS.
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by cmbarton):
Replying to [comment:2 wenzeslaus]:
> See wiki:wxGUIDevelopment/New_Startup for solutions proposed so far (and
of course, please contribute).
I added a couple of thoughts there. Another one that might help would be
better integrate saved workspaces with Projects (AKA Locations) or
Mapsets. We could have a default workspace for each Mapset, for example,
which would open when GRASS is launched and that Mapset chosen. By default
it would be blank. But for demo sets like North Carolina, the default
workspace could have several maps that would automatically show up in the
display.
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by wenzeslaus):
Replying to [comment:5 cmbarton]:
> Replying to [comment:2 wenzeslaus]:
> > See wiki:wxGUIDevelopment/New_Startup for solutions proposed so far
(and of course, please contribute).
>
> I added a couple of thoughts there.
Please check if your changes were saved. I don't see them in the history:
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by wenzeslaus):
Replying to [comment:5 cmbarton]:
>
> Another one that might help would be better integrate saved workspaces
with Projects (AKA Locations) or Mapsets. We could have a default
workspace for each Mapset, for example, which would open when GRASS is
launched and that Mapset chosen. By default it would be blank. But for
demo sets like North Carolina, the default workspace could have several
maps that would automatically show up in the display.
This makes a lot of sense to me and it is actually already there:
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by wenzeslaus):
Replying to [comment:1 veroandreo]:
> From these students, we get comments such as: ''once i open the grass
gis console...it opens another application called layer manager''
This part should be addressed in PR:1216 (merged).
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by wenzeslaus):
Replying to [ticket:3474 hellik] (OP):
>
> therefore to broaden the user community, the startup should be changed
to:
>
> - start first layer manager and map display into a default ll-
wgs84-location
Done in PR:705 and PR:868.
> - then offer the dialogue choose location/mapset-new location/mapset
Even better, the Data tab is now capable to do anything the startup screen
did (e.g., PR:756, PR:731 from the recent changes).
> - introduce a -vintage flag to be able to change to the old behaviour
Sorry, not happening. If you are running from the command line (and you
[would] have to use any vintage sort of flag), you can set the mapset from
command line. If you want pick it in GUI, start in some mapset, e.g., in
the demolocation or create an XY location for yourself. There is besides
the default g.gui, there is also g.gui.datacatalog if you want a light
weight experience.
Behavior of `--gtext` is still undecided, so please do test and make
suggestions.
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by wenzeslaus):
Replying to [comment:1 veroandreo]:
> From these students, we get comments such as:
> ...
> - "how do you open it after you extracted it"
Tutorials for absolute beginners make use of the "Download sample
location" button in the Data tab.
An "Open mapset" is still under consideration. Consider creating an issue.
> - "I don't know how to add dataset of north carolina ...what to do next?
how to add map of north carolina"
> - "I've downloaded the software and also the data base, but the map
doesn't seem to open in app, I'm kind of stuck here"
> - "However, I can't seem to be able to see anything upon opening it. The
UI opens fine, but I can't see a map or anything after selecting the North
Carolina dataset."
Now the data is at least visible in Data tab in way or the or the other
which hopefully mitigates some of the initial confusion and leaves some
energy for the next steps.
#3474: Change the GRASS GIS start up to more beginner friendly
--------------------------+----------------------------
Reporter: hellik | Owner: grass-dev@…
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: critical | Milestone: 8.0.0
Component: Startup | Version: svn-trunk
Resolution: | Keywords: wxGUI, startup
CPU: All | Platform: All
--------------------------+----------------------------
Comment (by wenzeslaus):
Replying to [comment:5 cmbarton]:
> Another one that might help would be better integrate saved workspaces
with Projects (AKA Locations) or Mapsets. We could have a default
workspace for each Mapset, for example, which would open when GRASS is
launched and that Mapset chosen. By default it would be blank. But for
demo sets like North Carolina, the default workspace could have several
maps that would automatically show up in the display.
This is still on the table. Consider open an issue for this.