[GRASS-user] Issues in v.distance and v.overlay

Hi all,

In running some largish vector calculations that involved calculating population, using areas overlaid with Australian Census Collection districts (which have up to 12,000 areas), I've noticed a couple of issues with the above modules.

v.overlay - Is leaving a lot of "orphan" lines ("incorrect boundaries") when a large map is overlaid with a much smaller map. This doesn't affect calculation much, but it does affect display.

If I were only working with a few target areas, I could use v.digit to correct the result, but with a large and complex map the job is rather daunting!

v.distance - when using the -a option (measure distance to all areas in boundary), it cannot create the database table for to_attr outputs.

example from Spearfish:

v.distance from=bugsites from_type=point to=archsites to_type=point -a upload=dist,to_attr column=dist,character to_column=str1 table=test2
100%
DBMI-DBF driver error:
Column 'dist' already exists (duplicate name)
Cannot create table.
Error in db_execute_immediate()

ERROR: Unable to create table: 'create table test2 (from_cat integer, dist
       double precision, dist double precision )'

or, if I alter the column order:

v.distance from=bugsites from_type=point to=archsites to_type=point -a upload=to_attr,dist column=character,distance to_column=str1 table=test2
100%
DBMI-DBF driver error:
SQL parser error: syntax error, unexpected ',', expecting NAME processing ','
in statement:
create table test2 (from_cat integer, , distance double precision )
Error in db_execute_immediate()

ERROR: Unable to create table: 'create table test2 (from_cat integer, ,
       distance double precision )'

Cheers,
Richard Chirgwin