[GRASS5] New GIS Manager adds transparency to layers

GRASS GIS GRASS GIS developer
,
1

IR17;ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it’s pretty exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I’ve been working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I’m ready to duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer tree.

The main changes come ‘under the hood’ of this version of the GIS Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on and off, and changing layer attributes—only the new or changed layer needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp directory, so that it doesn’t clutter up your home directories. The other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS’s and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways—the old xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg

I’ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I’ve posted packages you can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated 21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier version, I made a second package with all functionality minus transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/gism_rc4_20060307.tgz>

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006 binaries.

<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/gism_rc4_20060307pre_02-21.tgz>

Enjoy
Michael

Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton

2

Michael,

THAT is very cool! Can't wait to take it for a spin around the block…

Tom

Michael Barton wrote:

IR17;ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it’s pretty exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I’ve been working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I’m ready to duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer tree.

The main changes come ‘under the hood’ of this version of the GIS Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on and off, and changing layer attributes—only the new or changed layer needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp directory, so that it doesn’t clutter up your home directories. The other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS’s and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways—the old xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg&gt;
_
I’ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I’ve posted packages you can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated 21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier version, I made a second package with all functionality minus transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/ <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307\.tgz&gt;

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006 binaries.

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/ <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307pre\_02\-21\.tgz&gt;

Enjoy
Michael

______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton&gt;

--
Thomas E Adams
National Weather Service
Ohio River Forecast Center
1901 South State Route 134
Wilmington, OH 45177

EMAIL: thomas.adams@noaa.gov

VOICE: 937-383-0528
FAX: 937-383-0033

3

Michael,

I have installed the GRASS 6.1 CVS release dated 2006_03_04

and followed your instructions in the README in _http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/ <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307\.tgz\.

First off, the installation using the old d.m works fine — no errors. When I try the new gis.m, the interface tries to come up, but it stalls with an error Dialog that reads "Error getting working directory name: no such file or directory". If I select the Error Dialog 'OK' button, the GIS manager completes its startup. However, if I select a raster map to display and click on the refresh button (labeled: "Display active layers in the current region") in the "Map Display 1" window, I get the same Error Dialog as I got when I first started up the new GIS Manager (gis.m). Also, from the time of the startup of the GIS Manager, the 'status indicator' in the lower left of the "Map Display 1" window shows: "please wait..." — this never goes away.

Interestingly, if I select the NVIZ button, there is no problem displaying the raster I selected; so, NVIZ seems OK, but the raster map will never display in 2-D in the "Map Display 1" window…

Also, when I try to use the Init.sh file from gism_rc4_20060307.tgz, I get shared library problems: "libgrass_gis.so cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory" — even though the library is in the GRASS lib directory. I should mention that due to system constraints, the entire GRASS distribution and other libraries (GDAL, PROJ, etc.) are in a non-standard location.

A final question: should I be using the gis.m file from gism_rc4_20060307.tgz? I have tried both with and without…

I'm running on a Redhat Linux system, FWIW…

Tom

Michael Barton wrote:

I’ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it’s pretty exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I’ve been working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I’m ready to duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer tree.

The main changes come ‘under the hood’ of this version of the GIS Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on and off, and changing layer attributes—only the new or changed layer needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp directory, so that it doesn’t clutter up your home directories. The other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS’s and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways—the old xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg&gt;
_
I’ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I’ve posted packages you can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated 21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier version, I made a second package with all functionality minus transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/ <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307\.tgz&gt;

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006 binaries.

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/ <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307pre\_02\-21\.tgz&gt;

Enjoy
Michael

______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton&gt;

--
Thomas E Adams
National Weather Service
Ohio River Forecast Center
1901 South State Route 134
Wilmington, OH 45177

EMAIL: thomas.adams@noaa.gov

VOICE: 937-383-0528
FAX: 937-383-0033

4

Something similar has just been reported on some lab computers running GRASS
under Cygwin. Maybe it's a different issue, though because it only happened
with a version of init.sh that automatically runs gism2. It seems to run OK
if launched manually.

Your GRASS in a non-standard location might be an issue. I'm not sure where
the working directory error comes from. Is it a TclTk error (buttons run,
cancel, details) or another kind of error (xwindows, bash, etc..)?

The GIS Manager display works by creating PPM files in a temp directory
within your working GRASS mapset--set by g.tempfile. If you don't have
access to such a .tmp directory, you will have problems.

Let me know if any of these gives you a clue to what is wrong.

Michael

On 3/10/06 7:22 PM, "Thomas Adams" <Thomas.Adams@noaa.gov> wrote:

Michael,

I have installed the GRASS 6.1 CVS release dated 2006_03_04

and followed your instructions in the README in
_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307\.
tgz.

First off, the installation using the old d.m works fine ‹ no errors.
When I try the new gis.m, the interface tries to come up, but it stalls
with an error Dialog that reads "Error getting working directory name:
no such file or directory". If I select the Error Dialog 'OK' button,
the GIS manager completes its startup. However, if I select a raster map
to display and click on the refresh button (labeled: "Display active
layers in the current region") in the "Map Display 1" window, I get the
same Error Dialog as I got when I first started up the new GIS Manager
(gis.m). Also, from the time of the startup of the GIS Manager, the
'status indicator' in the lower left of the "Map Display 1" window
shows: "please wait..." ‹ this never goes away.

Interestingly, if I select the NVIZ button, there is no problem
displaying the raster I selected; so, NVIZ seems OK, but the raster map
will never display in 2-D in the "Map Display 1" windowŠ

Also, when I try to use the Init.sh file from gism_rc4_20060307.tgz, I
get shared library problems: "libgrass_gis.so cannot open shared object
file: No such file or directory" ‹ even though the library is in the
GRASS lib directory. I should mention that due to system constraints,
the entire GRASS distribution and other libraries (GDAL, PROJ, etc.) are
in a non-standard location.

A final question: should I be using the gis.m file from
gism_rc4_20060307.tgz? I have tried both with and withoutŠ

I'm running on a Redhat Linux system, FWIWŠ

Tom

Michael Barton wrote:

I¹ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it¹s pretty
exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I¹ve been
working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important
exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS
layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I¹m ready to
duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS
programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that
term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top
map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above
the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer tree.

The main changes come Œunder the hood¹ of this version of the GIS
Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered
as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now
GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on
and off, and changing layer attributes‹only the new or changed layer
needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a
display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp
directory, so that it doesn¹t clutter up your home directories. The
other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes
GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for
visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS¹s
and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script
that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a
graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does
not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required
for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support
output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways‹the old
xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you
can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas
overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg&gt;
_
I¹ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary
versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I¹ve posted packages you
can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full
functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated
21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier
version, I made a second package with all functionality minus
transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307
.tgz>

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006
binaries.

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307
pre_02-21.tgz>

Enjoy
Michael

______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton&gt;

___________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287

WWW - http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
Phone: 480-965-6262
Fax: 480-965-7671

5

Michael,

Where is GRASS/new display manager going to look for the .tmp directory? In the directory GRASS is started from; one's $HOME directory; other?

Thanks,
Tom

Michael Barton wrote:

Something similar has just been reported on some lab computers running GRASS
under Cygwin. Maybe it's a different issue, though because it only happened
with a version of init.sh that automatically runs gism2. It seems to run OK
if launched manually.

Your GRASS in a non-standard location might be an issue. I'm not sure where
the working directory error comes from. Is it a TclTk error (buttons run,
cancel, details) or another kind of error (xwindows, bash, etc..)?

The GIS Manager display works by creating PPM files in a temp directory
within your working GRASS mapset--set by g.tempfile. If you don't have
access to such a .tmp directory, you will have problems.

Let me know if any of these gives you a clue to what is wrong.

Michael

On 3/10/06 7:22 PM, "Thomas Adams" <Thomas.Adams@noaa.gov> wrote:

Michael,

I have installed the GRASS 6.1 CVS release dated 2006_03_04

and followed your instructions in the README in
_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307\.
tgz.

First off, the installation using the old d.m works fine ‹ no errors.
When I try the new gis.m, the interface tries to come up, but it stalls
with an error Dialog that reads "Error getting working directory name:
no such file or directory". If I select the Error Dialog 'OK' button,
the GIS manager completes its startup. However, if I select a raster map
to display and click on the refresh button (labeled: "Display active
layers in the current region") in the "Map Display 1" window, I get the
same Error Dialog as I got when I first started up the new GIS Manager
(gis.m). Also, from the time of the startup of the GIS Manager, the
'status indicator' in the lower left of the "Map Display 1" window
shows: "please wait..." ‹ this never goes away.

Interestingly, if I select the NVIZ button, there is no problem
displaying the raster I selected; so, NVIZ seems OK, but the raster map
will never display in 2-D in the "Map Display 1" windowŠ

Also, when I try to use the Init.sh file from gism_rc4_20060307.tgz, I
get shared library problems: "libgrass_gis.so cannot open shared object
file: No such file or directory" ‹ even though the library is in the
GRASS lib directory. I should mention that due to system constraints,
the entire GRASS distribution and other libraries (GDAL, PROJ, etc.) are
in a non-standard location.

A final question: should I be using the gis.m file from
gism_rc4_20060307.tgz? I have tried both with and withoutŠ

I'm running on a Redhat Linux system, FWIWŠ

Tom

Michael Barton wrote:
    

I¹ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it¹s pretty
exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I¹ve been
working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important
exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS
layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I¹m ready to
duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS
programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that
term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top
map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above
the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer tree.

The main changes come Œunder the hood¹ of this version of the GIS
Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered
as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now
GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on
and off, and changing layer attributes‹only the new or changed layer
needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a
display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp
directory, so that it doesn¹t clutter up your home directories. The
other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes
GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for
visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS¹s
and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script
that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a
graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does
not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required
for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support
output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways‹the old
xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you
can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas
overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg&gt;
_
I¹ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary
versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I¹ve posted packages you
can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full
functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated
21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier
version, I made a second package with all functionality minus
transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307
.tgz>

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006
binaries.

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307
pre_02-21.tgz>

Enjoy
Michael

______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton&gt;
      
___________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287

WWW - http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
Phone: 480-965-6262
Fax: 480-965-7671

--
Thomas E Adams
National Weather Service
Ohio River Forecast Center
1901 South State Route 134
Wilmington, OH 45177

EMAIL: thomas.adams@noaa.gov

VOICE: 937-383-0528
FAX: 937-383-0033

6

Michael,

Sorry; I should have tried this first… no problem when I startup from my $HOME (login) directory. Typically I like to startup GRASS from my GRASS database directory. Is this the anticipated behavior or should it be considered a 'bug'?

Thanks for your feedback and great work!

Tom

Thomas Adams wrote:

Michael,

Where is GRASS/new display manager going to look for the .tmp directory? In the directory GRASS is started from; one's $HOME directory; other?

Thanks,
Tom

Michael Barton wrote:

Something similar has just been reported on some lab computers running GRASS
under Cygwin. Maybe it's a different issue, though because it only happened
with a version of init.sh that automatically runs gism2. It seems to run OK
if launched manually.

Your GRASS in a non-standard location might be an issue. I'm not sure where
the working directory error comes from. Is it a TclTk error (buttons run,
cancel, details) or another kind of error (xwindows, bash, etc..)?

The GIS Manager display works by creating PPM files in a temp directory
within your working GRASS mapset--set by g.tempfile. If you don't have
access to such a .tmp directory, you will have problems.

Let me know if any of these gives you a clue to what is wrong.

Michael

On 3/10/06 7:22 PM, "Thomas Adams" <Thomas.Adams@noaa.gov> wrote:

Michael,

I have installed the GRASS 6.1 CVS release dated 2006_03_04

and followed your instructions in the README in
_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307\.

tgz.

First off, the installation using the old d.m works fine ‹ no errors.
When I try the new gis.m, the interface tries to come up, but it stalls
with an error Dialog that reads "Error getting working directory name:
no such file or directory". If I select the Error Dialog 'OK' button,
the GIS manager completes its startup. However, if I select a raster map
to display and click on the refresh button (labeled: "Display active
layers in the current region") in the "Map Display 1" window, I get the
same Error Dialog as I got when I first started up the new GIS Manager
(gis.m). Also, from the time of the startup of the GIS Manager, the
'status indicator' in the lower left of the "Map Display 1" window
shows: "please wait..." ‹ this never goes away.

Interestingly, if I select the NVIZ button, there is no problem
displaying the raster I selected; so, NVIZ seems OK, but the raster map
will never display in 2-D in the "Map Display 1" windowŠ

Also, when I try to use the Init.sh file from gism_rc4_20060307.tgz, I
get shared library problems: "libgrass_gis.so cannot open shared object
file: No such file or directory" ‹ even though the library is in the
GRASS lib directory. I should mention that due to system constraints,
the entire GRASS distribution and other libraries (GDAL, PROJ, etc.) are
in a non-standard location.

A final question: should I be using the gis.m file from
gism_rc4_20060307.tgz? I have tried both with and withoutŠ

I'm running on a Redhat Linux system, FWIWŠ

Tom

Michael Barton wrote:
   

I¹ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it¹s pretty
exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I¹ve been
working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important
exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS
layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I¹m ready to
duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS
programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that
term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top
map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above
the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer tree.

The main changes come Œunder the hood¹ of this version of the GIS
Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered
as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now
GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on
and off, and changing layer attributes‹only the new or changed layer
needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a
display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp
directory, so that it doesn¹t clutter up your home directories. The
other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes
GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for
visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS¹s
and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script
that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a
graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does
not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required
for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support
output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways‹the old
xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you
can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas
overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg

<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg&gt;

_
I¹ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary
versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I¹ve posted packages you
can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full
functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated
21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier
version, I made a second package with all functionality minus
transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307

.tgz>

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006
binaries.

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060307

pre_02-21.tgz>

Enjoy
Michael

______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton&gt;
      
___________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287

WWW - http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
Phone: 480-965-6262
Fax: 480-965-7671

--
Thomas E Adams
National Weather Service
Ohio River Forecast Center
1901 South State Route 134
Wilmington, OH 45177

EMAIL: thomas.adams@noaa.gov

VOICE: 937-383-0528
FAX: 937-383-0033

7

Thomas,

I'm not quite sure where the problem lies, but am glad that you solved it.
I'm simply using the default working GRASS .tmp directory that you get when
you run g.tempfile pid=$$ from the command line. This is located in:

$GISBASE/$LOCATION_NAME/$MAPSET/.tmp/[devicename]/

I use this because it *ought* to be standard and writeable on any system.

In order to neatly put things back the way you set them, I also identify the
current directory (i.e., the one you started GRASS from) so that I can cd
back to that directory when finished writing and reading display files.

Is the error you get a TclTk error? If so, please press the detail button,
copy the text, and send it to me. I might be able to help troubleshoot your
problem.

Michael

On 3/13/06 11:21 AM, "Thomas Adams" <Thomas.Adams@noaa.gov> wrote:

Michael,

Sorry; I should have tried this first… no problem when I startup from my
$HOME (login) directory. Typically I like to startup GRASS from my GRASS
database directory. Is this the anticipated behavior or should it be
considered a 'bug'?

Thanks for your feedback and great work!

Tom

Thomas Adams wrote:

Michael,

Where is GRASS/new display manager going to look for the .tmp
directory? In the directory GRASS is started from; one's $HOME
directory; other?

Thanks,
Tom

Michael Barton wrote:

Something similar has just been reported on some lab computers
running GRASS
under Cygwin. Maybe it's a different issue, though because it only
happened
with a version of init.sh that automatically runs gism2. It seems to
run OK
if launched manually.

Your GRASS in a non-standard location might be an issue. I'm not sure
where
the working directory error comes from. Is it a TclTk error (buttons
run,
cancel, details) or another kind of error (xwindows, bash, etc..)?

The GIS Manager display works by creating PPM files in a temp directory
within your working GRASS mapset--set by g.tempfile. If you don't have
access to such a .tmp directory, you will have problems.

Let me know if any of these gives you a clue to what is wrong.

Michael

On 3/10/06 7:22 PM, "Thomas Adams" <Thomas.Adams@noaa.gov> wrote:

Michael,

I have installed the GRASS 6.1 CVS release dated 2006_03_04

and followed your instructions in the README in
_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_200603
07.

tgz.

First off, the installation using the old d.m works fine ‹ no errors.
When I try the new gis.m, the interface tries to come up, but it stalls
with an error Dialog that reads "Error getting working directory name:
no such file or directory". If I select the Error Dialog 'OK' button,
the GIS manager completes its startup. However, if I select a raster
map
to display and click on the refresh button (labeled: "Display active
layers in the current region") in the "Map Display 1" window, I get the
same Error Dialog as I got when I first started up the new GIS Manager
(gis.m). Also, from the time of the startup of the GIS Manager, the
'status indicator' in the lower left of the "Map Display 1" window
shows: "please wait..." ‹ this never goes away.

Interestingly, if I select the NVIZ button, there is no problem
displaying the raster I selected; so, NVIZ seems OK, but the raster map
will never display in 2-D in the "Map Display 1" windowŠ

Also, when I try to use the Init.sh file from gism_rc4_20060307.tgz, I
get shared library problems: "libgrass_gis.so cannot open shared object
file: No such file or directory" ‹ even though the library is in the
GRASS lib directory. I should mention that due to system constraints,
the entire GRASS distribution and other libraries (GDAL, PROJ, etc.)
are
in a non-standard location.

A final question: should I be using the gis.m file from
gism_rc4_20060307.tgz? I have tried both with and withoutŠ

I'm running on a Redhat Linux system, FWIWŠ

Tom

Michael Barton wrote:
   

I¹ve just finished phase 2 of the GIS Manager update and it¹s pretty
exciting. At first glance, it looks a lot like the one I¹ve been
working on and have in the CVS now, but with a couple of important
exceptions. One is that transparency is now supported for all GRASS
layers.

The second will probably generate the most discussion, so I¹m ready to
duck and run for cover. Now GRASS is consistent with other GIS
programs and more intuitive (as much as I am skeptical about that
term) in that the uppermost layer in the layer tree is also the top
map in the display. Related to this, new layers insert directly above
the currently selected layer instead of at the bottom of the layer
tree.

The main changes come Œunder the hood¹ of this version of the GIS
Manager. It uses g.pnmcomp to composite a set of maps (each rendered
as *.PPM files) into a visual display. One of the results is that now
GRASS is significantly faster in adding new layers, turning layers on
and off, and changing layer attributes‹only the new or changed layer
needs to be rendered; the others will just be re-composited into a
display from existing PPM files. This all happens in a GRASS .tmp
directory, so that it doesn¹t clutter up your home directories. The
other important thing about this new architecture is that it makes
GRASS even less dependent on the xdriver and PNGdriver for
visualization. GRASS can become more easily portable to different OS¹s
and GUI frameworks. It is also more scriptable. You can write a script
that will create a complete, multilayered map, and output it to a
graphics file.

One consequencer of this new architecture is that the GIS Manager does
not currently support display output to PNG files. With GDAL (required
for many GRASS features) and ghostscript installed, it does support
output to PPM/PNM, TIF, JPG, BMP, EPS, and PDF.

Command line usage is still supported in several ways‹the old
xterminal is still there, there is the new command console, and you
can add command layers to the layer tree and display them.

You can see a screen shot of semi-transparent soil vector areas
overlaying a raster shaded relief map at

_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg

<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_screenshots/gism2-2.jpg
>

_
I¹ve committed all changes to the CVS. For those of you with binary
versions of GRASS who would like to try it, I¹ve posted packages you
can use to replace your current GIS Manager on my website. For full
functionality, you need a version of grass that is dated
21-February-2006 or later. For those of you with a slightly earlier
version, I made a second package with all functionality minus
transparency. Here are the links.

New GIS Manager files

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060
307

.tgz>

New GIS Manager files for people with recent, but pre-21 February 2006
binaries.

<_http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton/files/grass_gismgr/&gt;\_gism\_rc4\_20060
307

pre_02-21.tgz>

Enjoy
Michael

______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton&gt;
      
___________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287

WWW - http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
Phone: 480-965-6262
Fax: 480-965-7671

___________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287

WWW - http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
Phone: 480-965-6262
Fax: 480-965-7671