Architosh Staff ([email protected])

15 Nov 2002

 

Mac GIS: GRASS 5.0.0 for Mac OS X Updated!

Architosh Press Report: OpenOSX™ Updates Grass GIS 5.0.0 CD

GIS for Mac OS X with GRASS

OpenOSX™, a leading provider of easy-to-use, world-class open-source software, today began shipping their updated Grass GIS 5.0.0 CD and has made a free update available for all OpenOSX Grass 5.0.0 customers.

Grass (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is a complete state-of-the-art Geographical Information System (GIS). Grass is one of, if not the most, complete and sophisticated open-source GIS software available. Grass has now been in development for more then twenty years and by the size of it's code base Grass is one of the ten largest open-source projects in history.

The new version and the updater fixes several potential issues discovered with the OpenOSX Grass 5.0.0 (Version 1) CD and includes Tcl/Tk 8.4.1 to support the native Mac OS X Aqua interface. Grass and all required and optional libraries have been compiled utilizing gcc 3.1 for native Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2.x) performance.

The OpenOSX Grass GIS 5.0.0 CD will transform a Macintosh running Mac OS 10.2.x into a full-fledged GIS workstation in minutes with ease.

Mac Alternative to ESRI ArcInfo GIS

With over 350 geo-spatial modules, Grass is the only real alternative to ESRI ArcInfo GIS, which when similarly-configured will cost more than 400 times the cost per seat and is not supported on the Macintosh platform. Grass GIS offers state of the art three-dimensional dynamic spatial analysis and visualization. Users of OpenOSX Grass include NASA, USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

Grass in combination with the included Geospatial Data Abstraction Library, (GDAL) can import more then forty popular GIS file formats including: GeoTiff, Tiff, DXF, SDTS, DEM, Shape, ELAS, PNG, ARC, MIF, Tiger, Garmin, ASCII.

Some of Grass' popular features include: ortho-rectification, Digital Elevation Model creation and editing, projection and re-projection capabilities, raster & vector data support in more then 120 projections, shaded relief with 16-bit precision, geostatistics and spatial data analysis, statistical analysis, 3D visualization and simulation modeling capabilities.

The OpenOSX CD greatly simplifies installation and will install a long list of all the required and optional libraries and programs for full functionality. The CD is bundled with complete documentation and limited installation support.

The owner of OpenOSX, Jeshua Lacock, who is the maintainer of the Mac OS X port of Grass, has submitted the Grass 5.0.0 binaries and patches for free downloading. The files have been uploaded and will be available soon. The binaries do not include support or the required or optional libraries that are installed and configured by OpenOSX's CD. The binaries may be downloaded from Grass' home, Baylor University, or from its development headquarters (Istituto Trentino di Cultura) at: http://grass.itc.it/grass5/binary/mac_os_x/

The OpenOSX Grass CD is US$50 and 6-month CD subscriptions are available for US$120. More information about the OpenOSX Grass CD is available at: http://OpenOSX.com/grass/. The free Grass update is available at: http://OpenOSX.com/support/

OpenOSX, Inc. is a company dedicated to serving, and expanding, the Macintosh community. Founded on the premise that many computer users are intimidated by the UNIX command-line, OpenOSX committed itself to one mission- bringing popular Unix software to both the "Unix-challenged" and the seasoned, Mac inclined system administrator in a friendly, Mac environment. OpenOSX is a trademark owned by OpenOSX™, all other trademarks are owned by their respective owner.

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