Proposals for a new GRASS GIS startup mechanism

Introduction

This page is meant as a brainstorming exercise to collect ideas on how to make GRASS GIS startup more newbie-friendly. The general idea is to make initial contact easier and with a less steep learning curve.

This discussion also contains a paradigm choice: should GRASS continue to demand a choice by the user about the projection system to use, possibly making this choice easier and more transparent, or should GRASS start in an arbitrary projection system (lat-long has been suggested) and then inform the user that she might want to change system, or highlight the issue as soon as the user tries to import data which is not lat-long ? To be discussed...

Keep current paradigm, but make contact easier

Proposal 1 (Moritz): Make startup screen more newbie-friendly

In this proposal, the idea is to keep the current paradigm, but to use vocabulary that is more easily accessible to the user and to guide the user through the choices in a different way than currently.

The startup screen is organized in three tabs (but one could imagine three initial buttons that then lead to the next screens). Each tab provides a small collection of easy choices corresponding to different possible paths into a location. Locations are called 'projects' to correspond to what a user might find elsewhere.

• Tab 1 provides easy entry into the creation of a new project. In the new project (aka location) the PERMANENT mapset is used and the interface opens up immediately:

• Tab 2 provides access to pre-defined locations (similar to the current "Download" button). The OSM data is just a brainstorming idea to allow the user to designate a zone on a map and download main OSM layers for that zone:

• Tab 3 provides access to existing projects (aka locations)

Change paradigm

Proposal 1 (Moritz) : Open into a predefined lat-long location but give information message

In this proposal, GRASS GIS launches directly with layer manager and map display, and displays a world map. The location is a lat-long system with a worldwide, 1 degree-resolution region. Before the user can interact, however, a message is displayed informing about the importance of projection choice for spatial analysis. The user has the option to get out of that message to simply explore GRASS GIS in the default location, or to create a new project with her own data:

Notes from discussions

NCSU GeoForAll Lab, May 30

These are notes from members of ​NCSU GeoForAll Lab.

• Similar window as now but just hide path to GRASS GIS Database. (PT) Automatically find or create the directory when started. (VP)
• Something like tabs (4 or more) on the side from most basic on the top to most advanced at the bottom. (GM) Maybe button, not tabs. (VP)
• Sample datasets translate to templates in other software, so they should be called templates (at least in this context). (PT)
• The default should be "recent mapsets/workspaces" (not applicable for the first time user).