GRASS GIS

GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is an open source, Free Software Geographical information system (GIS) with raster, topological vector, image processing, and graphics production functionality that operates on various platforms through a graphical user interface and shell in the X Window System. It is released under GNU General Public License (GPL).

Originally developed by the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories (USA-CERL, 1982-1995), a branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as a tool for land management and environmental planning by the military, GRASS has evolved into a powerful software utility with a wide range of applications in many different areas of scientific research. GRASS is currently used in academic and commercial settings around the world, as well as many governmental agencies including NASA, NOAA, USDA, DLR, CSIRO, the National Park Service, the U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, and many environmental consulting companies.

The recent GRASS 6 release introduces a new topological 2D/3D vector engine and support for vector network analysis. Attributes are managed in .dbf files or SQL-based DBMS such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. The system is capable of visualizing 3D vector graphics data and voxel volumes. GRASS supports an extensive range of raster and vector formats, including OGC-conformal (Open Geospatial Consortium) Simple Features for interoperability with other GIS.

The GRASS Development Team has grown into a multi-national team consisting of developers at numerous locations.

References

Neteler, M. and H. Mitasova "Open Source GIS: A GRASS GIS Approach. Second Edition." Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers/Springer. 424pp, 2004. ISBN 1402080646, Online Supplement
GDF Hannover bR: GRASS GIS 6.0 Tutorial, Version 1.2, 2005, Online Supplement