What is GRASS GIS?

What is GRASS GIS?

Geek open-source command line GIS

What is GRASS GIS?

Open-source desktop GIS

What is GRASS GIS?

Processing backend in QGIS

What is GRASS GIS?

Geovisualization and data analytics tool in R or quarto notebooks

What is GRASS GIS?

Geovisualization and data analytics tool in Python notebooks

What is GRASS GIS?

Geoprocessing engine running in an HPC environment

What is GRASS GIS?

Geospatial platform for developing custom models

What is GRASS GIS?

Cloud geoprocessing backend

GRASS is all of that!

Robustness, Stability, Versatility, Scientific foundations

New features in GRASS 8.4

Tools

More machine learning in GRASS GIS!!

Supervised classification with Support Vector Machines

• i.svm.train: Train a Support Vector Machine
• i.svm.predict: Predict with a Support Vector Machine

Tools

More topology in GRASS GIS!!

v.fill.holes: Fill holes in areas by keeping only outer boundaries

Tools

Streamline the connection of GRASS and other tools within data science workflows!!

            r.info elevation format=json
            {
                "north": 228500,
                "south": 215000,
                "nsres": 10,
                "east": 645000,
                "west": 630000,
                "ewres": 10,
                "rows": 1350,
                "cols": 1500,
                "cells": 2025000,
                "datatype": "FCELL",
                "ncats": 255,
                "min": 55.578792572021484,
                "max": 156.32986450195312,
                "map": "elevation",
                ...
            }
        

JSON output format support (format="json") in multiple tools (e.g., r.report, r.info, v.db.select, t.rast.list, etc.)

Tools

Revamped unique GRASS tools!

r.horizon: Output for multiple points, distances, and many other improvements

API and Library changes

grass.script Python package:

Greatly simplified the creation of new projects in Python without a running session (no more chicken and egg problems)

            import grass.script as gs
            import grass.jupyter as gj

            gs.create_location("cordoba_utm21s", epsg="32721")
            gj.init("cordoba_utm21s")
        

API and Library changes

grass.jupyter Python package:

• New grass.jupyter.SeriesMap class for animating series of vectors or rasters. See grass.jupyter.SeriesMap doc.
• ipyleaflet integration to create a map in ipyleaflet and add GRASS data in a single line

        series = gj.SeriesMap(height = 500)
        series.add_rasters(["elevation_shade", "geology", "soils"])
        series.add_vectors(["streams", "streets", "viewpoints"])
        series.d_barscale()
        series.show()
        

GUI: New history browser panel

locations became projects!!

The Python API, command line, and GUI are now using project instead of location for the main component of the data hiearchy.

Code quality and security

C and C++

• Issues reported by GCC and Clang such as dangling-else, discarded-qualifiers, format, … fixed.

Python

• Code formatted with Black
• Flake8 enabled, 3/4 fixed
• Pylint partially enabled

Code security

• Bandit for vulnerabilities in Python
• CodeQL for security issues in C and C++
• Coverity for security and code quality in C and C++

Mentoring and Student Grants Program

• Student grants to contribute to GRASS GIS: 1 student in 2023-2024. Call is open for this fall!
• Mentoring to integrate GRASS GIS into your workflows: 11 people working on various topics. Call still open!

GSoC 2024

Add EODAG support to GRASS GIS

i.eodag: Downloads imagery datasets from various providers through the EODAG library.

            v.extract input=urbanarea where="NAME = 'Durham'" output=durham
            
            i.eodag -l start=2022-05-25 end=2022-06-01 clouds=30 \
                    map=durham dataset=S2_MSI_L2A provider=cop_dataspace
        

Improve GRASS user experience in Jupyter Notebook

Enable users to query attribute values and draw geometries, display and change the computational region, support for custom CRS

Add JSON output to different GRASS tools in C

            r.what map=MOD11B3.A2015001.h11v05.single_LST_Day_6km points=firestations format=json
            [
                {
                    "easting": 620856.95858763403,
                    "northing": 230066.38313210499,
                    "MOD11B3.A2015001.h11v05.single_LST_Day_6km": {
                        "value": 14045
                    }
                },
                {
                    "easting": 625331.91859749099,
                    "northing": 229990.82160762601,
                    "MOD11B3.A2015001.h11v05.single_LST_Day_6km": {
                        "value": 14099
                    }
                },
                {
                    "easting": 615797.66547487001,
                    "northing": 213363.99261982701,
                    "MOD11B3.A2015001.h11v05.single_LST_Day_6km": {
                        "value": 14031
                    }
                }
            ]
        

Community

Community growth

• Two new contributors with write access: Edouard Choiniere and Linda Karlovska. Welcome!!


• Three new GRASS GIS babies! Congratulations!!

Community Meeting Prague 2024

Most relevant results from the community meeting

• Released GRASS 8.4. RC1
• Parallelization of more tools: v.surf.rst, r.texture and r.horizon
• Extensive improvements and testing of upcoming tools: t.stac toolset, v.ppa
• GRASS-QGIS integration: it has even come to bug fixing during the call, see the minutes
• GRASS-R integration: directly read GRASS data through the gdal-grass plugin
• Advanced in the conversion of manual pages to Markdown
• Lots of CI improvements, issues and PRs cleanup, discussions, documenting procedures
• Nix distribution, new tutorials...

Funding

NSF grant lead by NC State

• NSF grant awarded to NC State, ASU, NMSU, Yale
• to enhance infrastructure
• to revise contributing guidelines
• to support community building

Note: The NSF program is aiming at sustainability, not adding features, fixing bugs, or ongoing maintenance.

Funding Options on OpenCollective

• Donation (one-time, any amount), Supporter starts at 10 USD/month, Sponsor starts at 500 USD/year
• Feedback? Talk to me about being part of the solution!

https://opencollective.com/osgeo/projects/grass

Get involved!

All contributions are welcome!

Code and doc contributions

• Fork the repo and suggest your code or doc changes via pull requests in grass core, grass-addons, or grass-website repositories
• File bug reports or feature requests
• Ask, comment, suggest also in Github Discussions
• Create your own GRASS tool! Now much easier with the cookiecutter template
• Have a look at the new Style guide

Translations in Weblate

Use cases and tutorials

• Write tutorials for different applications or showcase your GRASS use cases
• Currently collecting them at: ncsu-geoforall-lab/tutorials

Sponsoring

• Money donations allow us to:
• organize face-to-face coding sessions (sprints)
• support mentoring programs and student grants
• finance infrastucture needs (web site, etc)

Get in touch with us!

grass.osgeo.org