CHANGES

CHANGES IN GRASS 6 compared to GRASS 5

    * New Vector Engine (geometry):
          o Support for 2D/3D vectors (see screenshot) (CAD drawings,
            TINs), visualization supported in NVIZ
          o multiformat - also virtual map supported from external
            data sources (SHAPE-file, PostGIS) without the need of data
            conversion (through OGR library with 'v.external');
            Export/Import to PostGIS;
          o spatial index build on the fly - 'v.build' (was:
            v.support) significantly accelerated;
          o category index to accelerate attribute queries;

    * Database Management Interface (attributes):
          o Attribute storage in DBMS for compatibility with industry
            standards (SQL based interface for PostgreSQL, mySQL, ODBC, dBase)
          o multiattribute - attributes saved in dBase files (default)
            or saved in external DBMS
          o multilayer - features in one vector may represent one or
            several layers and may be linked to one or many external
            tables
          o forms library implemented for user friendly query dialogs
          o Linear reference systems supported (LRS, yet to integrate)

    * Applications/Misc:
          o SQL queries/selects/extractions supported by vector modules
          o interactive attributes updating is supported through the
            forms library (d.what.vect lets you modify directly the
            attached attributes)
          o Vector network analysis: Shortest path, Traveling salesman
            (round trip), Allocation of sources (subnetworks), Minimum
            Steiner trees (starlike connections), and isodistances (from
            centers) (e.g. shortest path, see screenshot) - based on
            DGLIB (Directed Graph Library), costs may be assigned both
            to nodes and arcs (and also different in both directions of
            a vector line)
          o new v.digit with GUI (screenshot)
          o import and export of any OGR supported vector format
            (Shapefile, TIGER, MapInfo and GML2, PostGIS and DGN)
          o GUI generated on runtime and display manager (screenshots)
          o i18n: support for multiple languages (messages partially
            indicated and translated)
          o multiple GRASS sessions: a user can start more than one session at the time

    * Interoperability
          o Raster and vector data interoperability is granted through
            the GDAL/OGR libraries which implement interfaces to OGC
            standards and common GIS data formats

    * Volume visualization
          o NVIZ now supports volume (voxel) visualization
          o VTK export

    * Large File Support for raster maps (Experimental!)
          o GRASS 6.0 experimentally supports reading and writing
            large files (> 2GB, LFS support)

    * Programmer's manual integrated into source code (doxygen)