DESCRIPTION

If wxGUI is not your default GUI, you can define it as default by typing at GRASS command line prompt

   g.gui -u wxpython 

    GRASS_GUI: wxpython

    g.gui wxpython

    g.gui wxpython workspace=file.gxw

You can also start GRASS from the shell command line with wxGUI defined by the -wxpython switch:

    grass65 -wxpython

The GUI is composed by two main components:

• The Layer Manager includes map layer management, integrated command-line prompt, and command output window tab.
• The Map Display Window integrates basic tools for zooming, panning, data querying, and map elements (north arrows, barscale, etc.). Each display window is associated with its own set of map layers in the layer manager. The user may start multiple map displays during a session. The map layers for each display are grouped under different tabs in the Layer Manager.

wxGUI comes with more icon themes, for detailed information see this page.

Layer Manager

Map layers are listed in the window frame below the toolbar. Layers can include raster and vector maps, vector labels, and commands (where any GRASS command can be written). Layers are displayed as arranged in the layer tree: the bottom layer is displayed first and the top layer is displayed last, as if the layers were a series of stacked overlays.

The check box to the left of each layer makes it active or inactive for display. Only active layers are displayed/redisplayed when the display button is pressed. Layers can be organized into groups; entire groups can be activated or deactivated for display. Layer tree composition can be saved to a workspace file and opened in subsequent sessions, restoring all layers and their display options.

A right mouse click on a layer or left clicking the button to the right of the layer opens a dropdown menu with options to remove or rename the layer (g.remove, g.rename), change its display properties (d.rast and d.vect options such as color, symbol, etc.), show its metadata (r.info, v.info) or attributes, if applicable.

A left mouse double click on a layer opens GUI for its display options These options are those for the d.* command for each layer type (d.rast, d.vect, or d.grid, for example).

Layer Manager Toolbar

  Open new Map Display Window

Opens a new map display and creates empty layer tree tab in Layer Manager.

  Create new workspace file

Removes all layers in the layer tree and creates a new, empty tree where new layers can be added.

  Load map layers (raster, vector) into workspace

Loads selected raster or vector maps into current layer tree.

  Open an existing workspace file

Opens an previously saved workspace file, containing a set of display layers and their option settings.

  Save workspace file

Saves current set of layers and their options to a workspace file.

  Add raster map layer

Adds raster map to layer tree, see d.rast.

  Add various raster-based map layers

Opens a dropdown menu that allows user to select to:

•   Add shaded relief raster map layer
  Adds shaded relief raster map layer, see d.shadedmap
•   Add RGB raster layer
  Combines and displays three raster maps defined as red, green, and blue channels to create an RGB color map, see d.rgb.
•   Add HIS raster layer
  Combines and displays two or three raster maps defined as hue, intensity, and (optionally) saturation channels to create a color map, see d.his.
•   Add raster arrows layer
  Adds map of raster cells with directional arrows drawn. Arrow direction and length are determined by separate aspect/directional map and (optional) slope/intensity map, see d.rast.arrow.
•   Add raster numbers layer
  Adds map of raster cells with numbers representing the cell values, see d.rast.num.

  Add vector map layer

Adds a vector map layer, see d.vect.

  Add various vector-based map layers

Opens a dropdown menu that allows user to select to:

•   Add thematic map layer (for all vector types)
  Adds layer for thematic display values from a numeric attribute column associated with a vector map. Options include: thematic display type (graduated colors or point sizes), methods for creating display intervals, SQL query of attribute column to limit vector objects to display, control of point icon types and sizes, control of thematic color schemes, creation of legend for thematic map, and saving the results of thematic mapping to a ps.map instructions file for later printing, see d.vect.thematic.
•   Add thematic charts layer (for vector points)
  Adds layer in which pie or bar charts can be automatically created at vector point locations. Charts display values from selected columns in the associated attribute table. Options include: chart type, layer and attributes to chart, chart colors, and chart size (fixed or based on attribute column), see d.vect.chart.

  Add command layer

Adds a layer in which a GRASS GIS command or command list can be entered. For a command list use the semi-colon (";") symbol as a separator. For example:

d.rast soils;d.rast -o roads;d.vect streams col=blue

Note that when an option of the command contains spaces, you need to "escape" them with the backslash ('\') character, for example:

d.text text=Population\ density

  Add layer group

Adds an empty layer group. Layers can then be added to the group.

  Add grid or vector labels overlay

Opens a dropdown menu that allows user to select to:

•   Add overlay grids and lines
  Adds layer to display regular grid (for all locations) see d.grid
•   Add labels layer for vector objects (from existing labels file)
  Add a layer of text from a labels file for vector objects created with the v.label module. A labels file can also be created with a text editor, see d.labels.
•   Add geodesic line layer
  Add layer to display geodesic line for latitude/longitude locations only, see d.geodesic
•   Add rhumbline layer
  Add layer to display rhumblines (for latitude/longitude locations only), see d.rhumbline.

  Delete selected layer

Removes selected map layer or map layer group from layer tree.

  Show Attribute Table Manager for selected vector map

Displays attribute data of selected vector map.

Key shortcuts

Ctrl+N

Create new workspace

Ctrl+O

Load workspace from file

Ctrl+S

Close workspace

Ctrl+L

Load map layers

Ctrl+W

Exit GUI

Ctrl+Q

Quit GRASS

Ctrl+Tab

Switch 'Map layers' and 'Command output' tab

Ctrl+R

Add raster map layer

Ctrl+V

Add vector map layer

Tab

Show command tooltips

Esc

Hide command tooltips

Ctrl+Space

Map entries without arguments (as in r.info [mapname])

Up/Down

List command history

Enter

Run command

Map Display Window

In the statusbar, the user can choose to display the geographic coordinates under the cursor, current geographical region extent, computational region (including graphical visualization in map display), map display geometry (number of rows, columns, resolution) and map scale. Checking the render button in the statusbar will cause the map display to update automatically any time a map is added to, removed from, or changed in its layer tree.

It is important to note that zooming in any display will have no effect on the 'computational region' setting (set with g.region). Only by selecting the 'Set current region to match display' item in the zoom menu (in the map display toolbar) will the current display extents be copied to the computational region extents.

Map Display Toolbar

  Display map

Displays all active layers from layer tree and re-renders for display any layers that have changed since the last time the display was updated, including layers added or removed.

  Re-render map

Re-renders all active layers regardless of whether they have changed or not.

  Erase display

Erases the currently selected map display to a white background. see d.erase, d.frame -e.

  Pointer

Select arrow cursor for map display.

  Query raster/vector maps

Opens a dropdown menu that allows user to select to:

• Query selected raster, RGB raster (all three map channels will be queried), or vector map(s) using the mouse. Map(s) must be selected before query. Vector charts and thematic vector maps cannot be queried. The results of the query will be displayed in the console window, see r.what, v.what.
• Query selected vector map in edit mode. The results of the query will be displayed in a form that permits editing of the queried vector attributes.

  Pan

Interactive selection of a new center of view in the active display monitor. Drag the pan cursor while pressing the left mouse button to pan. Panning changes the location of the region displayed but not the size of the area displayed or the resolution. Panning does not affect the computational region for other GIS processes, see g.region.

  Zoom in

Interactive zooming with the mouse in the active display monitor. Drawing a box or just click with the mouse (left button) and zoom-in cursor causes the display to zoom in so that the area defined by the box fills the display. The map resolution is not changed. Clicking with the zoom-in cursor causes the display to zoom in by 30%, centered on the point where the mouse is clicked. Zooming resets the display region extents (both size and location of area displayed). It does not affect the computational region for other GIS processes, see g.region.

  Zoom out

Interactive zooming with the mouse in the active display monitor. Drawing a box or just click with the mouse (left button) and zoom-out cursor causes the display to zoom in so that the area displayed shrinks to fill the area defined by the box. The map resolution is not changed. Clicking with the zoom-out cursor causes the display to zoom out by 30%, centered on the point where the mouse is clicked. Zooming resets the display region extents (both size and location of area displayed). It does not affect the computational region for other GIS processes, see g.region.

  Return to previous zoom

Returns to the previous zoom extent. Up to 10 levels of zoom back are maintained, see g.region.

  Zoom options

Opens a dropdown menu that allows user to:

• Zoom to match the extents of a selected map
• Zoom to match the computational region (set with g.region)
• Zoom to match the extents of the default region
• Zoom to match the extents of a saved region
• Set computational region (the mapset's WIND file) to match the current display extents (does not change the resolution), see g.region.

Save display geometry (current extents) to a named region file

  Analyze menu

Opens a dropdown menu with:

•   Distance measurement tool
  Interactive measurement of lengths defined with the mouse. The length of each segment and the cumulative length of all segments measuered is displayed in the command output window frame. Lengths are measured in the current measurement unit, see d.measure.
•   Profile tool
  Interactively create profile of a raster map. Profile transect is drawn with the mouse in map display. The profile may be of the displayed map or a different map. Up to three maps can be profiled simultaneously, see Profile Tool help page.
•   Histogram tool
  Displays histogram of selected raster map or image in new window, see d.histogram.

  Add overlay

opens a dropdown menu that allows user to:

•   Add scalebar and north arrow
  Adds layer to display a combined scalebar and north arrow. Options include scalebar placement (using screen coordinates or a mouse), scalebar format, and scalebar colors, see d.barscale.
•   Add raster map legend
  Adds layer to display with legend of selected raster map, see d.legend.
•   Add text layer
  Adds layer to display a line of text using default GRASS font (selected with d.font). Options include: text placement (screen coordinates); and text size, bolding, and color, see d.text.

  Save display to graphic file

Save the visible image in map display to different raster graphic formats.

  Print map

Prints map on system native printer or PostScript device; saves visible map display (including PostScript text and labels) to PDF or EPS file.

Map display mode

Opens a dropdown menu for selecting different display mode

• 2D view mode
  Normal GIS display. All active layers are composited and displayed in 2D mode.
• 3D view mode
  Experimental replacement for NVIZ. Displays all active layers in 3D perspective using OpenGL. A new control panel opens to manage the 3D view. 3D view can be zoomed, panned, rotated, and tilted. The vertical exaggeration of rasters and 3D vectors can be set. Various color and lighten settings are possible. Not yet functional for Windows platforms
• Digitize mode
  Puts display into vector digitizing mode and opens a new digitizing toolbar. The user can digitize a new map or edit an existing map. Not yet functional for Windows platforms

SEE ALSO

See also wiki page.

TCL/TK-based GIS Manager, TCL/TK-based Display Manager

AUTHORS

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