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\title{The GRASS Development Team announces GRASS GIS 6.2.0} 
\subtitle{released 31 Oct 2006}

\maketitle

We are happy to announce that a new stable version of GRASS GIS has
been released today. This release adds hundreds of new features,
support for the latest GIS data formats, and includes new translations
for many languages.  The Geographic Resources Analysis Support System,
commonly referred to as GRASS, is a Geographic Information System
(GIS) combining powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing
engines into a single integrated software suite. GRASS includes tools
for spatial modeling, visualization of raster and vector data,
management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of
satellite and aerial imagery. It also provides the capability to
produce sophisticated presentation graphics and hardcopy maps.  GRASS
is currently used around the world in academic and commercial settings
as well as by many governmental agencies and environmental consulting
companies. It runs on a variety of popular hardware platforms and is
Free open-source software released under the terms of the GNU General
Public License.  Joining GRASS's well-developed raster engine, the
GRASS 6 series introduced a new topological 2D/3D vector engine
featuring support for vector network analysis and SQL-based DBMS
management of linked attributes. This new release improves the
integration and functionality of the raster and vector engines, and
greatly enhances 3D raster volume (voxel) support.  Additionally, this
release debuts a new graphical GIS manager and menu system, while an
improved version of the old GUI display manager has been retained for
legacy support. The NVIZ visualization tool has been enhanced to
display 3D vector data and voxel volumes, and now supports the
creation of on-the-fly MPEG animations. Further improvements include
substantial message translations (i18n) with support for FreeType
fonts, including multi-byte Asian characters, and the inclusion of
tools to create new project locations automatically given a
georeferenced data file or EPSG code.  This is the first release of
GRASS as a proposed founding project of the new Open Source Geospatial
Foundation. In support of the movement towards consolidation in the
open source geospatial software world, GRASS is tightly integrated
with the latest GDAL/OGR libraries. This enables access to an
extensive range of raster and vector formats, including OGC-conformal
Simple Features. GRASS also makes use of the highly regarded PROJ.4
software library with support for most known map projections and the
easy definition of new and rare map projections via custom
parameterization.


\subsubsection*{Platforms supported by GRASS}

\par GNU/Linux, Mac OS X/Darwin, Microsoft Windows (native using MinGW or with
full UNIX support via Cygwin), Sun Solaris (SPARC/Intel), Silicon
Graphics Irix, HP-UX, DEC-Alpha, AIX, BSD, iPAQ/Linux and other UNIX
compliant platforms.  GRASS runs on both 32 and 64 bit systems with
large files (>2GB) supported by many key modules.


\subsection*{Software download/CDROM}

\begin{itemize}
\item \url{http://grass.itc.it}
\item \url{http://grass.ibiblio.org}
\item numerous mirror sites
\item GRASS on CDROM/DVD
\end{itemize}

\par 
The new source code is available now and binary packages for major operating
systems will be published shortly.

\par 
For details on GRASS software capabilities please refer to:
\url{http://grass.itc.it/intro/general.php},
the previous GRASS 6.0.0 Announcement,
and the newly renovated Wiki
collaborative help system.


\subsection*{What's new in GRASS 6.2.0}

(selected improvements)

\begin{itemize}
\item Numerous bug fixes
\begin{itemize}
  \item see the ChangeLogs
        (6.1,
        6.2)
      for details
\end{itemize}
\item Source code quality/libraries:
\begin{itemize}
  \item  The GRASS code base is now in large part ANSI C compliant
  \item  Ported natively to MS-Windows (MinGW based)
  \item  Source code header files: improved, many compiler warnings fixed
  \item  Compilation: compatible with GCC 4.x
  \item  Programmer's Manual:
       continued Doxygen integration and automated generation into PDF and HTML
       formats. Publicly available for download and perusal.
  \item  Improved policies for code submission specified in the SUBMITTING files
  \item  GRASS-SWIG prototype interface added (library bindings for Perl and Python)
  \item  DBMI: SQLite driver added; SQL parser extended (support for expressions, new types, etc.)
  \item  DBMI: MySql driver rewritten; MeSql added
  \item  Support for long map/mapset names
  \item  Raster maps: ZLIB compression bug fixed for tiny maps
  \item  Raster maps: optional large file support (LFS, experimental) for maps > 2GB
  \item  Display: X11/PNG driver rewritten, added RGB-raster operations
  \item  Display: Movement toward X-Windows as an optional dependency (new multi-platform GUI support)
  \item  Display: High CPU use during interactive mouse functions fixed
  \item  Projection code database: updated to EPSG 6.11.2
  \item  Tcl/Tk 8.4 support for Debian and other platforms using threaded libraries
  \item  Full FFTW3 support for fast Fourier transforms
  \item  NetBSD configuration fixes
\end{itemize}
\item   New quality control systems:
\begin{itemize}
  \item  New internal GRASS test suite (scripts collection in "\texttt{testsuite/}")
  \item  New external GRASS test suite (TU Berlin)
  \item  New external GRASS Quality Assessment and monitoring system
       (École Polytechnique de Montréal and ITC-irst)
  \item  CVS-commit reports into IRC '\#grass' channel via
       CIA - The open source informant
\end{itemize}

\item   Graphical User Interface (GUI):
\begin{itemize}
 \item  All modules: Major improvements in the auto-generated GUIs
 \item  \textbf{gis.m}: \underline{NEW} - GIS manager added as a
      replacement for \textbf{d.m} (optional)
 \item  \textbf{d.m}: Legacy support provides access to the latest features while
      preserving code maturity
 \item  QGIS integration: fixes for the GRASS plugin and toolbox available from
      Quantum GIS
 \item  Continued behind-the-scenes infrastructure refinements for the next generation GUI
\end{itemize}

\item GRASS Extensions Manager (GEM): \underline{NEW}
\begin{itemize}
  \item Configure, compile and install additional GRASS modules without needing
      the GRASS source code. Simplifies the addition of new modules or themed
      module groups.
\end{itemize}

\item  Modules/Scripts:
\begin{itemize}
 \item  Message translation (i18N): added and extended to more than a dozen
      languages, Tcl/Tk GUI and shell script messages are now translatable
 \item  Documentation/man pages: various fixes and improvements (more examples
      added, including graphics, improved style, new introductory pages)
 \item  Raster modules: improved support for meta-data and map history
 \item  \textbf{d.correlate}: \underline{NEW} - create a graph of the
      correlation between data layers
 \item  \textbf{d.graph}: rewritten and extended, merged with d.mapgraph; support
      for symbols
 \item  \textbf{d.grid}: added support for geographic grid overlay on non lat/lon map
      projections and display of coordinate values
 \item  \textbf{d.labels}, \textbf{v.label}: d.paint.labels renamed d.labels;
      significant fixes and improvements to the label subsystem
 \item  \textbf{d.m}: improved layout; added functionality
 \item  \textbf{d.menu}: \underline{NEW} - creates and displays a menu
      within the active graphics monitor (tool for interactive scripts)
      (port from GRASS 5)
 \item  \textbf{d.mvmon}: \underline{NEW} - moves displayed maps to another monitor
 \item  \textbf{d.out.file}: \underline{NEW} - saves active display monitor
      graphics to an image file (PNG,JPEG,...)
 \item  \textbf{d.out.gpsdrive}: \underline{NEW} - exports display monitor
      to a GpsDrive compatible backdrop image
 \item  \textbf{d.polar}: \underline{NEW} - draws a polar diagram for an
      angle map such as topographic aspect or flow direction
 \item  \textbf{d.rast.arrow}: many enhancements, support for magnitude as well
      as 360 degree directional inputs
 \item  \textbf{d.text}: added support for text rotation
 \item  \textbf{d.vect}: variable vector line width added, random colors for points and
      lines, dynamic width and colors from attribute data
 \item  \textbf{d.vect.thematic}: \underline{NEW} - customizable
      thematic mapper for vector map displays
 \item  \textbf{g.html2man}: fixes for improved man page output
 \item  \textbf{g.transform}: \underline{NEW} - utility to compute
      coordinate transformations based upon GCPs, including error analysis
 \item  \textbf{gis.m}: \underline{NEW} alternative graphical GIS manager
      (see above)
 \item  \textbf{i.in.spotvgt}: \underline{NEW} - import SPOT-VGT NDVI
      satellite imagery into a raster map
 \item  \textbf{i.landsat.rgb}: \underline{NEW} - auto-enhancement of colors
      for LANDSAT imagery
 \item  \textbf{i.ortho.photo}, \textbf{i.rectify}: no longer signal completion with email
      notification
 \item  \textbf{i.spectral}: fix for finding \texttt{gnuplot}
 \item  \textbf{i.points}, \textbf{i.vpoints}: various fixes, including reverse transform
      overlay of vector maps from the target projection
 \item  \textbf{m.proj}: \underline{NEW} - utility to convert coordinates
      from one projection to another (automated frontend for \texttt{cs2cs})
 \item  \textbf{NVIZ}: integrated into single user interface; animation labels; new
      fly-through navigation; direct output of animations to MPEG with FFMPEG
      library; menus polished; full Tcl/Tk 8.4 support
 \item  \textbf{ps.map}: many improvements (extended RGB support, etc), new vector fill
      patterns including vector legend support
 \item  \textbf{r.carve}: \underline{NEW} - hydrologic module for
      transforming vector stream data into a raster map, including the
      subtraction of stream depth from the output DEM
 \item  \textbf{r.flow}: block erroneous Lat/Lon calculations
 \item  \textbf{r.in.srtm}: support for US 1-arcsec tiles
 \item  \textbf{r.in.wms}: \underline{NEW} - download and import data from WMS servers
 \item  \textbf{r.in.xyz}: \underline{NEW} - creates a raster map from an
      assemblage of many coordinates using univariate statistics (LIDAR/Swath
      bathymetry import tool)
 \item  \textbf{r.lake}: \underline{NEW} - raises lakes in a DEM from a seed
      at a given water level
 \item  \textbf{r.le}: many stability fixes
 \item  \textbf{r.mapcalc}, \textbf{r3.mapcalc}: acos(), asin(), pow(), \&\&\&
      and ||| added for more intuitive handling of null data
 \item  \textbf{r.mask}: \underline{NEW} - create a MASK for limiting raster
      operations (port from GRASS 5)
 \item  \textbf{r.out.gdal}: added support for multiple CREATEKEY and METAKEY parameters
 \item  \textbf{r.out.vtk}: \underline{NEW} - converts raster maps into the
      VTK-ASCII format for 3D visualization
 \item  \textbf{r.profile}: improved handling of input data
 \item  \textbf{r.sim.sediment}: \underline{NEW} - overland flow hydrologic
      erosion model based on duality particle-field concept (SIMWE)
 \item  \textbf{r.sim.water}: \underline{NEW} - overland shallow water flow
      hydrologic model based on duality particle-field concept (SIMWE)
 \item  \textbf{r.sun}: fixed units in description; new shadow algorithm; correction
      factor for shadowing to account for the Earth's curvature
 \item  \textbf{r.support}: \underline{NEW} - raster map layer support
      module (port from GRASS 5)
 \item  \textbf{r.thin}: fixed maximum iterations for lines
 \item  \textbf{r.to.rast3}: \underline{NEW} - converts 2D raster map slices
      to one 3D raster volume map
 \item  \textbf{r.to.vect}: add flag to not build topology (for \emph{r.in.xyz\emph{ + }v.surf.rst})
 \item  \textbf{r3.*}: many code improvements and extended functionality for 3D raster volume (voxel) data
 \item  \textbf{r3.cross.rast}: \underline{NEW} - Creates a cross section 2D raster map 
      from a g3d raster volume map based on a 2D elevation map
 \item  \textbf{r3.out.vtk}: \underline{NEW} - converts 3D raster maps into
      the VTK-ASCII format for visualization
 \item  \textbf{v.centroids}: \underline{NEW} - adds missing centroids
      to a vector map's closed area boundaries
 \item  \textbf{v.db.addcol}: \underline{NEW} - creates one or more
      columns in the attribute table connected to a vector map
 \item  \textbf{v.db.addtable}: \underline{NEW} - creates a new
      attribute table and connects it to an existing vector map
 \item  \textbf{v.db.droptable}: \underline{NEW} - removes an existing
      attribute table from a vector map
 \item  \textbf{v.db.reconnect.all}: \underline{NEW} - reconnect vector maps
      to a new database
 \item  \textbf{v.db.select}: multiple column support added
 \item  \textbf{v.db.update}: \underline{NEW} - allows the user to assign a
      new value to a column in an attribute table
 \item  \textbf{v.drape}: \underline{NEW} - converts a 2D vector map
      into a 3D vector map by sampling an elevation raster
 \item  \textbf{v.digit}: new layout, tools added, bugs fixed
 \item  \textbf{v.dissolve}: \underline{NEW} - dissolve boundaries
      between adjacent areas in a vector map
 \item  \textbf{v.external}: GID search added; auto-search of FID added
 \item  \textbf{v.extrude}: \underline{NEW} - extrudes flat vector
      objects into 3D vector faces of a defined height
 \item  \textbf{v.in.dxf}: \underline{NEW} - rewritten for GRASS 6,
      support for 3D features added
 \item  \textbf{v.in.ogr}: repaired the \texttt{-$\,$-overwrite} flag, selective import with WHERE option
 \item  \textbf{v.in.e00}: various fixes
 \item  \textbf{v.in.gns}: \underline{NEW} - imports US-NGA GEOnet Names Server
      (GNS) country files
 \item  \textbf{v.in.gpsbabel}: \underline{NEW} - import Waypoints, Routes, and
      Tracks from a GPS receiver or a GPS ASCII file into a vector map (supports many GPS formats)
 \item  \textbf{v.in.mapgen}: \underline{NEW} - imports Mapgen or Matlab vector maps
      (port from GRASS 5)
 \item  \textbf{v.kernel}: speed improvements
 \item  \textbf{v.lrs.*}: \underline{NEW} - Linear Reference System for
      vector line networks
 \item  \textbf{v.out.ogr}: 3D 'face' export added (3D vectors, for Google Earth KML format, etc.)
 \item  \textbf{v.out.vtk}: \underline{NEW} VTK vector export
 \item  \textbf{v.patch}: attribute transfer, if table structures are identical
 \item  \textbf{v.rast.stats}: \underline{NEW} - calculates univariate
      statistics from a GRASS raster map based on vector objects
 \item  \textbf{v.report}: \underline{NEW} - calculates and reports geometry
      statistics for vector maps
 \item  \textbf{v.surf.rst}: default \texttt{npmin} option fixed; fix for reading
      spatially variable smoothing parameter
 \item  \textbf{v.to.rast}: added option to compute the direction (angle) of lines
 \item  \textbf{v.to.rast3}: \underline{NEW} - converts a vector points map
      into a 3D raster map
 \item  \textbf{v.univar.sh}: \underline{NEW} - calculates extended univariate statistics 
      on a selected vector map attribute table column
 \item  \textbf{v.what.vect}: \underline{NEW} - uploads the values of
      a given vector map into a coinciding vector point map's attribute table
 \item  Misc. display modules: Increased support for true-color RGB decorations
 \item  Misc. vector modules: Support for dynamic fill color and dynamic feature
      sizing from DB attribute columns
 \item  Scripts: Fixes for awk and related calculation problems for various locales
 \item  Scripts: Variable test portability issues fixed
\end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

\par 
For a comprehensive list of changes to modules see the 
  6.1 and
  6.2
ChangeLog files.
\par 
For a complete list of commands available in GRASS 6.2.0 see the
online manuals.

\vspace{5pt}
\textit{We are always looking for testers, code developers, and technical
writers to help us maintain and accelerate
the development cycle.}

\vspace{5pt}
The GRASS GIS project is developed under the terms of the
GNU General Public License (the GPL) in the open by
volunteers the world over.

GRASS differs from many other GIS software packages used in the professional
world in that it is developed and distributed by users for users, mostly on a
volunteer basis, in the open, and is given away for free.

Emphasis is placed on interoperability and unlimited access to data as well as
on software flexibility and evolution rate.

\vspace{5pt}
Release history:
\begin{itemize}
\item  GRASS GIS 6.1.0 technology preview released 11 August 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0beta1 released 28 August 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0beta2 released 30 August 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0beta3 released 18 September 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0RC1 released 26 September 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0RC2 released 6 October 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0RC3 released 24 October 2006
\item  GRASS GIS 6.2.0 released 31 October 2006
\end{itemize}


\noindent \textbf{\begin{large}Please read the following article about the GRASS 6.2.1 release for further enhancements and bug fixes.\end{large}}

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