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17 GRASS Reviews
I've used Grass on it's own in the past, however I really enjoy the fact that it is available within QGIS within a plugin. This makes using the best features of GRASS easily accessible. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Since the software is open source if you have any problems there support isn't the same as if you were paying big bucks for GIS software (esri), however there is plenty of documentation online via forums etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
This is an open source software, and its relatively easy to edit scripts to customize them for ones own needs Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Sometimes its not the most user friendly, but that's likely because its a free program Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The best thing with using Grass GIS is the functionality that it offers. As reported on their site, Grass GIS is used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics and maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.
There are a ton of features that can provide solution to most requests a user can have, and are not included by default in other software (at least not for free). From Remote Sensing and Satellite/LiDAR Imagery management to Hydrology/Groundwater/Wildfire modelling, Grass is able to tackle most challenges that it comes up with.
Another great thing is that Grass is, nowadays, a component integrated within QGis, so someone can benefit from all of the Grass tools within QGis, without having to jump from one software to another. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The UI/UX is a bit difficult to use for someone who is accustomed in using ArcMap and QGis, as it is a bit more complex.
Additionally, the data management follows a different logic in contrast to ArcMap and QGis: data cannot simply be "added" but imported, which means that they are stored in another (pre-selected by the user) folder, and then exported back when done with the Grass work. This can be a bit time-consuming for a user.
Additionally, Grass GIS covers a broad set of tools, but unfortunately each tool is not going into much depth - there are useful features missing from tools, like Origin ID and Destination ID in network cost isolines. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Runs on Linux (also runs on Windows). Stable and high performance. Innovative modules solving real world problems. Imports/exports all common formats for GIS (raster and vector). Great hydrologic modeling tools. Awesome community of users and developers. 3D rendering of surfaces is a very useful visualization tool. The simulations are amazing: an overland flow simulation and soil erosion/deposition module. Links directly to spatial databases such as PostGIS. Modular software approach. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Recently GRASS added a GUI based map plotting program, which helps with the cartography aspect. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I like the scriptability it provides to users in a Linux environment. At the National Weather Service, we used GRASS to map hydrologic, soil, and geologic information to create flash flood risk maps. The connection from GRASS to bash/korn to the R language was smooth and light weight. The open source nature of this program also provides huge opportunities to not only contribute, but reap the benefits of other scientists contributions. Specific to hydrology, a number of people have created some great tools. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
While powerful and scriptable, it also has a steeper learning curve than, say ArcGIS. ArcGIS has grown into this large industry-standard GIS machine that can do just about anything you want and with a push of a predefine button. GRASS hasn't kept up with the Arc in this regard. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
