[R-sig-Geo] newbie questions

[Alex Mandel]

tom sgouros wrote:
> Alex Mandel <tech_dev at wildintellect.com> wrote:
> 
>> This could be done easily in either QGIS or R. I would leave GRASS out
>> of the discussion for now if we're just talking about making a map and
>> bring it back in if you start wanting to analyze the spatial
>> relationship between your data and other data sets.
> 
> That isn't too far in the future, and is partly why I thought it worth
> taking this task on via a GIS, as a first step.
> 
>> FYI, there are both R and GRASS plugins for QGIS which I think is a good
>> tool for getting started with GIS.
> 
> Let me thank you and ask a still dumber question, if you're willing to
> entertain it.  I've seen exactly this sentence all over the place, but I
> just don't get it.  What is the sense behind having a GRASS (GIS) plugin
> for QGIS (another GIS)?  What do you get?
> 
> And is this related to the fact that GRASS seems to have about seventeen
> different user interfaces?  There's a command line, and dialogs to build
> commands, and a GUI that all come up when I invoke GRASS.
> 
>> Most people would call that link you sent a 3D visualization, there are
>> lots of ways to do that in GRASS(nviz), R and even Google Earth (fairly
>> common).
> 
> Thank you,
> 
>  -tom
> 

You've basically got the answer. QGIS is just way easier to use, and
using GRASS thru QGIS makes it easier to learn GRASS. Personally I was
stumped on how to use GRASS before I learned it through QGIS. I'm now
comfortable using both and I still do my map composition in QGIS(Better
GUI for map making) and processing (depending on need) in GRASS with
stats in R or batch map output.

It's good to realize unlike Arc which is a behemoth of everything(or
tries to be), QGIS/GRASS/R is a combo of applications that work together
to give you a more powerful toolbox. The end result is that each is
better at some features than the others and you should use what's
best(including easiest for you) where appropriate.

As side note QGIS - GRASS feature overlap is very small, that's a large
part of why they work together.

Alex