(CA-OPENOSX-COM) OpenOSX Updates Grass GIS 5.0.0 CD

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CROWLEY LAKE, Calif.--(OPENOSX-COM)--Nov. 15th, 2002--
OpenOSX, a leading provider of easy-to-use, world-class open-source
software, today began shipping their updated Grass GIS 5.0.0 CD and
has made a free update available for all OpenOSX Grass 5.0.0
customers.

Grass (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is a
complete state-of-the-art Geographical Information System (GIS). Grass
is one of, if not the most, complete and sophisticated open-source GIS’.
Grass has now been in development for more then twenty years and
by the size of it’s code base Grass is one the ten largest open-source
projects in history.

The new version and the updater fixes several potential issues
discovered with the OpenOSX Grass 5.0.0 (Version 1) CD and
includes Tcl/Tk 8.4.1 to support the native Mac OS X Aqua interface.
Grass and all required and optional libraries have been compiled
utilizing gcc 3.1 for native Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2.x) performance.
The OpenOSX Grass GIS 5.0.0 CD will transform a Macintosh
running Mac OS 10.2.x into a full-fledged GIS workstation in minutes
with ease.

With over 350 geo-spatial modules, Grass is the only real
alternative to ESRI ArcInfo GIS, which when similarly-configured will
cost more than 400 times the cost per seat and is not supported on
the Macintosh platform.

Grass GIS offers state of the art three-dimensional dynamic
spatial analysis and visualization. Users of OpenOSX Grass include
NASA, USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) and NOAA (National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration).

Grass in combination with the included Geospatial Data
Abstraction Library, (GDAL) can import more then forty popular GIS
file formats including: GeoTiff, Tiff, DXF, SDTS, DEM, Shape, ELAS,
PNG, ARC, MIF, Tiger, Garmin, ASCII.

Some of Grass’ popular features include: ortho-rectification,
Digital Elevation Model creation and editing, projection and
re-projection capabilities, raster & vector data support in more then
120 projections, shaded relief with 16-bit precision, geostatistics and
spatial data analysis, statistical analysis, 3D visualization and
simulation modeling capabilities.

The OpenOSX CD greatly simplifies installation and will install
a long list of all the required and optional libraries and programs for
full functionality. The CD is bundled with complete documentation
and limited installation support.

The owner of OpenOSX, Jeshua Lacock, who is the maintainer
of the Mac OS X port of Grass, has submitted the Grass 5.0.0 binaries
and patches for free downloading. The files have been uploaded and
will be available soon. The binaries do not include support or the
required or optional libraries that are installed and configured by
OpenOSX’s CD. The binaries may be downloaded from Grass' home
Baylor University or from its development headquarters (Istituto
Trentino di Cultura) at:
<http://grass.itc.it/grass5/binary/mac_os_x/>
The OpenOSX Grass CD is US$50 and 6-month CD
subscriptions are available for US$120. More information about the
OpenOSX Grass CD is available at <http://OpenOSX.com/grass/>.
The free Grass update is available at:
<http://OpenOSX.com/support/>.

OpenOSX, Inc. is a company dedicated to serving, and
expanding, the Macintosh community. Founded on the premise that
many computer users are intimidated by the UNIX command-line,
OpenOSX committed itself to one mission- bringing popular Unix
software to both the "Unix-challenged" and the seasoned, Mac
inclined system administrator in a friendly, Mac environment.
Note to Editors: OpenOSX is a trademark owned by
OpenOSX(TM), all other trademarks are owned by their respective
owner.

Note to Editors: OpenOSX is a trademark owned by OpenOSX, Inc.,
all other trademarks are owned by their respective owner.

CONTACT: OpenOSX.com
Jeshua Lacock, 760/935-4736
jeshua@OpenOSX.com
http://OpenOSX.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE PRODUCT
SOURCE: OpenOSX.com