NCSU GeoForAll Lab
NCSU OSGeo Research and Education Laboratory

GRASS GIS Graphical User Interface

We are maintaing GRASS GIS GUI and developing new exploratory tools for spatio-temporal data visualization.

Animation Tool

With Animation Tool we can create sophisticated animations of lidar elevation series, flood simulation or any other series of map layers describing a phenomenon changing in space and time. Animation Tool supports GRASS GIS Temporal Framework as well as a series of map layers. It allows multiple synchronized animations so that you can view the data in with 2D and 3D together. Static map layers can be combined with space-time datasets to understand how the changing phenomena spatially relates to the stable features.

Animation Tool is available in GRASS GIS 7. For more information see GRASS Wiki.

Animation with raster and vector space-time dataset (left), and combination of static layers with space-time dataset (right).
Video tutorial shows how to create animation with multiple layers and space-time dataset.

Map Swipe

Map Swipe allows us to interactively compare map layers of the same area by revealing different parts. It is useful e.g. for comparing data from different time periods. It offers two modes: swipe and mirror mode.

Map Swipe tool is available in GRASS GIS 7. For more information see GRASS Wiki.

Pre and post disaster images of the tsunami in Japan in 2011. The upper MODIS image taken on February 26, 2011, shows the coastline under normal conditions while the lower MODIS image on March 13, 2011, shows a clear view of tsunami flooding along the coastline. Water, black and dark blue in these false-color images, still covers the ground as much as five kilometers (three miles) from the coast. Source: Earth Observatory/NASA