Getting the Most Out of QGIS and GRASS Integration - Desktop GIS: Mapping the Planet with Open Source Tools - page 208

We used a couple of the tools to convert some vector and raster data
into GRASS but didn't really look at the toolbox that closely. If you
refer to the figure, you'll see at start-up there are two tabs: Modules
and Browser. The Modules tab contains all the GRASS tools you can
run from the toolbox. These tools are added at runtime from a config-
uration file, and there is actually a way to customize and add to the
tools that are presented in the toolbox, assuming you have attained
the appropriate level of GRASS mastery. The tools are categorized by
function (also customizable) in the module list.
We will use some of the tools in the module list shortly. The Browser
tab contains the GRASS browser and allows you to view all the maps in
your current mapset, as well as manage them. Before we dive into the
modules, let's learn a bit about the browser.
Using the Browser
To activate the browser, simply click the Browser tab. All the mapsets
in the current location are displayed on the left in a tree structure.
Typically you will see the PERMANENT mapset, along with the one or
more user mapsets. Remember, the PERMANENT mapset contains read-
only maps that are shared among users and are generally base layers
everybody needs.
If a mapset contains maps, you will be able to expand the tree. The
maps are further categorized into raster , region , and vector nodes. Ex-
panding one of the nodes will show you a list of all the maps associated
with it. If you click a map, the pane on the right displays informa-
tion about the map. In Figure 12.8 , on the next page, you can see the
browser with the Cities map selected. Notice all the good information
displayed in the pane on the right? We can get a good overview of the
map, including the number of each feature type (in this case 607 points,
0 lines, 1 boundary, 1 centroid, 1 area, and 1 island). The original layer
as imported from the shapefile had 606 points. The other features were
added when we digitized the city limits of Quantum GIS City and its
point location. We can also see the extents of map—in this case it takes
up most of the world.
As we work with GRASS maps, a history is recorded. You can see in
our browser example the command used to create the Cities map from
the original shapefile. This is displayed in the right pane, just below
the extent information. Also note on the left under the Cities node, there
are three layers, one for each feature type. These layers are prefixed