Folks, The terminology discussion has evolved into a discussion on usage. That's constructive but it really doesn't do much to solve the initial problem.
I noticed that most of the participants in the discussion are using the term "layer" frequently and usually without problems in agreeing to its meaning. Does that indicate that the term should continue in its current usage? It seems to me that most of you are talking about a "layer" as a visual component of a map. The usage in the existing GRASS command is not a visual component, but a database feature. Recent discussions have revealed that the "layer=" feature by itself doesn't create a unique or easily manipulated visual feature. That seems to confuse the usage. The "layer=" feature of the commands seems to me to be largely if not entirely superfluous. The function that it performs can be duplicated by "where=" and/or "catlist=". Further, the term "layer" is widely used with other meanings in fields where GIS is applied and that leads to confusion. I have a GUI of my own design that I use for GRASS. I used the term "layer" frequently when I first wrote the scripts and it is still firmly imbedded in the script, but after some confusion over the term I removed it from all the widgets and documentation. I also had only a limited need to replace the term with something else. The context was always clear enough that I didn't need to use the term. Roger Miller _______________________________________________ grass-dev mailing list grass-dev@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-dev
