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The GRASS CD-ROM Global Data Base and 
Public Domain GIS Software 
Scott Madry 
Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis 
Rutgers University 
USA 
Robert Lozar 
U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory 
USA 
The Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis of Rutgers University and the U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) have signed an agreement that 
allows Rutgers to make available on CD-ROM the CERL Global GRASS digital data sets. There are 
now 5 CD-ROM's available, with each CD data set (about 500 Mb) consisting of some 50 different 
raster global data files from various sources; including global elevation, vegetation, green leaf 
biomass (AVHRR composites), national boundaries, soils, and marine productivity (Coastal Zone 
Color Scanner), among others. CD #4 contains 6.2 million point files in over 600 categories from 
around the world, and the CIA World Database II vector files. For GRASS GIS users, the CD- 
ROM!'s will act as an additional read-only hard disk, since the data are stored in the GRASS directory 
structure. To others with a different GIS, the data are all stored in a simple (uncompressed, flat 
ASCID file format. This will make importing into their own system as simple as possible. 
Additional CD-ROMs are being developed at a rate of two per year. The next CD-ROM, which will 
be #6 in the series, will be available in the Fall of 1995, and will include new data developed at the 
Center and CERL, as well as contributed data from researchers from the U.S. and Japan. New 
developments are discussed, including the recent agreement between ESRI, the developers of the 
Arc/Info software, and the Center for us to develop Global CD-ROMs in Arc/Info format for the 
large, existing Arc user community. 
This presentation describes the development and current status of the global database project, the data 
sets, the GRASS software package, and their ability to support global research and teaching.