<s>
Whitebox	B-Application
Geospatial	I-Application
Analysis	I-Application
Tools	I-Application
(	O
GAT	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
and	O
cross-platform	O
Geographic	B-Application
information	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
GIS	B-Application
)	O
and	O
remote	O
sensing	O
software	O
package	O
that	O
is	O
distributed	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
been	O
developed	O
by	O
the	O
members	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Guelph	O
and	O
is	O
intended	O
for	O
advanced	O
geospatial	O
analysis	O
and	O
data	B-Application
visualization	I-Application
in	O
research	O
and	O
education	O
settings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
package	O
features	O
a	O
friendly	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
with	O
help	O
and	O
documentation	O
built	O
into	O
the	O
dialog	O
boxes	O
for	O
each	O
of	O
the	O
more	O
than	O
410	O
analysis	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Whitebox	B-Application
GAT	I-Application
project	O
started	O
as	O
a	O
replacement	O
for	O
the	O
Terrain	O
Analysis	O
System	O
(	O
TAS	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
geospatial	O
analysis	O
software	O
package	O
written	O
by	O
John	O
Lindsay	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whitebox	B-Application
GAT	I-Application
is	O
extendable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
are	O
able	O
to	O
create	O
and	O
add	O
custom	O
tools	O
or	O
plugins	O
using	O
any	O
JVM	B-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
also	O
allows	O
scripting	O
using	O
the	O
programming	O
languages	O
Groovy	B-Application
,	O
JavaScript	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whitebox	B-Application
GAT	I-Application
contains	O
more	O
than	O
385	O
tools	O
to	O
perform	O
spatial	O
analysis	O
on	O
raster	O
data	O
sets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Whitebox	B-Application
GAT	I-Application
project	O
has	O
adopted	O
a	O
novel	O
approach	O
for	O
linking	O
the	O
software	O
's	O
development	O
and	O
user	O
communities	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
software	O
transparency	O
,	O
or	O
open-access	O
software	O
(	O
considered	O
an	O
extension	O
of	O
open-source	B-Application
software	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
concept	O
was	O
developed	O
as	O
a	O
response	O
to	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
the	O
code	O
base	O
of	O
many	O
open-source	B-Application
projects	O
can	O
be	O
so	O
massive	O
and	O
its	O
organization	O
so	O
complex	O
that	O
individual	O
users	O
often	O
find	O
the	O
task	O
of	O
interpreting	O
the	O
underlying	O
code	O
too	O
daunting	O
when	O
they	O
are	O
interested	O
in	O
a	O
small	O
portion	O
of	O
the	O
overall	O
code	O
base	O
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
some	O
open-source	B-Application
projects	O
,	O
these	O
characteristics	O
can	O
divide	O
the	O
development	O
and	O
user	O
communities	O
,	O
often	O
restricting	O
future	O
development	O
to	O
a	O
few	O
individuals	O
that	O
have	O
been	O
involved	O
in	O
the	O
project	O
during	O
the	O
earliest	O
periods	O
of	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
View	O
Code	O
button	O
that	O
is	O
present	O
on	O
all	O
Whitebox	B-Application
GAT	I-Application
tools	O
is	O
the	O
embodiment	O
of	O
this	O
software-transparency	O
philosophy	O
by	O
pointing	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
the	O
specific	O
region	O
of	O
the	O
source-code	O
that	O
is	O
relevant	O
to	O
a	O
particular	O
tool	O
,	O
also	O
allowing	O
for	O
code	O
conversion	O
to	O
other	O
programming	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Whitebox	B-Application
GAT	I-Application
logo	O
is	O
also	O
representative	O
of	O
the	O
open	O
and	O
transparent	O
characteristic	O
of	O
the	O
software	O
,	O
being	O
a	O
transparent	O
glass	O
cube	O
,	O
open	O
on	O
one	O
face	O
.	O
</s>
