Last update:
Fri Jan 10 09:30:27 2025
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Suppose you have a DBF (.dbf) file containing X and Y values that you want to import and save as a spatial layer. QGIS doesn’t support direct import of a DBF file as a map layer, however, we can use some command line magic to convert it to a CSV file and then use the Delimited Text plugin to get the job done. Your DBF file should have an id for each record and fields containing X and Y values.
This minor update to the Plugin Builder allows you to choose where your plugin menu will be located. Previously your menu was placed under the Plugins menu. At version 2.8.1 you can choose from the following main menu locations: Plugins Database Raster Vector Web Plugins is the default choice when you open Plugin Builder. The value you choose is also written to the category field in your metadata.txt file.
In Beyond the RDBMS Sean references Martin’s post which in turn points us to a paper (gotta love the web in action) promoting “The End of an Architectural Era”. This paper advocates the complete rewrite (well trashing actually) of current RDBMS code in favor of specialized “engines”. It’s an interesting read with some good points until I got to this: Our current favorite example of this approach is Ruby-on-Rails. This system is the little language, Ruby, extended with integrated support for database access and manipulation through the “model-view-controller” programming pattern.
In an effort to obtain a faster and lightweight solution, I decided to use Lighttpd (AKA Lighty) with FastCGI to power MapServer. Snooping around the MapServer site yielded no clues on how to configure Lighty. It turns out to be fairly simple. Here is the Lighttpd configuration: fastcgi.server = ( "/maps" = ( "localhost" = ( "socket" = "/tmp/mapserver-fastcgi.socket", "check-local" = "disable", "bin-path" = "/usr/lib/cgi-bin/mapserv", "min-procs" = 1, "max-procs" = 6, "
Using Git with Subversion makes adding new features easy. Here are the metrics for my latest QGIS hack: SVN revisions by others while working on my branch: 177 Time to complete merge with latest SVN revision: 1 second Conflicts: None Coincidence? Maybe not.
This week we take a look at a how to plot a terrain profile using the Profile plugin. The plugin can be used with any raster format supported by QGIS. You can can display profiles from up to three rasters at once, allowing you to compare the results. To illustrate, we’ll create a simple profile using a DEM of a 1:63,360 quadrangle in Alaska. Installing the Plugin The Profile plugin is installed like all other Python plugins.
One of the challenges in any open source project is accepting contributions from people that don’t have, need, or want access to your centralized source code repository. Managing repository accounts for occasional or one-time contributors can be come a bit of an administrative issue. To date, the QGIS project has accepted one-time or occasional contributions through patches submitted via a help ticket. To make it easier for you to contribute to QGIS, we have created a clone of the Subversion repository on GitHub.
Well not quite destruction, but a bit of hair pulling… While working on an update to the Plugin Builder, I encountered a small problem. The Plugin Builder displays the version number in the title bar of its main window. After bumping the version number to 1.8.4 in all the requisite places, it still showed 1.8.3 when testing. Using grep on all the source files revealed no instance of 1.8.3 in any file.
This week we look at a newly arrived plugin named qNote. This plugin allows you to create a note and store it in a QGIS project file. When the project is loaded, the note is restored and can be viewed in the qNote panel. This little plugin provides a way to attach metadata to a project. Things you might want to include in a note are: Content of the project Purpose Area of interest Where the data came from Who created the project This information can be helpful when sharing a project or when you forget what you did six months after the fact.
Well, the QGIS workshop at FOSS4G2007 is history. We had a capacity crowd and covered a lot of ground in a short 3 hours. Rumor is there are some pictures and heaven forbid, audio from the workshop floating around. Maybe they’ll surface at some point this week. I have a few LiveCDs left over and some of the coveted QGIS carabiners. If you run into me at the conference and want either, just ask.
This week we highlight the Points to Paths plugin, a handy way to convert a series of points into line features. This plugin lets you “connect the dots” based on an common attribute and a sequence field. The attribute field determines which points should be grouped together into a line. The sequence field determines the order in which the points will connected. The output from this plugin is a shapefile.
Well not quite destruction, but a bit of hair pulling… While working on an update to the Plugin Builder, I encountered a small problem. The Plugin Builder displays the version number in the title bar of its main window. After bumping the version number to 1.8.4 in all the requisite places, it still showed 1.8.3 when testing. Using grep on all the source files revealed no instance of 1.8.3 in any file.
In any sufficiently aged bureaucracy, process overshadows product.
This is a project I have had lingering around for a while. It is a geospatial data browser written in Python using the PyQt and QGIS bindings. It allows you to navigate a tree structure and preview raster and vector datasets. Metadata extracted from the data can be viewed as well. It supports drag and drop for any target that accepts filenames (e.g. QGIS). For screenshots and more, see http://geoapt.com/geoapt-data-browser.
The Quantum GIS (QGIS) project is happy to announce that the Asia Air Survey Co., Ltd (AAS), a Japanese international consulting company, has become a Gold Sponsor. AAS has committed to providing 9,000 EUR (~$11,000 US) each of three years, beginning in November 2012. The AAS sponsorship is yet another indication that QGIS is a mature and stable project which continues to provide innovative open source GIS software. The QGIS Project Steering Committee (PSC) wishes to thank AAS for their continuing commitment.
One of the often overlooked support mechanisms for Open Source GIS applications is Internet Relay chat, better known as IRC. Many OS GIS projects maintain an IRC presence. Often times you will find the project developers hanging out on the channel and willing to answer questions (more about that in a bit). Speaking personally, the Quantum GIS project has used IRC for project coordination, communication, and user support for several years.
This post is for those of you that build QGIS on a regular basis and want to keep up with everything going on in the current release branches (1.7.2 and 1.8) as well as the master branch that will eventually become version 2.0. While you can do all your work in one clone, this method has a couple of advantages, at the expense of a bit of disk space: Quicker compiles compared to branch switching, especially if you are using ccache Less likelihood of making a merge mess when switching branches The basic steps are:
This post is for those of you that build QGIS on a regular basis and want to keep up with everything going on in the current release branches (1.7.2 and 1.8) as well as the master branch that will eventually become version 2.0. While you can do all your work in one clone, this method has a couple of advantages, at the expense of a bit of disk space: Quicker compiles compared to branch switching, especially if you are using ccache Less likelihood of making a merge mess when switching branches The basic steps are:
Writing a QGIS plugin is not overly complicated but represents a bit of work. Using git in conjunction with your development efforts can make sure your investment in coding time is preserved. Development Tools The QGIS project team has set up a central location for plugin development which includes pretty much everything you need to develop and support your plugins, including: Issue tracking Wiki Documents
This week we look at a newly arrived plugin named qNote. This plugin allows you to create a note and store it in a QGIS project file. When the project is loaded, the note is restored and can be viewed in the qNote panel. This little plugin provides a way to attach metadata to a project. Things you might want to include in a note are: Content of the project Purpose Area of interest Where the data came from Who created the project This information can be helpful when sharing a project or when you forget what you did six months after the fact.
