While we are waiting for this year’s grant proposals to come in, it is time to look back at last year’s winning proposals and their results. These are the reports on the work that has been done within the individual projects:

QGIS 3D – Martin Dobias

Results are included in the QGIS 3.0 release. As proposed in the grant, a new 3D map view has been added together with GUI for easy configuration of 3D rendering. The 3D view displays terrain (either from a DEM raster layer or a simple flat area) with 2D map rendered on top of the terrain. In addition to that, vector layers can be rendered as true 3D entities: points may be visualized as simple geometric shapes or as 3D models (loaded from a file), polygons and linestrings are tessellated into 3D geometries. 2D polygons can be turned into 3D objects using extrusion, possibly with data-defined height – an easy way how to display buildings, for example. Data with 3D coordinates have the Z values in geometries respected. Although the 3D view is still in its early stages, it is already usable for many use cases. Hopefully this functionality will help to attract even more users to QGIS!

More details: https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals/issues/105

Improvements to relations – Régis Haubourg

Various improvements for deep relations with PostgreSQL were successfully added in QGIS 3.0:

• CTRL+Z is back in transaction group editing ! We restored the UNDO/REDO feature and all edits are temporarily saved inside PostgreSQL SAVEPOINTS. For more details, please jump here http://oslandia.com/en/2017/10/10/undo-redo-stack-is-back-qgis-transaction-groups/
• Transaction group allows now to play more easily with stored procedure calls. It is now possible to use ‘QgsTransaction.ExecuteSQL’, dirty the edit buffer to let user be able to save changes, and give a name to that action so that the UNDO/ REDO actions are more explicit. See the Pull requests for more details:
  • https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/pull/5376
  • https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/pull/5628
  • https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/pull/5663
• Trigger QGIS actions or layer refresh from PostgreSQL. Want to code a live dashboard and use QGIS to display messages, pictures, refresh map layers when PostgreSQL casts a NOTIFY signal? Read more at http://oslandia.com/en/2017/10/07/refresh-your-maps-from-postgresql/

Add consistency to UI controls – Nyall Dawson

We’ve unified all the various opacity, rotation and scale controls to use the same terminology and numeric scales. We’ve also updated ALL methods for setting opacity, rotation and scale within the PyQGIS API to use consistent naming and arguments, making the API more predictable and easy to use. Lastly, we’ve also added a new reusable opacity widget (QgsOpacityWidget) to the GUI library so that future code can (and 3rd party scripts and plugins) can follow the new UI conventions for opacity handling.

Extend unit test coverage for geometry classes – Nyall Dawson

We’ve extended the unit testing coverage for all the underlying geometry primitive classes (points, lines, polygons, curves, collections, etc) so that all these classes have as close to 100% unit test coverage as possible. In the process, we identified and fixed dozens of bugs in the geometry library, and naturally added additional unit tests to avoid regressions in future releases. As a result QGIS’ core geometry engine is much more stable. Furthermore, we utilised the additional test coverage to allow us to safely refactor some of the slower geometry operations, meaning that many geometry heavy operations will perform much faster in QGIS 3.0.

Processing algorithm documentation – Matteo Ghetta & Alexander Bruy

The new Help system is landed and already available: when opening a Processing algorithm and clicking on the Help button, the guide of the algorithm will be showed in the default browser.

Many of the QGIS Processing algorithm guides have been enhanced with pictures and new or enhanced descriptions. A consistency number of Pull Requests have been already merged and many others are in review. Just a few descriptions need to be still enhanced.

Currently all the QGIS algorithms have been described and all the PR in the doc repository have been merged (kudos to Harrissou for all the reviews!).

Right now the Help button of each Processing dialog will open the related page of the algorithm, BUT:

• if the name of the algorithm is made by only ONE word (e.g. clip, intersection…), the help button will open the browser to also the correct section (that is, the user will see directly the description of the related algorithm)
• if the name of the algorithm has >1 words (e.g. split polygon with lines, lines to polygon, ecc.) the Help button will open the correct page (so the algorithm GROUP) but is not able to go to the correct algorithm anchor. This is because sphinx converts “split with lines” in “split-with-lines” while QGIS system will always cast the words “split-with-lines” in “splitwithlines”. Not a big deal, but IMHO a pity.
  We are really too close to the solution.

So Processing Help system right now consists of:

• QGIS algs -> documented
• GDAL algs -> documented
• GRASS -> documented (own docs)
• Orfeo -> documented (own docs)
• SAGA -> nothing documented

Thanks to QGIS Grants to provide this chance to give a big improvement to the Processing framework even if not in a coding way!

Last but not least, we had another project that was not part of the grant programme but was also funded by QGIS.ORG in 2017:

Python API documentation – Denis Rouzaud

QGIS Python API Documentation is created using Sphinx and this work is available on Github. The repo is a fork of QGIS’ one and has been merged in the meantime. The docs are available at qgis.org/pyqgis. It uses a new theme (sphinx_rtd_theme aka ReadTheDocs theme). Some improvements were brought in (not exhaustive):

• QGIS theming with colors and icon
• Foldable toctree
• Summary of methods and attributes for classes
• Module index (not available before)
• Correct display of overloaded methods

Full Python signature in Docstring

In former SIP versions, it was not possible to use the auto generated signature if a Docstring already existed. This means any documented method could not have a signature created. Unfortunately for this project, the vast majority of methods in QGIS API are documented!

The source code of SIP was modified and theses changes got merged upstream. See rev 1788 to 1793 in SIP changelog. It will be released in upcoming 4.19.7 version. QGIS source code was modified accordingly to prepend auto generated Python signatures to existing Docstrings. Using a CMake configuration file for each module (core.sip.in, gui.sip.in, etc.) was required to avoid syntax errors when using former version of SIP (since bumping minimum version is not realistic).

Sipify adjustments

Many things were fixed in sipify script :

• Creation of links to classes, methods
• Handling/fixing of Doxygen annotations \see, \note, \param
• Handling of code snippets: c++ vs Python. Only Python are shown.

Thank you to everyone who participated and made this round of grants a great success and thank you to all our sponsor and donors who make this initiative possible!

Anita

Dear QGIS Community

Our first two rounds of Grant Proposals were a great success. If you are an early adopter using QGIS 3.0, you can already try out some of the new capabilities that have arrived in QGIS thanks to these grants.

We are very pleased to announce the third round of grants is now available to QGIS contributors. The deadline for this round is Sunday, 13 May 2018. All the details for the grants are described in the application form, and for more context we encourage you to also read these articles:

• QGIS Grants #1: Call for applications
• Update on the QGIS Grant Programme
• Winning QGIS Grant Proposals for 2016
• QGIS Grants #2: Call for Grant Proposals 2017
• Update on the QGIS Grant Applications
• QGIS Grant Programme #2 Results

We look forward to seeing all your great ideas about how to improve QGIS!

Anita Graser

QGIS PSC

We are pleased to announce the first round of funding for the QGIS grant programme.

What is the grant programme?

The QGIS.ORG grant programme is our way to accelerate and streamline development of the QGIS.ORG project by rewarding committed developers and contributors for their work through a grant system. It is a way to distribute our funds amongst our team members in a fair and transparent way.

Why have a grant programme?

There are four main reasons for embarking on a grant programme.

1. The first intent of the grant programme is to amplify the contributions of grantees by allowing them to spend more time on QGIS over and above what they would be able to do on a purely volunteer basis. At the broader level we would also like to avert the potentially negative reaction to funded development work in QGIS: “Why should I donate my time to work on QGIS when others are paid to do it?” And rather create an aspirational environment: “If I make a large contribution to QGIS I could also be eligible for a grant like other dedicated contributors have received.”
2. To simplify the decision making process for how to spend the funds received in the QGIS project via our Sponsorship and Donations programmes. The grant programme would allow us to streamline our decision making when it comes to funding developers. We receive many proposals for funding various activities in QGIS which invariably lead to protracted debate. In addition, not having a cohesive plan for how to disburse QGIS funds results in funding being done in a very ad hoc manner – which in turn results in a skew of funding towards development related activities and away from other critical project activities such as improvement of user documentation, API documentation, sysadmin tasks and so on.
3. To get things done that volunteers don’t naturally gravitate towards doing, such as housekeeping, maintenance and so on.
4. To transparently spend QGIS.ORG funds to advance the QGIS project.

In this funding round, we are ring-fencing EUR 20,000 for the grant programme. We expect to run further grant calls in the future if this round proves to be a success and as funds allow.

Applicants may submit more than one proposal and the proposal may be on any topic that you think is relevant and beneficial to the greater QGIS community. Some examples of the kinds of topics you could propose are:

• Updating and improving documentation
• Updating and improving QGIS.org web infrastructure
• Implementing a new feature in QGIS
• Curating the pull request queue
• Bug fixing
• Improving API documentation
• Improving the API and help making QGIS 3.0 a reality
• Rewriting and improving a part of the code base
• A security review of QGIS
• Helping new QGIS devs to get started with improved developer documentation and utilities
• etc.

The closing date for applications is Thursday, 15 September 2016

PLEASE NOTE: All applications made here will be PUBLICLY VISIBLE, including your name.

FAQ:

Here are a list of frequently asked questions relating to the grant call. Please check back on this article regularly – we will update it as any new questions are raised so that everyone may benefit from the answers.

1) Q: Are collaborative proposals allowed?

A: One person should be the proposal lead though. Additional collaborators can be mentioned in the proposal details section.

2) Q: Can I make a proposal for a smaller amount?

A: Yes

3) Q: Can I make a proposal for a larger amount?

A: No

4) Q: Can I charge VAT / additional expenses on top of the grant allocation?

A: No, the amount should be all-inclusive.

5) Q: How will the grant awards be decided?

A: Grant applications will be decided on by vote of the QGIS Board Voting Members

6) Q: Can the grant be made on behalf of my company or a group of people?

A: Yes. Just note that any application you make should be inclusive of all costs, VAT, Taxes etc.

7) Q: How many grants will be awarded from the 20,000 Euros?

A: We expect to award at minimum two grants, possibly more if there are a number of smaller grant proposals that are worthwhile.

8) Q: Can I make more than one application?

A: Yes

9) Q: Is this like Google Summer of Code – a mentorship programme?

A: No. We will not provide mentorship – we expect that you are already an established developer or contributors to the QGIS project and do not need any ‘hand holding’ other than via normal community consultation processes like QEP’s.

10) Q: I am thinking of submitting a proposal to do XYZ. Would that be considered a valid proposition?

A: We don’t have any specific pre-conceived ideas of what a valid proposal is, so I would encourage you to make a submission if you think it is worthwhile. During the decision about which proposals to access, we will consider factors like:

• how broadly useful the proposal is to all our users,
• how unlikely is it that the feature or improvement would be done without Grant funding,
• how much ‘value’ does the work bring to the project,
• how feasible is it that the applicant will actually achieve their goals etc.

11) Q: Have you thought of how to handle situations where person A submits a proposal and, later, person B submits the same proposal but cheaper?

A: In these cases, we will use criteria such as the applicant’s standing in the community, the technical details of their implementation plan, etc. Price would probably be a low-weighted factor but certainly could enter into it if there is a significant difference.

12) Q: I’ve read that QGIS 3 might land in first quarter of 2017 (if everything goes well). Do you expect proposals to be tied to QGIS 3? Should bug fixes, plugins, PyQGIS book translations, should they be planned, developed, and tested against QGIS 3’s code base?

A: Where proposals relate to the code base, yes we would expect that they are ‘3.0 ready’ – though they do not necessarily have to be completed when 3.0 is released.

13) Q: Do you have an indication of how long it will take for the grants to be awarded after the closing date?

A: It’s a bit hard for me to say how long it is going to take. The process will entail asking the QGIS voting community to rank all the proposals. Depending on how many proposals we receive we will need to allow for sufficient time of this to happen. We hope we can do it within a month of the closing date for applications but it we get a hundred proposals we will need more time probably….
Q: I still have questions, who can I ask?

A: Please contact [email protected] if you have further questions, or write to the pic mailing list.

How to apply:

To apply please use this online form