QField Rapid Mapper is a project for the QField mobile app, which allows emergency responders, civil protection, military, and citizens to assess and report damages from natural catastrophes by quickly sharing geolocated images, videos and audio. QField Rapid Mapper offers real-time data collection, mapping and sharing to help enhance disaster response and coordination. QField and QFieldCloud are open-source, and OPENGIS.ch is donating the needed QFieldCloud infrastructure and expertise to help map the floods in Ticino in 2024
OPENGIS.ch Supports Flood Mapping Efforts in Ticino
After discussing with the Protezione Civile Locarno e Valle Maggia and the Centro di Competenza per la geoinformazione (CCGEO), we are proud to announce that OPENGIS.ch is donating the necessary QFieldCloud infrastructure and dedicated projects for a rapid crowdsourcing POC to aid in mapping the 2024 floods in Ticino. This crowdsourcing initiative aims to provide essential support to professionals and volunteers working on flood and landslide assessment and recovery.
Photographing damaged houses and infrastructure is the most critical aspect of this mapping initiative. These images provide crucial information for assessing the extent of the damage, planning rescue and reconstruction operations, and ensuring that resources are allocated effectively. It’s also important to document any submerged or damaged vehicles, as they offer additional insights into the disaster’s impact. During these activities, it’s essential to be careful and respect the privacy and property of others, avoiding capturing license plate numbers or entering destroyed buildings without permission. Using QField Rapid Mapper can contribute to a faster and more coordinated emergency response while ensuring respect for those affected.
The QFieldCloud infrastructure enables efficient, real-time data collection and sharing, ensuring that accurate and up-to-date information is available to all stakeholders involved in the flood response. This effort underscores our commitment to leveraging technology for social good and environmental resilience.
By participating, you will have access to powerful tools for field data collection and can contribute valuable information to the ongoing efforts in Ticino. All the data collected will be released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public domain license.
Join the Effort
Using QField and QFieldCloud, you can help create detailed maps crucial for understanding the impact of the floods and planning effective recovery strategies. Your contributions will make a significant difference in managing and mitigating the effects of this natural disaster.
Visit our QField Rapid Mapper project page for more information on how QField and QFieldCloud can assist in flood mapping and other field data collection projects.
Together, we can make a difference. Join us in mapping the floods in Ticino and support the community’s recovery efforts.
For once, it’s not an app from the Silicon Valley, but from Laax in the Swiss Alps that made the news. By publishing QField as an open-source app, OPENGIS.ch allows companies, organisations and even countries without the necessary financial means to have the opportunity to benefit from this important data collection app. And it is being used: Over half a million downloads have already been achieved. Now, since the volcanic eruption in Tonga on 15 January 2022, the app of the small Laax-based company is playing a not-unimportant role in disaster response planning.
We’ve only been around for seven years. We could almost pass for a start-up. But OPENGIS.ch is already a household name when it comes to field data collection. OPENGIS.ch makes its field mapping tool QField available without restrictions (i.e. open-source) so that companies or even nations can collect their geographical data. In this way, data is brought from the field to the office and provides important insights for future decisions.
This was also the case for Tonga’s volcanic eruption. There, in December 2021, many relevant agricultural datasets were captured with “QField” and “QFieldCloud”. This currently helps the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests, and Fisheries to analyse the damage after the volcanic eruption and the subsequent tsunami and plan the response.
Swiss software in use for Tonga
It is a technical and ethical decision for me. I want not only the privileged nations to benefit from our work.
Marco Bernasocchi, CEO
Co-founder Marco Bernasocchi’s credo is to focus on further developing the product (QField). OPENGIS.ch makes it freely available, so that nations like Tonga, with little financial means, can use professional software and invest their financial resources in reconstruction. “It is a technical and ethical decision for me. I want not only the privileged nations to benefit from our work. We are always developing the product and generate income mainly from support, paid developments and custom solutions. Our product, however, is publicly accessible”. This strategy is successful: the company is 90% financed by Swiss customers but the app is used all over the world. “Open source is a technological advantage for me. This way we get the input of many developers worldwide who are motivated to work out the best possible software. This leads to a superior product and is particularly valuable to me.,” adds Matthias Kuhn, co-founder of OPENGIS.ch.
This way we get the input of many developers worldwide who are motivated to work out the best possible software.
Matthias Kuhn, CTO
John Duncan, project manager at the University of Western Australia, who is working on the project in support of Tonga, explains the work done in December like this: “the workflow uses QField to map the extent of landscape features including agricultural fields and cropped holdings, recording detailed attributes about each feature’s farming system. QFieldCloud was used to support large teams of data collectors tasked with surveying every tax allotment across Tonga. The initiative has resulted in the detailed mapping of cropping and livestock systems for over 11,000 farms across Tonga’s three main island groups. These datasets provide actionable information for short-term decision making around food security, agricultural planning, and disaster response, and are a valuable resource for longer-term monitoring of agricultural and environmental changes in these climate-vulnerable locations.“
The data was originally intended for food security and agricultural planning. But now they suddenly have acquired enormous value and can be used for disaster response planning.
John Duncan, University of Western Australia
Further information on QField in connection with Tonga:
OPENGIS.ch GmbH is a Swiss software development company based in Laax. OPENGIS.ch employs 19 people and works mainly in the field of spatial software development, geodata infrastructure deployments and professional support. Personalised open source GIS solutions are often planned and developed as desktop or mobile applications. OPENGIS.ch finances itself through tailor-made customer solutions, professional support and adaptations. Link: https://opengis.ch
OPENGIS.ch team in Summer 2021 company retreat
About the OPENGIS.ch product “QField” application
“QField” is an open-source app developed for efficient fieldwork in real-time in urban areas, with 5G connection or with offline data. The mobile GIS app combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to conveniently bring data from the field to the office. Seamless QGIS integration, GPS centred, offline functionality, synchronisation capabilities, desktop configurable: “QField” is designed for fieldwork – simple but uncompromising. Link: https://qfield.org
About the OPENGIS.ch service “QFieldCloud“
“QFieldCloud” is a spatial cloud service integrated into “QField” that allows remote provisioning and synchronisation of geodata and projects. Although “QFieldCloud” is still in an advanced beta stage, it is already being used by many groups to significantly improve their workflows. Link: https://qfield.cloud
Today, on QField’s 10th anniversary, we’re extremely proud to publish the results of over 18 months of development and give you the source code of QFieldCloud to go and make your awesome adaptations, solutions, and hopefully contributions
If you want to quickly try it out, head to https://qfield.cloud where our hosted solution is running and secure yourself a spot in the beta program.
QFieldCloud’s unique technology allows your team to focus on what’s important, making sure you efficiently get the best field data possible. Thanks to the tight integration with the leading GIS fieldwork app QField, your team will be able to start surveying and digitising data in no time.
What a journey it was and what plans do we already have… It has now been 10 years since I pushed the first scripts to build Quantum GIS for Android and it is incredible what we’ve been able to achieve thanks to a vibrant community, sponsors and especially our fantastic team.
At OPENGIS.ch we strongly believe in giving back. We live from open-source projects and are deeply committed to sustaining their technological and economicwell-being. We also believe everyone should have access to the best possible tools and knowledge. By committing ourselves to develop open-source applications, we give everyone access to powerful tools to plan, review and mitigate geospatial issues.
That is why we are even more thrilled to have created and open-sourced a professional data and team management solution for the best QGIS fieldwork app and would like to share a bit of the history of how we revolutionised field work by creating QField for QGIS.
Prehistory – QGIS for Android is born
Stone-, bronze-, iron-age, you get it, the beginnings of field mapping in the QGIS world were pretty rough around the edges. It all started thanks to me being accepted in the Google Summer of Code 2011 programme with the “QGIS mobile” submission. In the following 3 months, I’d try, with the help of my mentors Pirmin Kalberer and Marco Hugentobler, to get Quantum GIS to run on my tablet.
The first start
Hi all, it is a pleasure to announce that I finally got Quantum GIS to start on an android (3.2) tablet (Asus transformer). I tested as well on a Samsung Galaxy phone with cyanogen mod 7 RC1 and it works well (with the obvious screen size limitations). Qgis still doesn’t load many elements, but the GUI is there and the rest should be only minor issues. I’ll post more as soon as I make further developments. Meanwhile, if you want to test the apk, you can download it from my GitHub here. For building your own, have a look at qgis wiki
See my last posts. In short, I managed to get qgis packaged as an APK and to properly run with only one major problem. The map canvas is always black. I’ll investigate this till Tuesday. Cheers
After 3 months of intensive work, QGIS for android finally has a a proper GUI
Blazing fast startup
Hi, I just managed to create an APK with all the resources needed by qgis …
The only inconvenience at the moment is that at the first startup the app shows a black screen while it’s copying the files for about 30 to 60sec so just be patient and remember that the whole app will take up to 230MB (it installs on external storage by default)
I still remember the feeling that day when after almost 3 months, of fighting with shell scripts, patching of build systems, debugging via ADB, writing C++ in Java wrappers and so on, my Quantum GIS test project was suddenly running on my tablet… I Was so happy I just went running in the mountains :).
Just a quick screenshot to show that qgis on android is now a working reality. Tomorrow I’ll make a video and so on. The major missing thing now is reading SHP files ad maybe spatialite… maybe tomorrow. Now it’s Sunday
At the end of the Google Summer of code, I received my MSc in geoinformatics and left for 3 Months to Indonesia working as a consultant/developer for the World-bank Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.
So, it is over, after 3 months of working on QGIS for android as a Google Summer of Code project it is now time to wrap up what I did and didn’t do. First of all a QGIS android app exists now and it has many features including: – reading/writing projects – raster support – spatialite support – WMS support – (apparent – untested) WFS and Postgres support – partial shape files support (string attributes still crash the app) – Fully functional GUI (SymbologyV2 doesn’t work yet) – (all?) core C++ plugins beside globe (any takers? ) Furthermore, I created a series of build scripts that make it easier to set up a dev environment. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to implement live GPS tracking and a larger GUI optimisation, but all in all, I’m very happy with the results and seeing that few peoples are already testing it. Soon ill publish a video. cheers
Quantum GIS for Android was a reality and I was fully committed to keeping working on it. Turns out I wasn’t wrong
A commitment is a commitment
Classical – QGIS for Android grows
The Next Era of QGIS for android is what could be seen as the time of great knowledge enhancement, philosophical musings and the rise of the first great features including:
The dark ages, times of instability, change and some setbacks. Sounds terrifying, it was not at all, on the contrary it was a very formative period that apexed with the fantastic release of QGIS 2.0 for android.
The QML app experiment
From the beginning on, the idea behind QGIS for android was to eventually ditch the GUI and build a dedicated one for touch devices. The code for the future.
UX mockup for the first QML based app
UX mockup for the first QML based app
UX mockup for the first QML based app
Screenshots of the first QML based UI
The Python failure
Probably the major setback in QGIS for android’s history was the non-completion of the Python support. I got really close to it multiple times but unfortunately never managed to tame the snake. Maybe something we’ll look into in future, who knows.
The pivotal point of the Middle Ages was definitely 20.09.2013, when Tim Sutton presented to a full auditorium the shiny new QGIS 2.0. And along with it it introduced the general availability of QGIS 2.0 on android. The first real QGIS version for mobile devices was finally available for the broad public.
Tim Sutton announcing QGIS 2.0
Tim Sutton announcing QGIS 2.0 for Android
QGIS 2.0 general availability for Android
After the launch followed a very active time of keeping QGIS for Android on pair with the desktop versions leading to a regular release of updates on the playstore between 2013 and late 2014. This is also when Matthias Kuhn started committing to the QGIS for Android repository.
Early Modern – QField for QGIS is here
Humanism, Renaissance and Enlightenment are what we saw happening in the period between 2015 and early 2019. Field users were put at the centre of the design process, new ideas were explored and a new name was chosen to reflect the main goal of the application: Make fieldwork as efficient as possible.
Early 2015 was also when Matthias Kuhn and myself decided to join forces in OPENGIS.ch LLC.
The rebranding
The project never had a clear name, at times it was called QGIS for Android at times QGIS mobile, we felt that to clearly convey what we were building we needed a clear, simple and poignant name.
Beginning of 2015 saw the last rebranding
It is with great pleasure that we want to announce the new name for what was briefly known as QGIS mobile.
Please welcome QField for QGIS!
After long thinking about various names and variants including QGIS mobile, QTouch, OPENGIS.ch QGIS mobile, QWork, and many more, we felt that QField represents best what we want to archive. A field data capture and management app fully compatible with QGIS.
QField Experimental is out, after a couple of months of requirements gathering, private early alpha testing and foremost tons of emails requesting access to the testes group we decided today to put the current BETA version in the playstore.
Since the beginning of QGIS for android, to distribute the needed Qt libraries, we used a project called “ministro”. This was interesting because it allowed to download the libraries only once but on the other hand, it was a very painful experience for the user that needed to install a second app before getting QField to start. Around the end of 2015 it was so far, we finally managed to get rid of that dependency and make the installation process as streamlined as possible.
It’s done, finally we managed to get rid of Ministro so that we finally can say, QField runs on any android from 4.0.3 (ICS). This makes as of today (according to google) 96% of the android installations worldwide.
In these 3.5 years, a continuous, mainly volunteer-driven iterative process led by Matthias Kuhn made QField grow to the point where we felt confident it was time to launch QField 1.0.
After a series of release candidates with lots of feedback from the community, we felt it was time to move into a New Era.
It was a long and winding road but we are very excited to announce the general availability of QField 1.0 Release Candidate 1.
Packed with loads of useful features like online and offline features digitizing, geometry and attributes editing, attribute search, powerful forms, theme switching, GPS support, camera integration and much more, QField is a powerful tool for those who need to edit on the go and would like to avoid standing in the swamp with a laptop or paper charts.
We are incredibly pleased and proud of just having released such a jewel and are convinced that thanks to all its features and conscious design choices, QField will make your field digitizing work much more efficient and pleasant.
In the last 2 years the development pace increased tremendously, the sponsored featured grew as never before, QField rating skyrocketed to 4.7 we currently have 100’000 active users and we’re getting around 500 new users every day.
Our QField core team grew more and now thanks to David Signer’s lead and Mathieu Pellerin keen eye for UX we’re pushing QField even further.
Going into all releases would be so much information that this post would turn into a 3 volumes classic, and since starting from QField 1.0 we’ve documented each new release, we’re just going to link them: https://www.opengis.ch/category/qfield/highlights/
The future is cloudy – ehm sunny of course
Yesterday we published QField 1.9.6, which is going to be the last 1.X release and will put QField 2.0 into the beta channel so that every beta tester can start using QFieldCloud without having to use the developer version.
But that is a different story and you can read all about it in our latest newsletter…
Serving as a pragmatic community conciliator – collecting thoughts from people with differing opinions and trying to find the high road through difficult issues – I want to focus my and the community’s energies on our core product, QGIS.
Marco Bernasocchi · QGIS.org Chair
OPENGIS.ch has always been dedicated to sustaining QGIS’ technological and economical well-being, supporting it with endless hours of internally funded QA, infrastructure works and developments.
Today we are very proud to announce that our commitment has grown even more as one of our founders and CEO Marco Bernasocchi was elected Chair of the QGIS.org association.
With over 15 years of involvement with QGIS (he started working with QGIS 0.6) and two years serving as vice-chair, Marco will serve for the next two years as Chairperson of the QGIS.org association.
Understanding the importance of the role trusted him, Marco would like to thank the QGIS community for the trust and appreciation. Marco is looking forward to intensifying work with the PSC and the fantastic QGIS community to push QGIS even further.
We wish Marco and the rest of the elected PSC two very successful years full of QGIS awesomeness.
I want to help QGIS and it’s community thrive under the value proposition of:
Making the most amazing opensource GIS that provides users with value and that meets their needs by providing great functionality and usability, being cost-effective whilst being actively supported by a vibrant and knowledgeable community.
Sharing our work under an open-source license is part of the approach by which we achieve that value proposition as it allows broad collaboration with our developers and users community.
I see FOSS as a very socially responsible way to develop software, but even more, I see the immense technological advantage that writing open-source code brings. This is why I want our focus to be on allowing both pragmatic and ideological views to respectfully coexist and enrich each other.
One of my main motivations to be part of the PSC and to make myself available as project Chair is to help QGIS keep this incredible growth rate by being even more attractive to new community members, sponsors and large/corporate users. To achieve this, the key is maintaining the right balance between sustainable processes (that guarantee the great quality QGIS has been known for) and an interesting and motivating grassroots project to ensure that QGIS remains an attractive project for volunteers to contribute to and help QGIS and its community to grow to become even more the reference [Open Source] GIS project.
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we currently have 100’000 active users and we’re getting around 500 new users every day.
