QGIS Planet

Configure editing form widgets using PyQGIS

PT | EN

As I was preparing a QGIS Project to read a database structured according to the new rules and technical specifications for the Portuguese Cartography, I started to configure the editing forms for several layers, so that:

  1. Make some fields read-only, like for example an identifier field.
  2. Configure widgets better suited for each field, to help the user and avoid errors. For example, date-time files with a pop-up calendar, and value lists with dropdown selectors.

Basically, I wanted something like this:

Peek 2019-09-30 15-04_2

Let me say that, in PostGIS layers, QGIS does a great job in figuring out the best widget to use for each field, as well as the constraints to apply. Which is a great help. Nevertheless, some need some extra configuration.

If I had only a few layers and fields, I would have done them all by hand, but after the 5th layer my personal mantra started to chime in:

“If you are using a computer to perform a repetitive manual task, you are doing it wrong!”

So, I began to think how could I configure the layers and fields more systematically. After some research and trial and error, I came up with the following PyQGIS functions.

Make a field Read-only

The identifier field (“identificador”) is automatically generated by the database. Therefore, the user shouldn’t edit it. So I had better make it read only

Layer Properties - cabo_electrico | Attributes Form_103

To make all the identifier fields read-only, I used the following code.

def field_readonly(layer, fieldname, option = True):
    fields = layer.fields()
    field_idx = fields.indexOf(fieldname)
    if field_idx >= 0:
        form_config = layer.editFormConfig()
        form_config.setReadOnly(field_idx, option)
        layer.setEditFormConfig(form_config)

# Example for the field "identificador"

project = QgsProject.instance()
layers = project.mapLayers() 

for layer in layers.values():
    field_readonly(layer,'identificador')

Set fields with DateTime widget

The date fields are configured automatically, but the default widget setting only outputs the date, and not date-time, as the rules required.

I started by setting a field in a layer exactly how I wanted, then I tried to figure out how those setting were saved in PyQGIS using the Python console:

>>>layer = iface.mapCanvas().currentLayer()
>>>layer.fields().indexOf('inicio_objeto')
1
>>>field = layer.fields()[1]
>>>field.editorWidgetSetup().type()
'DateTime'
>>>field.editorWidgetSetup().config()
{'allow_null': True, 'calendar_popup': True, 'display_format': 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss', 'field_format': 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss', 'field_iso_format': False}

Knowing this, I was able to create a function that allows configuring a field in a layer using the exact same settings, and apply it to all layers.

def field_to_datetime(layer, fieldname):
    config = {'allow_null': True,
              'calendar_popup': True,
              'display_format': 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss',
              'field_format': 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss',
              'field_iso_format': False}
    type = 'Datetime'
    fields = layer.fields()
    field_idx = fields.indexOf(fieldname)
    if field_idx >= 0:
        widget_setup = QgsEditorWidgetSetup(type,config)
        layer.setEditorWidgetSetup(field_idx, widget_setup)

# Example applied to "inicio_objeto" e "fim_objeto"

for layer in layers.values():
    field_to_datetime(layer,'inicio_objeto')
    field_to_datetime(layer,'fim_objeto')

Setting a field with the Value Relation widget

In the data model, many tables have fields that only allow a limited number of values. Those values are referenced to other tables, the Foreign keys.

In these cases, it’s quite helpful to use a Value Relation widget. To configure fields with it in a programmatic way, it’s quite similar to the earlier example, where we first neet to set an example and see how it’s stored, but in this case, each field has a slightly different settings

Luckily, whoever designed the data model, did a favor to us all by giving the same name to the fields and the related tables, making it possible to automatically adapt the settings for each case.

The function stars by gathering all fields in which the name starts with ‘valor_’ (value). Then, iterating over those fields, adapts the configuration to use the reference layer that as the same name as the field.

def field_to_value_relation(layer):
    fields = layer.fields()
    pattern = re.compile(r'^valor_')
    fields_valor = [field for field in fields if pattern.match(field.name())]
    if len(fields_valor) > 0:
        config = {'AllowMulti': False,
                  'AllowNull': True,
                  'FilterExpression': '',
                  'Key': 'identificador',
                  'Layer': '',
                  'NofColumns': 1,
                  'OrderByValue': False,
                  'UseCompleter': False,
                   'Value': 'descricao'}
        for field in fields_valor:
            field_idx = fields.indexOf(field.name())
            if field_idx >= 0:
                print(field)
                try:
                    target_layer = QgsProject.instance().mapLayersByName(field.name())[0]
                    config['Layer'] = target_layer.id()
                    widget_setup = QgsEditorWidgetSetup('ValueRelation',config)
                    layer.setEditorWidgetSetup(field_idx, widget_setup)
                except:
                    pass
            else:
                return False
    else:
        return False
    return True
    
# Correr função em todas as camadas
for layer in layers.values():
    field_to_value_relation(layer)

Conclusion

In a relatively quick way, I was able to set all the project’s layers with the widgets I needed.Peek 2019-09-30 16-06

This seems to me like the tip of the iceberg. If one has the need, with some search and patience, other configurations can be changed using PyQGIS. Therefore, think twice before embarking in configuring a big project, layer by layer, field by fields.

Using QGIS from Conda

QGIS recipes have been available on Conda for a while, but now, that they work for the three main operating systems, getting QGIS from Conda is s starting to become a reliable alternative to other QGIS distributions. Anyway, let’s rewind a bit…

What is Conda?

Conda is an open source package management system and environment management system that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Conda quickly installs, runs and updates packages and their dependencies. Conda easily creates, saves, loads and switches between environments on your local computer. It was created for Python programs, but it can package and distribute software for any language.

Why is that of any relevance?

Conda provides a similar way to build, package and install QGIS (or any other software) in Linux, Windows, and Mac.

As a user, it’s the installation part that I enjoy the most. I am a Linux user, and one of the significant limitations is not having an easy way to install more than one version of QGIS on my machine (for example the latest stable version and the Long Term Release). I was able to work around that limitation by compiling QGIS myself, but with Conda, I can install as many versions as I want in a very convenient way.

The following paragraphs explain how to install QGIS using Conda. The instructions and Conda commands should be quite similar for all the operating systems.

Anaconda or miniconda?

First thing you need to do is to install the Conda packaging system. Two distributions install Conda: Anaconda and Miniconda.

TL;DR Anaconda is big (3Gb?) and installs the packaging system and a lot of useful tools, python packages, libraries, etc… . Miniconda is much smaller and installs just the packaging system, which is the bare minimum that you need to work with Conda and will allow you to selectively install the tools and packages you need. I prefer the later.

For more information, check this stack exchange answer on anaconda vs miniconda.

Download anaconda or miniconda installers for your system and follow the instructions to install it.

Windows installer is an executable, you should run it as administrator. The OSX and Linux installers are bash scripts, which means that, once downloaded, you need to run something like this to install:

bash Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh

Installing QGIS

Notice that the Conda tools are used in a command line terminal. Besides, on Windows, you need to use the command prompt that is installed with miniconda.

Using environments

Conda works with environments, which are similar to Python virtual environments but not limited only to python. Basically, it allows isolating different installations or setups without interfering with the rest of the system. I recommend that you always use environments. If, like me, you want to have more that one version of QGIS installed, then the use of environments is mandatory.

Creating an environment is as easy as entering the following command on the terminal:

conda create --name <name_of_the_environment>

For example,

conda create --name qgis_stable

You can choose the version of python to use in your environment by adding the option python=<version>. Currently versions of QGIS run on python 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9.

conda create –name qgis_stable python=3.7

To use an environment, you need to activate it.

conda activate qgis_stable

Your terminal prompt will show you the active environment.

(qgis_stable) aneto@oryx:~/miniconda3$

To deactivate the current environment, you run

conda deactivate

Installing packages

Installing packages using Conda is as simples as:

conda install <package_name>

Because conda packages can be stored in different channels, and because the default channels (from the anaconda service) do not contain QGIS, we need to specify the channel we want to get the package from. conda-forge is a community-driven repository of conda recipes and includes updated QGIS packages.

conda install qgis --channel conda-forge

Conda will download the latest available version of QGIS and all its dependencies installing it on the active environment.

Note: Because conda always try to install the latest version, if you want to use the QGIS LTR version, you must specify the QGIS version.

conda install qgis=3.10.12 --channel conda-forge

Uninstalling packages

Uninstalling QGIS is also easy. The quickest option is to delete the entire environment where QGIS was installed. Make sure you deactivate it first.

conda deactivate
conda env remove --name qgis_stable

Another option is to remove QGIS package manually. This is useful if you have other packages installed that you want to keep.

conda activate qgis_stable
conda remove qgis -c conda-forge

This only removes the QGIS package and will leave all other packages that were installed with it. Note that you need to specify the conda-forge channel. Otherwise, Conda will try to update some packages from the default channels during the removal process, and things may get messy.

Running QGIS

To run QGIS, in the terminal, activate the environment (if not activated already) and run the qgis command

conda activate qgis_stable
qgis

Updating QGIS

To update QGIS to the most recent version, you need to run the following command with the respective environment active

conda update qgis -c conda-forge

To update a patch release for the QGIS LTR version you run the install command again with the new version:

conda install qgis=3.10.13 -c conda-forge

Some notes and caveats

Please be aware that QGIS packages on Conda do not provide the same level of user experience as the official Linux, Windows, and Mac installer from the QGIS.org distribution. For example, there are no desktop icons or file association, it does not include GRASS and SAGA, etc …

On the other hand, QGIS installations on Conda it will share user configurations, installed plugins, with any other QGIS installations on your system.

QGIS Top Features 2016

A year ago I have asked QGIS’s community what were their favourite QGIS new features from 2015 and published this blog post. This year I decided to ask it again. In 2016, we add the release of the second long-term release (2.14 LTR), and two other stable versions (2.16 and 2.18).

2016 was again very productive year for the QGIS community, with lots of improvements and new features landing on QGIS source code, not to speak of all the work already in place for QGIS 3. This is a great assurance of the project’s vitality.

As a balance, I have asked users to choose wich were their favorite new features during 2016 (from the visual changelogs list). As a result, I got the following Top 5 features list.

5 – Paste a style to multiple selected layers or to all layers in a legend group (2.14)

This is a productivity functionaly that I just realized that existed now, with so many people voting on it. If copy/paste styles was, in my opinion, a killer feature, being able to use it in multiple layers or even a group is just great.

screenshot-from-2017-01-05-00-25-39

4 – fTools plugin has been replaced with Processing algorithms (2.16)

While checking the Vector Menu, the tools seem the same as previous version, but it’s when you open them that you understand the difference. All vector tools, provided until now by the fTools core plugin, were replaced by equivalent processing Algoritms. For the users it means easier access to more functionality, like running the tools in batch mode, or getting outputs as temporary layers. Besides some of the tools have been improved.

screenshot-from-2017-01-05-00-54-17

 

3 – Virtual layers (2.14)

This is definitly one of my favourite new features, and it seems I’m not alone. With virtual layers you can run SQL queries using the layers loaded in the project, even when the layers are not stored in a relational database. We are not talking about WHERE statments to filter data, with this you can do real SQL queries, with spatial analysis, aggregations, and so on. Besides, virtual layers will act as VIEWs and any changes to any of the input layers will automatically update the layer.

Screenshot from 2017-01-05 01-12-10.png

2 – Speed and memory improvements (2.14)

It’s no surprise that speed and memory improvements we one of the most voted features. Lots of improvements were made for loading and managing large datasets, and this have a tremendous impact in all users. According to the changelog, zoom is faster, selecting features is faster, updating attributes on selected features is faster, and it consumes less memory. So don’t be afraid to put QGIS to the test.

1 – Trace digitising tool (2.14)

If you do lots of digitising, you better look into this new feaure that landed on QGIS 2.14. It allows you to digitize new feature by using other layers boundaries. Besides the quality improvement of layers topology, this can make digitizing almost feel pleasing and fast! Just click the first point, move your mouse around other features edged to pick up more vertex.

screenshot-from-2017-01-05-01-42-33

 

There were other new features that also made the delight of many users. For example, several improvements on the labeling, Georeference outputs (eg PDF) from composer (2.16), Filter legend by expression (2.14), 2.5D Renderer. Personally, the Style docker made my day/year. But you can check the full results of the survey, if you like.

Obviously, this list means nothing at all. All new features were of tremendous value, and will be useful for thousands (yes thousands) of people. It was a mere exercise as, with such a diverse QGIS crowd, it would be impossible to build a list that would fit us all. Besides, there were many great enhancements, introduced during 2016, that might have fallen under the radar for most users. Check the visual changelogs for a full list of new features.

On my behalf, to all developers, sponsors, and general QGIS contributors, once again

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TREMENDOUS WORK!

I wish you a fantastic 2017.

QGIS Features I long for while using ArcGIS

(aka Features that ArcGIS Desktop users might not know that exists)

EN | PT

From time to time, I read articles comparing ArcGIS vs QGIS. Since many of those articles are created from an ArcGIS user point of view, they invariably lead to biased observations on QGIS lack of features. It’s time for a QGIS user perspective, so bare with me on this (a bit) long, totally and openly biased post.

“Hello, my name is Alexandre, and I have been using… QGIS

This is something I would say at an anonymous QGIS user therapy group. I’m willing to attend one of those because being recently and temporally forced to use ArcGIS Desktop again (don’t ask!), I really really really miss QGIS in many ways.

There was a time when I have used ArcGIS on the regular basis. I used it until version 9.3.1 and then decided to move away (toward the light) into QGIS (1.7.4 I think). At that time, I missed some (or even many?) ArcGIS features, but I was willing to accept it in exchange for the freedom of the Open Source philosophy. Since then, a lot have happened in the QGIS world, and I have been watching it closely. I would expect the same have happened in ArcGIS side, but, as far I can see, it didn’t.

I’m using top shelf ArcGIS Desktop Advanced and I’m struggling to do very basic tasks that simply are nonexistent in ArcGIS. So here’s my short list of QGIS functionalities that I’m longing for. For those of you that use ArcGIS exclusively, some of this features may catch you by surprise.

Warning: For those of you that use ArcGIS exclusively, some of this features may catch you by surprise.

Transparency control

“ArcGIS have transparency! It’s in the Display tab, in the layer’s properties dialog!”

Yes, but… you can only set transparency at the layer level. That is, either it’s all transparent, or it’s not…

In QGIS on the other end, you can set transparency at layer level, feature/symbol level, and color level. You can say that this is being overrated, but check the differences in the following images.

Transparency_layer_levelTransparency_feature_symbol_levelTransparency_color_level

Notice that in QGIS you can set transparency at color level everywhere (or almost everywhere) there is a color to select. This includes annotations (like the ones in the image above), labels and composers items. You can even set transparency in colors by using the RGBA function in an expression! How sweet can that be? 🙂

Screenshot from 2016-01-27 14:12:34

Blending modes

This is one of QGIS’s pristine jewels. The ability to combine layers the way you would do in almost any design/photo editing software. At layer or at feature level, you can control how they will “interact” with other layers or features below. Besides the normal mode, QGIS offers 12 other blending modes:  Lighten, Screen, Dodge, Darken, Multiply, Burn, Overlay, Soft light, Hard light, Difference, and Subtract. Check this page to know more about the math behind each one and this image for some examples

It’s not easy to grasp how can this be of any use for cartography before you try it yourself. I had the chance to play around while trying to answer this question.

2wph4

A very common application for this functionality is when you want to add shadows to simulate the relief by putting a hill shade on top of other layers. In ArcGIS, you can only control the layer transparency, and the result is always a bit pale. But in QGIS, you can keep the strength of the original colors by using the multiply mode in the hill shade layer.

Screenshot from 2016-01-27 15:24:38
Hypsometry original colors
Screenshot from 2016-01-27 15:25:45
Hypsometry colors paled by transparent hill shade
Screenshot from 2016-01-27 15:24:45
Hypsometry original colors with the hill shade using QGIS multiply blending

You can also use blending modes in the print composer items, allowing you to combine them with other items and textures. This gives you the opportunity to make more “artistic” things without the need to go post-processing in a design software.

Colour Picker Menu

Controlling color is a very important deal for a cartographer and QGIS allow you to control it like the professional you are. You can select your colours using many different interfaces. Interfaces that you might recognize from software like Inkscape, Photoshop, Gimp and others alike.

My favorite one is the color picker. Using color picker, you can pick colors from anywhere on your screen, either from QGIS itself or outside. This is quite handy and productive when you are trying to use a color from your map, it’s legend, a COLOURlovers palette or a company logo.

anim
Picking a color from outside QGIS

You can also copy/paste colors between dialogs, save and import color palettes, and you can even name a color and use it in a variable. With all this available for free, it’s hard to swallow Windows color selector :(.

Vector symbols renderers “powertools”

In ArcGIS, you have a few fancy ways to symbol your vector layers. You got: Single symbol, Unique values, Unique values many fields… and so on. At the first glance, you may think that QGIS lacks some of them. Believe me, it doesn’t! In fact, QGIS offers much more flexibility when you need to symbol your layers.

For starters, it allows you to use fields or expressions on any of the symbols renderers, while ArcGIS only allows the use of fields. Powered by hundreds of functions and the ability to create your owns in python, what you can do with the expression builder has no limits. This means, for instance, that you can combine, select, recalculate, normalize an infinite number of fields to create your own “values” (not to mention that you can tweak your values labels, making it ideal to create the legend).

Screenshot from 2016-01-20 22:34:54
QGIS Graduated renderer using an expression to calculate population density

And then, in QGIS, you have the special (and kinda very specific) renderers, that make you say “wooooh”. Like the Inverted polygons that allow you to fill the the outside of polygons (nice to mask other features), the Point displacement to show points that are too close to each others, and the Heatmap that will transform, ON-THE-FLY, all your points in a layer into a nice heatmap without the need to convert them to raster (and that will update as soon as you, or anyone else, edits the point features).

Screenshot from 2016-01-20 22:58:44
Inverted Polygon Renderer masking the outside of an interest area

But I have left the best to the end. The “One rendered to Rule them all”, the Rule-based symbols. With the rule-based renderer, you can add several rules, group them in a tree structure, and set each one with a desired symbol. This gives QGIS users full control of their layer’s symbols, and, paired with expression builder and data-defined properties, opens the door to many wonderful applications.

rulesymbol_ng_line
Rule-based renderer

Atlas

One of my favorite (and missed) features in QGIS is the Map Composer’s Atlas. I know that ArcGIS has its own “Atlas”, the Data Driven Pages, but frankly, it’s simply not the same.

I believe you know the basic functionally that both software allow. You create a map layout and choose a vector layer as coverage, and it will create an output panned or zoomed for each of the layer’s feature. You can also add some labels that will change according to the layers attributes.

But in QGIS, things go a little bit further…

Basically, you can use coverage layer’s attributes and geometry anywhere you can use an expression. And, in QGIS, expressions are everywhere. That way, most layers and map composer items properties can be controlled by a single coverage layer.

With the right configuration, while iterating over the atlas coverage features, you can,  choose what feature to show and what features to hide, change a theme color for your map, rotate and resize your page acording to the feature sizechoose a specific logo to came along with your map, and much more. Once again, the sky is the limit.

mosaico_regioes_fixed
Auto-resized maps that fits the coverage features at specific scale using atlas

So, if you pair Atlas it with QGIS data-defined properties, rule-based symbols and expressions, ArcGIS Data Driven Pages are no match. You don’t think so? Try to answer this question then.

Tip: If you really want to leverage your map production, using Spatialite or Postgis databases you can create the perfect atlas coverage layers from views that fit your needs. No data redundancy and they are always updated.

Label and Style dialogs

This one is more of a User Experience thing than an actual feature, but you won’t imagine how refreshing it is to have all Style and Labels options in two single dialogs (with several tabs, of course).

Using the symbol menu in ArcGIS makes me feel like if I’m in the Inception movie, at some point in time, I no longer know where the hell am I. For example, to apply a dashed outline in a fill symbol I needed to open 5 different dialogs, and then go back clicking OK, OK, OK, OK …

Capture
ArcGIS “Inception” symbol settings

In QGIS, once in the properties menu, every setting is (almost) one click way. And you just need to press OK (or Apply ) once to see the result!

Screenshot from 2016-01-20 21:51:33
QGIS Style setting

As an extra, you can copy/paste styles from one layer to another, making styling several layers even faster. And now you say:

“Don’t be silly! In ArcGIS you can import symbols from other layers too.”

Symbols? yes. Labels? No! And if you had lots of work setting your fancy labels, having to do the exact same/similar thing in another layer, it will make you wanna cry… I did.

(I think I will leave the multiple styles per layer vs data frames comparison for another time)

WFS

“Say what?!!”

Yup, that’s it, ArcGIS Desktop lacks support for WFS OGC standard unless you buy an extra extension: The Data Interoperability Extention.

In a GIS world that, more and more, is evolving towards Open Data, Open Standards and OGC Web Services, this reveals a very mercantile approach by ESRI. If I were an ESRI customer, I would feel outraged. <sarcasm>Or maybe not… maybe I would thank the opportunity to yet invest some more money in it’s really advanced features…<\sarcasm>

In QGIS, like everything else, WFS is absolutely free (as in freedom, not free beer). All you need to do is add the WFS server’s URL, and you can add all the layers you want, with the absolute sure that they are as updated as you can get.

Screenshot from 2016-01-20 21:58:54

Fortunately for ArcGIS users with a low budget, they can easily make a request for a layer using the internet browser :-P.

http://giswebservices.massgis.state.ma.us/geoserver/wfs?request=GetFeature&service=wfs&version=1.0.0&typename=massgis:GISDATA.TOWNS_POLY&outputformat=SHAPE-ZIP

Or they can simply use QGIS to download it. But, in both cases, be aware that the layers won’t update themselves by magic.

Expression builder

I have already mentioned the use of expressions several times, but for those of you that do not know the expression Builder, I though I end my post with one of my all time favourite features in QGIS.

I do not know enough of ArcGIS expression builder to really criticize it. But, AFAIK, you can use it to create labels and to populate a field using the field calculator. I know that there are many functions that you can use (I have used just a few) but they are not visible to the common user (you probably need to consult the ArcGIS Desktop Help to know them all). And you can create your own functions in VBScript, Python, and JsScript.

Capture

On QGIS side, like I said before, the Expression Builder can be used almost everywhere, and this makes it very convenient for many different purposes. In terms of functions, you have hundreds of functions right there in the builder’s dialog, with the corresponding syntax help, and some examples. You also have the fields and values like in ArcGIS, and you even have a “recent expressions” group for re-using recent expressions with no the need to remember prior expression.

Capture

Besides, you can create your own functions using Python (no VBScript or JsScript). For this purpose, you have a separate tab with a function editor. The editor have code highlighting and save your functions in your user area, making it available for later use (even for other QGIS sessions).

Capture

Conclusion

These are certainly not the only QGIS features that I miss, and they are probably not the most limiting ones (for instance, not being able to fully work with Spatialite and Postgis databases will make, for sure, my life miserable in the near future), but they were the ones I noticed right away when I (re)open ArcGIS for the first time.

I also feel that, based on the QGIS current development momentum, with each QGIS Changelog, the list will grow very fast. And although I haven’t tested ArcGIS Pro, I don’t think ESRI will be able to keep the pace.

“Are there things I still miss from ArcGIS?” Sure. I miss CMYK color support while exporting maps, for instance. But not as much as I miss QGIS now. Besides, I know that those will be addressed sooner or later.

In the end, I kinda enjoyed the opportunity to go back to ArcGIS, as it reinforced the way I think about QGIS. It’s all about freedom! Not only the freedom to use the software (that I was already aware) but also the freedom to control software itself and it’s outputs. Maintaining the users friendliness for new users, a lot have been done to make power users life easier, and they feel very pleased with it (at least I am).

All this being said, the winner is… QGIS!!

The End

(of a very biased post)

QGIS Top Features 2015

EN | PT

With the release of the first long term release (2.8 LTR), and two other stable versions (2.10 and 2.12), 2015 was a great (and busy) year for the QGIS community, with lots of improvements and new features landing on QGIS source code.

As a balance, I have asked users to choose wich were their favorite new features during 2015 (from the visual changelogs list). As a result I got the following Top 5 features list.

5 – Python console improvements (2.8)

Since QGIS 2.8, we can drag and drop python scripts into QGIS window and they will be executed automatically. There is also a new a toolbar icon in the plugins toolbar and a shortcut ( Ctrl-Alt-P) for quick access to the python console.

4 – Processing new algorithms (2.8)

Also in QGIS 2.8, there were introduced some new algorithms to the processing framework. If you are into spatial analysis this must have done your day (or year).

  • Regular points algorithm
  • Symmetrical difference algorithm
  • Vector split algorithm
  • Vector grid algorithm
  • Hypsometric curves calculation algorithm
  • Split lines with lines
  • Refactor fields attributes manipulation algorithm

3 – Show rule-based renderer’s legend as a tree (2.8)

There were introduced a few nice improvements to QGIS legend. Version 2.8 brought us a tree presentation for the rule-based renderer. Better still, each node in the tree can be toggled on/off individually providing for great flexibility in which sublayers get rendered in your map.

2 – Advanced digitizing tools (2.8)

If you ever wished you could digitize lines exactly parallel or at right angles, lock lines to specific angles and so on in QGIS? Since QGIS 2.8 you can! The advanced digitizing tools are a port of the CADinput plugin and adds a new panel to QGIS. The panel becomes active when capturing new geometries or geometry parts.

Untitled

1 – Rule-based labeling (2.12)

This was a very awaited feature (at least by me), and it was voted by the majority of users. Since 2.12, you can style features labels using rules. This gives us even more control over placement and styling of labels. Just like the rule based cartographic rendering, label rules can be nested to allow for extremely flexible styling options. For example, you can render labels differently based on the size of the feature they will be rendered into (as illustrated in the screenshot).

image25

There were other new features that also made the delight of many users. For example, the Improved/consistent projection selection (2.8), PostGIS provider improvements (2.12), Geometry Checker and Geometry Snapper plugins (2.12), and Multiple styles per layer (2.8).

Don’t agree with this list? You can still cast your votes. You can also check the complete results in here.

Obviously, this list means nothing at all. I was a mere exercise as with such a diverse QGIS crowd it would be impossible to build a list that would fit us all. Besides, there were many great enhancements, introduced during 2015, that might have fallen under the radar for most users. Check the visual changelogs for a full list of new features.

On my behalf, to all developers, sponsors and general QGIS contributors,

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TREMENDOUS WORK!

I wish you a fantastic (and productive) 2016.

Getting multipolygon vertexes using PostGIS

EN | PT

Today I needed to create a view in PostGIS that returned the vertexes of a multi-polygon layer. Besides, I needed that they were numerically ordered starting in 1, and with the respective XY coordinates.

Screenshot from 2015-11-05 23:58:19

It seemed to be a trivial task – all I would need was to use the ST_DumpPoints() function to get all vertexes – if it wasn’t for the fact that PostGIS polygons have a duplicate vertex (the last vertex must be equal to the first one) that I have no interess in showing.

After some try-and-fail, I came up with the following query:

CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW public.my_polygons_vertexes AS
WITH t AS -- Transfor polygons in sets of points
    (SELECT id_polygon,
            st_dumppoints(geom) AS dump
     FROM public.my_polygons),
f AS -- Get the geometry and the indexes from the sets of points 
    (SELECT t.id_polygon,
           (t.dump).path[1] AS part,
           (t.dump).path[3] AS vertex,
           (t.dump).geom AS geom
     FROM t)
-- Get all points filtering the last point for each geometry part
SELECT row_number() OVER () AS gid, -- Creating a unique id
       f.id_polygon,
       f.part,
       f.vertex,
       ST_X(f.geom) as x, -- Get point's X coordinate
       ST_Y(f.geom) as y, -- Get point's Y coordinate
       f.geom::geometry('POINT',4326) as geom -- make sure of the resulting geometry type
FROM f 
WHERE (f.id_polygon, f.part, f.vertex) NOT IN
      (SELECT f.id_polygon,
              f.part,
              max(f.vertex) AS max
       FROM f
       GROUP BY f.id_polygon,
                f.part);

The interesting part occurs in the WHERE clause, basically, from the list of all vertexes, only the ones not included in the list of vertexes with the maximum index by polygon part are showed, that is, the last vertex of each polygon part.

Here’s the result:

Screenshot from 2015-11-05 23:58:40

The advantage of this approach (using PostGIS) instead of using “Polygons to Lines” and “Lines to points” processing tools is that we just need to change the polygons layer, and save it, to see our vertexes get updated automatically. It’s because of this kind of stuff that I love PostGIS.

Open Source, why?

EN | PT

During my professional and personal life, I have worked with much different software, with all kinds of licenses. Most of them would be proprietary, closed and / or commercial code. So why devote my time and learning “exclusively” to Open Source?

Without going into detail about the differences between open source software and free software, there are several reasons why FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) interest me.

The first is obviously freedom. Be free to use the software in any context and for any purpose, without being limited by the costs of software acquisition and / or the rules and conditions imposed by the manufacturer (as many said free (as beer) software do). That allows me to, for example, familiarize myself with its features without having to use piracy, or, as a freelancer worker, develop my work based on my technical capacities rather than my financial ones.

Second, the community and collaborative factor. The fact that open source software is built by user and for users, where the main goal is to enhance the software functionality (and not just raise the number of sales), and wherein each enhancement introduced by an individual or company is subsequently shared for the benefit of the whole community, avoiding duplication and “reinventing the wheel”. This is done in part through a lot of volunteer work and constant sharing of knowledge, either by the programmers or users. Thus, together, we all evolve at the same time as the software itself. In addition, everyone can contribute in some way, by producing code, writing and preparing supporting documentation, translating them into other languages or just by reporting bugs.

Finally, the “costs“. The adoption of open source software in enterprises (including the public ones), allow them to focus their investments in training of the human resources and the possible (and desirable) sponsoring of new features that are essential for their workflow, usually for a small portion of the values to spend on the acquisition of commercial software (that usually “forces” the purchase of features that may never be used).


Multiple format map series using QGIS 2.6 – Part 2

EN | PT

In my last post, I have tried to show how I used QGIS 2.6 to create a map series where the page’s orientation adapted to the shape of the atlas features. This method is useful when the final scale of the maps is irrelevant, or when the size of the atlas elements is  similar, allowing one to use a fixed scale. On the other hand, when using a fixed scale is mandatory and the features size are too different, it is needed to change the size of the paper. In this second part ot the post, I will try to show how I came to a solution for that.

As a base, I used the map created in the previous post, from which I did a duplicate. To exemplify the method, I tried to create a map series at 1:2.000.000 scale. Since I was going to change both width and height of the paper, I did not need to set an orientation, and therefore, I deactivated the data defined properties of the orientation option:

ith some maths with the map scale, the size of the atlas feature and the already defined margins, I came up with the following expressions to use, respectively,  in width and height:

((bounds_width( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) * 1000.0) * 1.1 + 10
((bounds_height( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) * 1000.0) * 1.1 + 30

Allow me to clarify. (bounds_width( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) is the atlas feature’s width in meters when represented at 1:2.000.000. This is multiplied by 1000 to convert it to millimeters (the composer’s settings units). In order to keep the atlas feature not to close to the margin, I have decided to add 10% of margin around it, hence the multiplication by 1.1. To finish I add the map margins value that were already set in the previous post (i.e.,20 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm, 5 mm)

As one can see from the previous image, after setting the expressions in the paper width and height options, it’s size already changed according to the size of the atlas features. But, as expected, all the itens stubbornly kept their positions.For that reason, it has been necessary to change the size and position expressions for each of then.

Starting by the map item size, the expressions to use in width and height were not difficult to understand since they would be the paper size without the margins size:

((bounds_width( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) * 1000.0) * 1.1
((bounds_height( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) * 1000.0) * 1.1

Screenshot from 2014-11-16 23:07:43

To position the items correctly, all was needed was to replace the “CASE WHEN … THEN … END” statement by the expressions defined before. For instance, the expressions used in the X and Y options for the legend position:

(CASE WHEN  bounds_width(  $atlasgeometry ) >=  bounds_height( $atlasgeometry) THEN 297 ELSE 210 END) - 7
(CASE WHEN  bounds_width(  $atlasgeometry ) >=  bounds_height( $atlasgeometry) THEN 210 ELSE 297 END) - 12

Became, respectively:

(((bounds_width( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) * 1000.0) * 1.1 + 10) - 7
(((bounds_height( $atlasgeometry ) / 2000000.0) * 1000.0) * 1.1 + 30) - 12

Screenshot from 2014-11-16 23:22:40

Changing the expressions of the X and Y position options for the remaining composer’s items I have reached the final layout.

alaska_region_Kenai Peninsula

Once again, printing/exporting all (25) maps was only one click away.

mosaico_regioes_fixed

Since QGIS allows exporting the composer as georeferenced images, opening all maps in QGIS I got this interesting result.

Screenshot from 2014-11-17 00:02:38

As one can see by the results, using this method, we can get some quite strange formats. That is why in the 3rd and last post of this article, I will try to show how to create a fixed scale map series using standard paper formats (A4, A3, A2, A1 e A0).

Disclaimer: I’m not an English native speaker, therefore I apologize for any errors, and I will thank any advice on how to improve the text.

Calcular coordenadas do centroide de polígonos | Calculate polygon centroid’s coordinates

Tive necessidade de, numa camada de polígonos, adicionar colunas à tabela de atributos com as coordenadas dos centroides das geometria. Cheguei às seguintes expressões para calcular as coordenadas X e Y, respectivamente:

I had the need to add columns with the coordinates of polygons centroids. I came up with the following expressions to calculate X e Y, respectively:

xmin(centroid($geometry))
ymin(centroid($geometry))

A expressão parece bastante banal, mas ainda demorei a perceber que, não existindo funções x(geometry) e y(geometry), podia usar as funções xmin() e ymin() para obter as coordenadas dos centroides dos polígonos. Uma vez que esta não foi a primeira vez que precisei de usar estas expressões, fica agora o registo para não me voltar a esquecer.

The expression seems quite simple, but it toke me some time before I realize that, not having a x(geometry) and y(geometry) functions, I could use the xmin() and ymin() to get the coordinates of the polygons centroids. Since this wasn’t the first time I had to use this expressions, this post will work as a reminder for the future.


Dica para ajustar posição de símbolos em QGIS | Hack to adjust map symbols location in QGIS

De quando em vez aparecem-me zonas com demasiado símbolos no mesmo local, e pensei como seria fantástico se os pudesse arrastar para um local mais conveniente sem ter de alterar as suas geometrias, tal como é possível fazer com as etiquetas. Esse pensamento deu-me a ideia base para a dica que vou demonstrar.

Now and then I get too many map symbols (points) in the same place, and I thought how nice it would be if we could drag n’ drop them around without messing with their geometries position, just like we do with labels. That thought gave me an idea for a cool hack.

Escolha a sua camada de pontos e comece por criar dois novos campos chamados symbX e symbY (Tipo: Decimal; Tamanho: 20; precisão: 5). No separador “Estilo” das propriedades da camada, defina para cada nível do seu símbolo o seguinte: Escolher “unidade do mapa” como a unidade para as opções de afastamento; Usar a seguinte expressão na opção afastamento das propriedades definidas por dados.

Choose your point layer and start by creating two new fields called symbX and symbY (Type: Decimal number; Size: 20; Precision: 5). Now go the layer properties and in the Style tab edit your symbol. For each level of your symbol select “map units” as the offset units, and set the following expression in the offset data define properties option:


CASE WHEN symbX IS NOT NULL AND symbY IS NOT NULL THEN
    tostring($x - symbX) + ',' + tostring($y - symbY)
ELSE
    '0,0'
END

Screenshot from 2015-02-22 18:18:43

Tenha atenção que, se as coordenadas do seu mapa tiver valores negativos, será necessário uma pequena alteração ao código. E. g., se tiver valores negativos em X deverá usar-se  antes a expressão “tostring(symbX -$x)”.

Beware that if your coordinates have negative values you need to adapt the code. E.g., If you have negative values in X you should use “tostring(symbX -$x)” instead.

De forma temporária coloque etiquetas na sua camada usando um texto pequeno (eu usei o ‘+’ (sinal de mais) centrado e com um buffer branco) e defina as coordenadas X e Y dos propriedades definidadas por dados usando os campos symbX e symbY,

Now, temporarly  label your layer with a small convenient text (I used a centered ‘+’ (plus sign) with a white buffer) and set its coordinates to data defined using the symbX and symbY Fields.

Screenshot from 2015-02-22 22:42:07

A partir desse momento, quando usar a ferramenta de mover etiquetas, não só alterará a posição da etiqueta, mas também a do próprio símbolo! Fantástico, não?

From this point on, when you use the move label tool, not only the label position change but also the actual symbol! Pretty cool, isn’t it?

anim

Note que as geometria dos elementos não são alteradas durante o processo. Para além disso, lembre-se que neste caso também poderá adicionar linhas de guia para ligar os símbolos à posição original do ponto.

Notice that the features geometries are not changed during the process. Also, remember that in this case you can also add leading lines to connect the symbols to the original position of the points.


Hack to adjust map symbols location in QGIS

EN | PT

Now and then I get too many map symbols (points) in the same place, and I thought how nice it would be if we could drag n’ drop them around without messing with their geometries position, just like we do with labels. That thought gave me an idea for a cool hack.

Choose your point layer and start by creating two new fields called symbX and symbY (Type: Decimal number; Size: 20; Precision: 5). Now go the layer properties and in the Style tab edit your symbol. For each level of your symbol select “map units” as the offset units, and set the following expression in the offset data define properties option:


CASE WHEN symbX IS NOT NULL AND symbY IS NOT NULL THEN
    tostring($x - symbX) + ',' + tostring($y - symbY)
ELSE
    '0,0'
END

Screenshot from 2015-02-22 18:18:43

Be aware that, if your coordinates have negative values, you need to adapt the code. E.g., If you have negative values in X you should use “tostring(symbX -$x)” instead.

Now, temporarly  label your layer with a small convenient text (I used a centered ‘+’ (plus sign) with a white buffer) and set its coordinates to data defined using the symbX and symbY Fields.

Screenshot from 2015-02-22 22:42:07

From this point on, when you use the move label tool, not only the label position change but also the actual symbol! Pretty cool, isn’t it?

anim

Notice that the features geometries are not changed during the process. Also, remember that in this case you can also add leading lines to connect the symbols to the original position of the points.

Calculate polygon centroid’s coordinates

EN | PT

I had the need to add columns with the coordinates of polygons centroids. I came up with the following expressions to calculate X e Y, respectively:

xmin(centroid($geometry))
ymin(centroid($geometry))

The expression seems quite simple, but it toke me some time before I realize that, not having a x(geometry) and y(geometry) functions, I could use the xmin() and ymin() to get the coordinates of the polygons centroids. Since this wasn’t the first time I had to use this expressions, this post will work as a reminder for the future.

Labels leading lines with QGIS and Postgis

EN | PT

Recently I had the need to add labels to features with very close geometries, resulting in their collision.

Capturar_3

Using data-defined override for label’s position (I have used layer to labeled layer plugin to set this really fast) and the QGIS tool to move labels, it was quite easy to relocate them to better places. However, in same cases, it was difficult to understand to which geometry they belonged.

Capturar_2

I needed some kind of leading lines to connect, whenever necessary, label and feature. I knew another great plugin called “Easy Custom Labeling“, by Regis Haubourg, that did what I needed, but it would create a memory duplicate of the original layer, wish meant that any edition on the original layer wouldn’t be updated in the labels.

Since the data were stored in a PostgreSQL/Postgis database, I have decided to create a query that would return a layer with leading lines. I used the following query in DB manager:

SELECT
  gid,
  label,
  ST_Makeline(St_setSRID(ST_PointOnSurface(geom),27493), St_setSRID(St_Point(x_label::numeric, y_label::numeric),27493))
FROM
  epvu.sgev
WHERE
  x_label IS NOT NULL AND
  y_label IS NOT NULL AND
  NOT ST_Within(ST_Makeline(St_setSRID(ST_PointOnSurface(geom),27493), St_setSRID(St_Point(x_label::numeric, y_label::numeric),27493)),geom))

This query creates a line by using the feature centroid as starting point and the label coordinate as end point. The last condition on the WHERE statement assures that the lines are only created for labels outside the feature.

Capturar_1

With the resulting layer loaded in my project, all I need is to move my labels and save the edition (and press refresh) to show a nice leading line.

guidelines

QGIS + Postgis: Consultas de agregação

Quando através de uma consulta SQL a uma base de dados postgres\postgis se procede a uma agregação (através do uso da cláusula GROUP BY) é quase certo perder a chave primária da tabela original (geralmente o gid). No entanto, para visualizar o resultado de consultas SQL em QGIS é necessário que exista um campo com valores inteiros distintos para usar como identificadores únicos. Assim, para ultrapassar este contratempo, há que criar uma coluna com essas características.

Essa coluna pode ser feita usando a função ROW_NUMBER(), da seguinte forma:

WITH r as (SELECT
               campo1,
               (ST_Dump(ST_Union(t.geom))).geom as geom
           FROM
               tabela_1 as t
           GROUP BY
               campo1)
SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER() as id,
    r.*
FROM r;

Copiando toda para a expressão na janela SQL do DB Manager (Base de dados > Gestor BD > Janela SQL), é possível usar o campo id como identificador único.

QGIS_Janela_SQL

AgregacaoSQL_Qgis


Dissolver polígonos em Postgres\Postgis

Trata-se de um cenário muito recorrente em análise espacial. Tendo uma camada\tabela composta por diversos polígonos, queremos “juntá-los” de acordo com valores distintos de um ou mais atributos (exemplo: de uma camada com os limites de freguesias, queremos obter os concelhos, ou, da COS ao 3º nível, obter o 2º ou o 1º)

Este artigo tem como objectivo mostrar como fazê-lo em Postgres\Postgis.

Tabela de exemplo

Como exemplo vou usar uma tabela como o seguinte formato:

CREATE TABLE tabela_1
    (gid serial PRIMARY KEY,
     campo1 character varying(128),
     campo2 integer,
     geom geometry(MultiPolygon,27493);

tabela1_original_tabela

tabela1_original

Dissolver todos os polígonos

Em primeiro lugar podemos simplesmente agregar todos os elementos num multi-polígono único. Para tal usamos a função ST_Union().

SELECT
    ST_Union(t.geom) as geom
FROM
    tabela_1 as t;

tabela1_union

Separar polígonos que não sejam contíguos

Se por outro lado não quisermos que o resultado apresente multi-polígonos usamos a função ST_Dump() recolhendo o campo da geometria.

SELECT
    (ST_Dump(ST_Union(t.geom))).geom as geom
FROM
    tabela_1 as t;

tabela1_union_dump

Dissolver polígonos com base em valores dos campos

Se quisermos dissolver os polígonos que tenham valores iguais num ou mais campos, basta incluí-los na cláusula GROUP BY. Se quisermos que esses campos apareçam no resultado (geralmente queremos) há que referi-los no início do SELECT.

SELECT
    campo1,
    campo2,
    (ST_Dump(ST_Union(t.geom))).geom as geom
FROM
    tabela_1 as t
GROUP BY
    campo1,
    campo2;

tabela1_union_by_value

Nota 1: Para quem prefere usar interfaces gráficos, preencher formulários e clicar em botões, o uso de SQL para fazer este tipo de operações pode parecer demasiado complicado e até um pouco retrógrado. Mas uma coisa garanto, com alguma prática as dificuldades iniciais são ultrapassadas e os benefícios que se retiram deste tipo de abordagem são muito recompensadores.

Nota 2: Visualizar o resultado deste tipos consultas de agregação (que usam a cláusula GROUP BY) no QGIS pode ser desafiante, este artigo explica como ultrapassar essa dificuldade.


Mapas de fluxos em QGIS

Hoje surgiu a questão “Como consigo fazer um mapa em que a sobreposição de símbolos aumente a opacidade?“. Fiz o meu melhor para descrever como fazê-lo em QGIS, que transcrevo agora para português.

Este tipo de mapas pode ser feito em QGISs usando a uma combinação da transparência e cor dos símbolos e o blending mode dos elementos.

Note-se a diferença entre a transparência e blending mode da camada (que é aplicado a toda a camada) e a transparência do símbolo e blending dos elementos (que acumulam com outros elementos da mesma camada).

Esta opções estão disponíveis em Propriedades da camada > Estilo.

testes_opacidade_opcoes

Com um valor de transparência do símbolo de 95%, a cor do elemento tornar-se à totalmente opaca quando pelo menos 20 elementos de sobrepuserem. Este número é limitado à sobreposição de 100 elementos(tranparencia 99%).

Usando diferentes modos de blending (como a multiplicação ou a adição) consegues-se obter outros efeitos.

Testes_com_opacidade_2

Duplicando a camada, usando diferentes cores (no exemplo abaixo o verde para uma camada e o vermelho para a imediatamente baixo) e usando blending mode dogde,consegue-se obter efeitos ainda mais interessantes.

opacity dodge


Map corner coordinates in QGIS

EN | PT

Some time ago in the qgis-pt mailing list, someone asked how to show the coordinates of a map corners using QGIS. Since this features wasn’t available (yet), I have tried to reach a automatic solution, but without success,  After some thought about it and after reading a blog post by Nathan Woodrow, it came to me that the solution could be creating a user defined function for the expression builder to be used in labels in the map.

Closely following the blog post instructions, I have created a file called userfunctions.py in the  .qgis2/python folder and, with a help from Nyall Dawson I wrote the following code.

from qgis.utils import qgsfunction, iface
from qgis.core import QGis

@qgsfunction(2,"python")
def map_x_min(values, feature, parent):
 """
 Returns the minimum x coordinate of a map from
 a specific composer.
 """
 composer_title = values[0]
 map_id = values[1]
 composers = iface.activeComposers()
 for composer_view in composers():
  composer_window = composer_view.composerWindow()
  window_title = composer_window.windowTitle()
  if window_title == composer_title:
   composition = composer_view.composition()
   map = composition.getComposerMapById(map_id)
   if map:
    extent = map.currentMapExtent()
    break
 result = extent.xMinimum()
 return result

After running the command import userfunctions in the python console  (Plugins > Python Console), it was already possible to use the  map_x_min() function (from the python category) in an expression to get the minimum X value of the map.

Screenshot from 2014-09-09 16^%29^%29

All I needed now was to create the other three functions,  map_x_max(), map_y_min() and map_y_max().  Since part of the code would be repeated, I have decided to put it in a function called map_bound(), that would use the print composer title and map id as arguments, and return the map extent (in the form of a QgsRectangle).

from qgis.utils import qgsfunction, iface
from qgis.core import QGis

def map_bounds(composer_title, map_id):
 """
 Returns a rectangle with the bounds of a map
 from a specific composer
 """
 composers = iface.activeComposers()
 for composer_view in composers:
  composer_window = composer_view.composerWindow()
  window_title = composer_window.windowTitle()
  if window_title == composer_title:
   composition = composer_view.composition()
   map = composition.getComposerMapById(map_id)
   if map:
    extent = map.currentMapExtent()
    break
 else:
  extent = None

 return extent

With this function available, I could now use it in the other functions to obtain the map X and Y minimum and maximum values, making the code more clear and easy to maintain. I also add some mechanisms to the original code to prevent errors.

@qgsfunction(2,"python")
def map_x_min(values, feature, parent):
 """
 Returns the minimum x coordinate of a map from a specific composer.
 Calculations are in the Spatial Reference System of the project.
<h2>Syntax</h2>
map_x_min(composer_title, map_id)
<h2>Arguments</h2>
composer_title - is string. The title of the composer where the map is.
 map_id - integer. The id of the map.
<h2>Example</h2>
map_x_min('my pretty map', 0) -> -12345.679

 """
 composer_title = values[0]
 map_id = values[1]
 map_extent = map_bounds(composer_title, map_id)
 if map_extent:
  result = map_extent.xMinimum()
 else:
  result = None

 return result

@qgsfunction(2,"python")
def map_x_max(values, feature, parent):
 """
 Returns the maximum x coordinate of a map from a specific composer.
 Calculations are in the Spatial Reference System of the project.
<h2>Syntax</h2>
map_x_max(composer_title, map_id)
<h2>Arguments</h2>
composer_title - is string. The title of the composer where the map is.
 map_id - integer. The id of the map.
<h2>Example</h2>
map_x_max('my pretty map', 0) -> 12345.679

 """
 composer_title = values[0]
 map_id = values[1]
 map_extent = map_bounds(composer_title, map_id)
 if map_extent:
  result = map_extent.xMaximum()
 else:
  result = None

 return result

@qgsfunction(2,"python")
def map_y_min(values, feature, parent):
 """
 Returns the minimum y coordinate of a map from a specific composer.
 Calculations are in the Spatial Reference System of the project.
<h2>Syntax</h2>
map_y_min(composer_title, map_id)
<h2>Arguments</h2>
composer_title - is string. The title of the composer where the map is.
 map_id - integer. The id of the map.
<h2>Example</h2>
map_y_min('my pretty map', 0) -> -12345.679

 """
 composer_title = values[0]
 map_id = values[1]
 map_extent = map_bounds(composer_title, map_id)
 if map_extent:
  result = map_extent.yMinimum()
 else:
  result = None

 return result

@qgsfunction(2,"python")
def map_y_max(values, feature, parent):
 """
 Returns the maximum y coordinate of a map from a specific composer.
 Calculations are in the Spatial Reference System of the project.
<h2>Syntax</h2>
map_y_max(composer_title, map_id)
<h2>Arguments</h2>
composer_title - is string. The title of the composer where the map is.
 map_id - integer. The id of the map.
<h2>Example</h2>
map_y_max('my pretty map', 0) -> 12345.679

 """
 composer_title = values[0]
 map_id = values[1]
 map_extent = map_bounds(composer_title, map_id)
 if map_extent:
  result = map_extent.yMaximum()
 else:
  result = None

 return result

The functions became available to the expression builder in the “Python” category (could have been any other name) and the functions descriptions are formatted as help texts to provide the user all the information needed to use them.

Screenshot from 2014-09-09 15^%39^%19

Using the created functions, it was now easy to put the corner coordinates in labels near the map corners. Any change to the map extents is reflected in the label, therefore quite useful to use with the atlas mode.

Screenshot from 2014-09-09 15^%40^%27

The functions result can be used with other functions. In the following image, there is an expression to show the coordinates in a more compact way.

Screenshot from 2014-09-09 15^%43^%55

There was a setback… For the functions to become available, it was necessary to manually import them in each QGIS session. Not very practical. Again with Nathan’s help, I found out that it’s possible to import python modules at QGIS startup by putting a startup.py file with the import statements in the .qgis2/python folder. In my case, this was enough.

import userfunctions

I was pretty satisfied with the end result. The ability to create your own functions in expressions demonstrates once more how easy it is to customize QGIS and create your own tools. I’m already thinking in more applications for this amazing functionality.

UT 9 - Qta da Peninha - Vegetação potencial

You can download the Python files with the functions HERE. Just unzip both files to the .qgis2/python folder, and restart QGIS, and the functions should become available.

Disclaimer: I’m not an English native speaker, therefore I apologize for any errors, and I will thank any advice on how to improve the text.

Instalar duas versões de QGIS em Linux

QGIS24_QGISmaster

Em altura de testes à versão em desenvolvimento do QGIS (versão master), dá jeito  ter também instalada a última versão estável do QGIS. Em windows isso não representa um problema, uma vez que se podem instalar várias versões do QGIS em paralelo (tanto via Osgeo4w como standalone). Em linux, o processo não é tão directo pelo facto da instalação se realizar por obtenção de diversos pacotes disponíveis nos repositórios, não sendo por isso possível instalar mais do que uma versão sem que se originem quebras de dependências. Assim, instalando a versão estável através dos repositórios, as alternativas para instalação da versão em desenvolvimento são:

  • Compilar o QGIS master do código fonte;
  • Instalar o QGIS master num docker;
  • Instalar o QGIS master numa máquina virtual;

Neste artigo vou mostrar como compilar o código fonte em Ubuntu 14.04. Afinal não é tão difícil quanto parece. Meia dúzia de comandos e um pouco de paciência e vai-se lá. Usei como base as indicações do ficheiro INSTALL.TXT disponível no código fonte com umas pequenas alterações.

Instalar todas as dependências necessárias

Num terminal correr o seguinte comando para instalar todas as dependências e ferramentas necessárias à compilação do QGIS. (adicionei o ccmake e o git ao comando original)

sudo apt-get install bison cmake doxygen flex git graphviz grass-dev libexpat1-dev libfcgi-dev libgdal-dev libgeos-dev libgsl0-dev libopenscenegraph-dev libosgearth-dev libpq-dev libproj-dev libqscintilla2-dev libqt4-dev libqt4-opengl-dev libqtwebkit-dev libqwt5-qt4-dev libspatialindex-dev libspatialite-dev libsqlite3-dev lighttpd pkg-config poppler-utils pyqt4-dev-tools python-all python-all-dev python-qt4 python-qt4-dev python-sip python-sip-dev spawn-fcgi txt2tags xauth xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-base xfonts-scalable xvfb cmake-curses-gui

Configurar o ccache

Este passo permite optimizar a compilação e tornar a compilação mais rápida nas próximas vezes que se fizer:

cd /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ccache gcc
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ccache g++

 Obter o código fonte do Github

O código fonte pode ser colocado numa pasta à escolha de cada um. Seguindo a sugestão do ficheiro de instruções acabei por colocar tudo na minha pasta home/alexandre/dev/cpp.

mkdir -p ${HOME}/dev/cpp
cd ${HOME}/dev/cpp

Já dentro da pasta home/alexandre/dev/cpp, podemos obter o código do qgis executando o seguinte comando git:

git clone git://github.com/qgis/QGIS.git

Nota: Se pretendesse fazer alterações ao código e experimentar se funcionava, então deveria fazer o clone do fork do qgis do meu próprio repositório, ou seja:

git clone https://github.com/SrNetoChan/Quantum-GIS

Preparar directorias de compilação e instalação

O código fonte tem de ser compilado e instalado em locais próprios para evitar conflitos com outras versões do QGIS. Por isso, há que criar uma pasta para efectuar a instalação:

mkdir -p ${HOME}/apps

E outra onde será feita a compilação:

cd QGIS
mkdir build-master
cd build-master

Configuração

Já na pasta build-master damos início ao processo de compilação. O primeiro passo é a configuração, onde vamos dizer onde queremos instalar o QGIS master. Para isso executamos o seguinte comando (não esquecer os dois pontos):

ccmake ..

Na configuração é necessário alterar o valor do CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX que define onde vai ser feita a instalação, no meu caso usei a pasta já criada ‘home/alexandre/apps’ . Para editar o valor há que mover o cursor até à linha em causa e carregar em [enter], depois de editar, volta-se a carregar em [enter]. Depois há que carregar em [c] para refazer a configuração e depois em ‘g’ para gerar a configuração.

Screenshot from 2014-10-08 23:33:39

 Compilação e instalação

Já com tudo configurado resta compilar o código e depois instalá-lo:

make
sudo make install

Nota: Estes dois passos podem demorar um bocadinho, principalmente na primeira vez que o código for compilado.

Depois de instalado podemos correr o QGIS master a partir da pasta de instalação:

cd ${HOME}/apps/bin/
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/alexandre/apps/lib
export QGIS_PREFIX_PATH=/home/alexandre/apps
${HOME}/apps/bin/qgis

Para se tornar mais cómodo, podemos colocar os últimos 3 comandos num ficheiro .sh e gravá-lo num local acessível (desktop ou home) para executarmos o qgis sempre que necessário.

Screenshot from 2014-10-09 00:36:52

UPDATE: Actualizar a versão master

Como já foi referido num comentário, a versão em desenvolvimento está constantemente a ser alterada, por isso para testar se determinados bugs foram entretanto corrigidos há que a actualizar. Trata-se de um processo bastante simples. O primeiro passo é actualizar o código fonte:

cd ${HOME}/dev/cpp/qgis
git pull origin master

E depois é voltar a correr a compilação (que desta feita será mais rápida):

cd build-master
ccmake ..
make
sudo make install

Use o operador “IN” sff | Please use the “IN” operator

EN | PT

It’s not the first time I see people that, to select feature by their fields values, use expressions like this:

"field" = 'value1' OR "field" = 'value2' OR "field" = 'value3' [OR ...]

A more practical and pretty way of doing this is by using the IN operator instead.

"field" IN ('value1','value2','value3'[,...])

This operator is available in almost every GIS software I know. In QGIS, it can be used even if there isn’t a small little button to click.
Captura de tela 2014-04-23 16.50.40

In fact, this is an abbreviation of what is used in SQL, where the operator is used in the WHERE statement:

SELECT *
FROM parks
WHERE "tipo" IN ('PI','CM','PJ');

New QGIS plugin – “Walking time”

EN | PT

I have finally “finished” my new plugin. I uses some quotation marks, since I believe that there is still space for a few improvement. This plugin arised with the need to calculate the travel time for the Cascais oficial pedestrian routes, and started as a simple python script. I have then decided to create a graphic interface and publish it as a plugin in the hope that someone else finds it useful.

icon_largeWalking time is a QGIS python plugin that uses Tobbler’s hiking function to estimate the travel time along a line depending on the slope.

The input data required are a vector layer with lines and a raster layer with elevation values ​​(1). One can adjust the base velocity (on flat terrain) according to the type of walking or walker. By default, the value used is 5 km h (2). The plugin update or create fields with estimated time in minutes in forward and in reverse direction (3). One can run the plugin for all elements of the vector layer, or only on selected routes (4).

The plugin can also been used to prepare a network (graph) to perform network analysis when the use of travel walking time as cost is intended.

Captura de tela 2014-03-24 12.12.17-01

QGIS repository: http://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/walkingtime/

Code: https://github.com/SrNetoChan/WalkingTime

Bug report: https://github.com/SrNetoChan/WalkingTime/issues


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