The Quantum GIS (QGIS) project is happy to announce that the Asia Air Survey Co., Ltd (AAS), a Japanese international consulting company, has become a Gold Sponsor. AAS has committed to providing 9,000 EUR (~$11,000 US) each of three years, beginning in November 2012. The AAS sponsorship is yet another indication that QGIS is a mature and stable project which continues to provide innovative open source GIS software. The QGIS Project Steering Committee (PSC) wishes to thank AAS for their continuing commitment.

When writing plugins or scripts it is often necessary to get information about the paths QGIS is using. For example, if we are writing a plugin that uses Python templates to create output based on user actions, we need to know the path to our installed plugin so we can find the templates. Fortunately the API provides an easy way to get at the information; here are a few examples:

The application deadline for the Google Summer of Code is nearing (April 9). If you are interested in working on QGIS as part of GSOC and need ideas, please see Quantum GIS Wiki. We are waiting for your proposal!

If you use Vim you probably know you can use the make command to build your project. The make command looks for a Makefile in your current directory. If you are editing a file that is not in the current directory (meaning you use some Vim magic to change to the directory containing your edit buffer), make will start below the top-level of your build directory. This is often the case when doing an out-of-source build with CMake.

The QGIS project has a number of support channels. Like many open source projects, these are loosely coupled. Recently the forum was made read-only and this has prompted a number of questions and concerns about how to receive support. This post outlines the ways in which you can get your questions answered. Home Page The QGIS home page has links to all the documentation and community resources. The navigation panel on the left has links to both the Community resources and the manual.

The raster calculator allows you to perform mathematical operations on each cell in a raster. This can be useful for converting and manipulating your rasters. Operators include: Mathematical (+, -, *, /) Trigonometric (sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan) Comparison (<, >, =, <=, >=) Logical (AND, OR) To perform operations on a raster or rasters, they must be loaded in QGIS.

The Script Runner plugin allows you to manage and execute a collection of scripts in QGIS to automate tasks and perform custom processing. Version 0.6 of Script Runner has been released and includes these changes: Arguments can be passed to a script using keyword arguments Script output is logged to the Script Runner window Script output can be logged to disk Preferences dialog allows control of output and logging options Exceptions in scripts are displayed without interfering with console/logging output Context menu (right-click) to access script functions Edit script function uses system default editor or one you specify in preferences For a basic introduction to Script Runner see this post: Script Runner: A Plugin to Run Python Scripts in QGIS

This week we take a look at a how to plot a terrain profile using the Profile plugin. The plugin can be used with any raster format supported by QGIS. You can can display profiles from up to three rasters at once, allowing you to compare the results. To illustrate, we’ll create a simple profile using a DEM of a 1:63,360 quadrangle in Alaska. Installing the Plugin The Profile plugin is installed like all other Python plugins.

I added a simple feature that allows you to search the IRC logs from #qgis back to May 10, 2006. The search is case sensitive and will return a list of all matches. Not too smart but it will get you close to what you want. See the link at http://irclogs.geoapt.com/qgis

Here’s a summary of recent additions and updates to plugins in the QGIS repository. FlowMapper (0.1.1) - Generates flow lines between discreet nodes for depicting spatial interaction data (e.g. migration). Query By Example (0.2) - Select features by location. Item Browser (1.6.0) - Browse a multiple selection with auto-zooming to feature and an option to open feature form. Custom Launcher (1.1.0) - Customize your own actions to launch your preferred apps or commands within QGIS.

This minor update to the Plugin Builder allows you to choose where your plugin menu will be located. Previously your menu was placed under the Plugins menu. At version 2.8.1 you can choose from the following main menu locations: Plugins Database Raster Vector Web Plugins is the default choice when you open Plugin Builder. The value you choose is also written to the category field in your metadata.txt file.

Plugin Builder 2.8 is now available. This is a minor update that adds: Suggestion for setting up an issue tracker and creating a code repository Suggestion for a home page Tag selection from a list of current tags Documentation update, including information about using pb_tool to compile, deploy, and package your plugin New URLs for Plugin Builder’s home page and bug tracking Optional is now Recommended In previous versions the following items were “Optional” when creating a new plugin:

Do you remember this? If so, you’ve been using QGIS a long time… OGR and PostGIS support No raster support Three widgets on the Symbology tab No symbology in the legend But you could use it handily on a 640x480 display.

Nominations for the QGIS PSC closed at 00:00 UTC on August 25, 2013 [1]. With only one nominee for each role, the PSC unanimously moved to accept each without election. The QGIS PSC welcomes new members Anita Graser, Richard Duivenvoorde, and Jürgen Fischer. The PSC is now composed of: Chair - Gary Sherman Community Advisor - Otto Dassau Design Advisor - Anita Graser Financial and Marketing Advisor - Paolo Cavallini

The QGIS Project Steering Committee (PSC) has announced a call for nominations to fill three vacant positions: Design Advisor Infrastructure Manager Release Manager Nominations are open until August 24, 2013. For details on the PSC, vacancies, and how to nominate someone, see the Call for Nominations August 2013.

This site aims to bring out some of the latest and sometimes not-so-greatest happenings in the GIS world. We’ll focus to large extent on Open Source software but hopefully mix it up to keep things interesting. We’ll explore things from the new and exciting to the dull and mundane. There are a lot of GIS/Spatial sites out there. Hopefully we can provide some content of interest and you will add this one to those you visit frequently.

Getting started with Python and QGIS can be a bit overwhelming. In this post we give you a quick start to get you up and running and maybe make your PyQGIS life a little easier. There are likely many ways to setup a working PyQGIS development environment—this one works pretty well. Contents Requirements Installing OSGeo4W Setting the Environment Python Packages Working on the Command Line IDE Example Workflow Creating a New Plugin Working with Existing Plugin Code Troubleshooting

There’s been several posts to GIS StackExchange along the lines of: Where’s my .qgis3 folder? Prior to QGIS 3, the .qgis/.qgis2 folder was found under your home directory. At version 3, the folder has moved to a more standard profile location for your operating system. There are a couple of ways to determine where the folder is located: Use the Settings->User Profiles->Open active profile folder menu item Use QgsApplication.qgisSettingsDirPath from Python or the console Here are the “standard” locations for Linux, Mac, and Windows, as found under your HOME directory:

In any sufficiently aged bureaucracy, process overshadows product.

Using Git with Subversion makes adding new features easy. Here are the metrics for my latest QGIS hack: SVN revisions by others while working on my branch: 177 Time to complete merge with latest SVN revision: 1 second Conflicts: None Coincidence? Maybe not.