Geopunt4QGIS – “Geopunt for QGIS” is the plug-in for the QGIS open-source desktop GIS that exposes the web services of Digitaal Vlaanderen and other agencies of the Flemish government to desktop GIS users. The plugin is released and maintained by Geopunt, the geoportal of Flanders.
Digitaal Vlaanderen provides a range of geographic services (web services) that may be used by third parties, such as other public authorities and companies.
These web services are based on OGC open standards and can easily be added to desktop GIS. GIS users can discover these services via Datavindplaats. However, the underlying search service of Datavindplaats cannot be used directly in QGIS or ArcGIS, and is therefore integrated into this plugin.
Some services offered by Digitaal Vlaanderen are not based on an open standard because no such standard exists for these types of services. These public web services follow a RESTful API design, which is easier for developers to use, but since they are not standardized, they cannot be directly consumed in desktop GIS software.
To provide GIS users inside and outside the Flemish government with the same functionality as offered in Geopunt, Digitaal Vlaanderen aims to supply these users with software plugins that integrate this functionality into the most common desktop GIS environments. Based on prior consultation with the GDI-Flanders community, the following GIS software was selected: QGIS and ESRI ArcGIS Pro.
You can read more about Geopunt here:
www.vlaanderen.be/geopunt/vlaams-geoportaal
www.vlaanderen.be/geopunt/plug-ins/qgis-plug-in