If you are searching about Leading Open Source GIS Software, then you have come to the right place. In this article, I would like to give you complete information about QGIS Software
What Is QGIS Software?
QGIS is a user-friendly, cross-platform and freely downloadable Geographic Information System desktop application. QGIS is licensed underneath GNU and it allows users to view, edit and do analysis on geospatial data.
Anybody, having an internet connection can go to Quantum GIS official website and download. It will not cost you anything, but your valuable time as it’s Free to use.
Interested user can download its Package for Mac, Windows, and Linux. QGIS Installation package is available for all three Operating Systems.
Quantum GIS is the best alternative to Commercial GIS Desktop Software such as ESRI’s ArcGIS. QGIS interface is easy to use and is currently translated into more than 40 languages.
QGIS Desktop:
Powerful desktop GIS software for creating, editing, visualizing, analyzing and publishing geospatial data.
QGIS Server & Web Client:
Publish QGIS projects and layers as OGC compatible WMS and WFS services.
QField For QGIS:
It is a Mobile GIS Application which allows users to get the data from fields to their office in an easy way.
A Brief History of QGIS
QGIS Version 1.0, called Kore released in early 2009. Initially founded by Gary Sherman in early 2002. He was searching an Fast GIS viewer for Linux OS with support to broad range of data source.
It was adopted as an Incubator project of Open Source Geospatial Foundation in the year 2007.
QGIS at first wrote in C++ and it makes broad use of the Qt library. Besides to Qt, It required dependencies of QGIS which include GEOS and SQLite.
QGIS uses OGR library to read and write vast Vector formats. To access more vector and raster data format in QGIS, GDAL, GRASS GIS, PostGIS, and PostgreSQL are required.
A group of volunteer developers who maintained Quantum GIS, are releasing Updates and Bug fixes on regular basis.
QGIS has an active user and an active developer community that has translated Quantum GIS software into more than 40 languages.
The application is currently used in academic and professional environments. Several companies around the world offers support and feature development services.
QGIS Supported Data Formats
Quantum GIS supports many raster and vector formats. QGIS can read and write vector data formats including ESRI shapefiles.
User can also access file format of MapInfo, MicroStation, AutoCAD DXF, PostGIS, SpatialLite, Oracle Spatial and MSSQL Spatial databases.
To Support GRASS Vectors and PostgreSQL we can use QGIS Data Provider plugins. These QGIS Plugins are written in Python or C++ language.
For using external data sources Web Map Service and Web Feature Service are also supported.
There is a large number of Plugins that are supported by QGIS. By using these plugins anyone can perform basic to advance level GIS task. User can geocode or can do geoprocessing functions within Quantum GIS application.
QGIS Key Features
QGIS provides a huge number of capabilities provided by core functions and plugins.
Customizability:
User has the freedom to customize the application as per their needs. They can create Customs data Input forms to personalized user interfaces and workflows.
Extensibility:
It supports languages like C++ and Python for creating scripts or stand-alone applications based on the QGIS API.
Interoperability:
It Support a huge range of file formats, databases as well as web services.
Implemented Standards in QGIS
- Web Map Service (WMS)
- Web Feature Services (WFS)
- Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW)
- Web Coverage Service (WCS)
- Web Feature Service Transactional (WFS-T)
By Using QGIS Software you can create, edit, manage and export vector and raster layers in several formats.
QGIS offers the following:
- Support for editing OpenStreetMap data.
- Can Georeferenced Raster using a plugin. Georeferenced Images can be saved as screenshots.
- Tools available for OGR supported formats. Using these tools, we can edit shapefiles and GRASS Vector layers.
- Using GPS tools the user can import and export GPX format, and can also convert other GPS formats to GPX.
- Using DB Managers Plugin, User can create spatial database tables from shapefiles.
- DXF Export tool helps to perform CAD-like functions.
Learning QGIS
To Learn Open Source GIS application like QGIS, user needs to download the installer package. It makes it easier to get the software loaded onto their computer. QGIS support groups also available to get help.
Some of the tips on how to get started with QGIS Application:
- First of all, Download the QGIS application for your operating system based on the architecture. Make sure it loads and runs on your computer.
- Refer the online documentation section of QGIS and download the appropriate user guide. Make use of the sample data available in the user guide.
- Follow the steps mentioned in the guide to familiarize yourself with QGIS basic functionality. Also take advantage of Video Tutorials available in YouTube Platform.
The Best way to learn anything in life is to learn by trial and error. Do some experiment with your input data. The more you try, the more you learn. Try some mapping project ideas that you can perform on QGIS.
Take advantage of the User Group to get the right help. In case you are stuck after consulting the user guide and other online QGIS documentation. The QGIS forum is a great place to get help related to QGIS.
QGIS Tutorials
If you want to learn QGIS, then first of all, you need to refer to the official QGIS Training Manual.
The Training Manual has almost 18 Modules from basis to advance.
Ujaval Gandhi also provides a comprehensive guide to QGIS Tips & Tricks. In this guide, He teaches how the QGIS Application works along with Python and Web mapping.
Core QGIS Plugins Included:
- Topology Checker (Find topological errors in vector layers).
- fTools (Analyze and manage vector data).
- DB Manager.
- Dxf2Shp Converter.
- eVIS.
- Metasearch catalogue client.
- GDAL Tools.
- Georeference GDAL.
- GPS Tools.
- GRASS (Integrate GRASS GIS).
- Heatmaps.
- Interpolation Plugin (Interpolate based on vertices of a vector layer).
- SPIT Tool (To Import shapefiles to PostgreSQL/PostGIS)
- Offline Editing (Allow offline editing and synchronizing with databases).
- Oracle Spatial GeoRaster.
- Processing (formerly SEXTANTE).
- Road Graph Plugin (Analyze the shortest path network).
- Zone Statistics Plugin.
- Spatial Query Plugin.
- Coordinate Capture.
- Raster Terrain Analysis (Analyze raster based terrain).
QGIS Stable Release
3.2.2
Operating System Supported By QGIS
Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD Compatible
How To Get Latest QGIS Download
If you want to download the Latest QGIS today, then go to the QGIS official website. You get two types of version of QGIS Software on the official website.
First One is, Latest Version of QGIS and
Second is Stable Release.
Website
Frequently Asked Questions:
Which version of QGIS should you download?
If you want to install it on your high end computer, then it is important that you download the 64 bit version. If you have an old computer in which you want to install it, then you can use the 32 bit version.