Introduction  to  QGIS   Introduction  
 
   
 
 

INTRODUCTION  
In   this   individual   work   session,   you   will   consolidate   the   basic   notions   of   the   GIS,  
learned   during   the   Geomatics   1   course.   To   this   effect,   you   will   work   with   the  
software  QGIS  2.18.  

The  following  points  will  be  addressed:    

1. Data  extraction  
2. Metadata  
3. Data  analysis  in  vector  mode  
4. Data  analysis  in  raster  mode  
5. Automating  with  the  graphic  modeler  
6. Map  creation  and  page  setting  
7. Database  PostgreSQL,  PostGIS,  and  SQL  request  
8. GRASS  

You  should  follow  the  order  of  these  exercises.  

 

1 General  information  about  QGIS  

QGIS  2.18  is  a  user-­‐‑friendly  Geographic  Information  System  (GIS,  or  SIG  in  French),  
distributed   under   GNU   General   Public   License.   It   is   an   official   project   of   the   Open  
Source   Geospatial   foundation   (OSGeo).   QGIS   is   compatible   with   Linux,   Unix,   Mac  
OS  X,  Windows  and  Android,  traduced  in  more  than  20  languages,  and  it  integrates  
a   very   wide   selection   of   vector,   raster   and   database   formats,   as   well   as   many  
functionalities.    

QGIS   offers   an   increasing   potential,   through   its   main   functionalities   and   its  
extensions.    

For   example,   you   can   display   and   superimpose   layers   of   raster   and   vector   data   in  
different  formats  and  projections,  without  having  to  convert  your  file  into  a  common  
format.  

You   can   create   maps   and   browse   through   them   in   an   interactive   way,   with   an  
intuitive  interface.  

  1  
  
   
    Introduction  to  QGIS   Introduction  
 
   
 
 
You   can   create,   edit,   manage   and   export   vector   and   raster   layers   in   many   formats,  
which  include:  
 
• The   spatial   tables   and   the   PostGIS,   SpatiaLite,   MS   SQL   Spatial   and   Oracle   Spatial  
views,  the  vector  formats  supported  by  the  installed  GDAL  /  OGR  library,  including  
the  ESRI,  MapInfo,  SDTS,  GML  and  many  others.  See  Vector  Data.  
• Raster  formats  supported  by  the  GDAL  /  OGR  library  (Geospatial  Data  
Abstraction   Library)   such   as   GeoTIFF,   ERDAS   IMG,   ArcInfo   ASCII   GRID,   JPEG,  
PNG  and  many  others,  see  section  The  raster  data.  
• Raster  and  vector  formats  from  GRASS  databases.  See    
Integration  of  GRASS  GIS  section.  
• Online  spatial  data  disseminated  as  OGC  web  services  that  include  
WMS,  WMTS,  WCS,  WFS  and  WFS-­‐‑T.  See  OGC  data  section.  
 
You  can  perform  data  analysis  on  spatial  databases  or  any  other  format  managed  by  
OGR.  QGIS  offers  vector  analysis,  resampling,  spatial  processing,  and  geometry  and  
database   management.   You   can   also   use   GRASS'ʹs   built-­‐‑in   tools,   which   includes  
GRASS'ʹs   full   functionality   with   more   than   400   modules   (see   GRASS   Integration  
section).   Or   you   can   work   with   the   Treatments   plugin,   which   provides   a   powerful  
geo-­‐‑spatial  analysis  workspace  to  call  native  third-­‐‑party  algorithms  from  QGIS,  such  
as  GDAL,  SAGA,  GRASS,  R,  Orfeo  Toolbox  and  more,  as  well  as  a  graphical  modeler  
allowing   you   to   graphically   implement   a   data   processing   process   (see   Introduction  
section).  
 
QGIS   can   be   used   as   a   WMS,   WMTS,   WMS-­‐‑C   or   WFS   and   WFS-­‐‑T   client,   or   as   a  
WMS,  WCS  or  WFS  server  (see  OGC  Data  section).  QGIS  can  also  be  used  to  publish  
your  data  over  the  Internet  via  a  web  server  using  UMN  MapServer  or  GeoServer.  
 
QGIS  can  be  tailored  to  your  own  needs  due  to  its  modular  extensible  architecture.  
QGIS   provides   libraries   that   can   be   used   to   create   extensions,   and   you   can   even  
create  new  applications  in  Python.  
 
QGIS   offers   a   growing   number   of   Python   extensions   provided   by   the   community.  
These   extensions   are   stored   in   the   Official   Plugins   Depot  
([Link]   and   can   be   easily   installed   using   the   Plugins  
Manager.  
 
Here  are  some  examples  of  maps  created  with  QGIS1  
                                                                                                               
1  [Link]

  2  
  
   
    Introduction  to  QGIS   Introduction  
 
   
 
 

 
 
 

  3  
  
   
    Introduction  to  QGIS   Introduction  
 
   
 
 
 

2 Starting  up  
QGIS   is   installed   on   the   student   computers.   It   is   accessible   from   the   Start   >   QGIS  
desktop  menu.  

If  you  want  to  install  QGIS  on  your  personal  computer,  you  can  do  it  from  this  link  :  
[Link]  

To   change   the   language,   go   to   Preferences   >   Options   >   Langue   or   Settings   >   Options   >  
Locale  

To  begin  the  exercises,  you  need  to  create  a  personal  folder  and  copy  the  data  in  it.  
On  the  D:  disk,  create  a  folder  at  your  name:  D  :\YourName  and  copy  in  it  the  whole  
of   the   folder   containing   the   provided   data.   You   should   obtain   a   folder   called  
D  :\YourName\data\  (or,  in  french  :  D  :\YourName\donnees\).  
 

  4