QGIS Basics

IIT BHU
2020

Exercise 1- QGIS Basic

Dr .Shishir Gaur Dr Anurag Ohri

IIT BHU
Department of Civil Engineering

Last edited : 10May 2021

 QGIS Basics

For the present tutorial, the work is done on QGIS 3.12.1 VERSION running on Windows 10 Pro. Hence the
screenshots correspond to this version. If used for some other version of Qgis the screens may appear a bit
different but still the tabs will be available and the instructions will work with a slight difference .

QGIS : free and open-source GIS application.

Data Data Data

Enables
editing viewing analysis

QGIS Basics: Previous version name was "Quantum GIS"

QGIS allows users:

 To create maps with many layers using different map projections.
 To assemble these maps in different formats and for different uses.
 To compose maps of raster or vector layers.

Here the vector data is stored as either point, line or polygon-feature.

For the raster images many types of formats are supported and Qgis can perform
georeferencing of the raster images.

Development:
 Licensing: As a free software application under the GNU GPL, QGIS can be freely
modified to perform different or more specialized tasks.
 Quantum GIS developer : Gary Sherman
 Yea of development : early 2002,
 Version 1.0 : released In January 2009
 The latest version 3.12.1 was released in June 2020.
 QGIS compatibility : Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, and Microsoft Windows.
 Integration with other open-source GIS packages : PostGIS, GRASS, and MapServer . This
enhances functionality and extends the capabilities of QGIS .

 Plugins : Plugins are written in C++ or Python and use extensively the Qt Library, The
Plugin uses Google Geocoding API to perform geoprocessing similar to the standard
tools found in ArcGis and to interface with Postgre SQLPostGIS, SpatiaLite and
MySQL databases.
 To provide access to additional data formats GDAL, GRASS GIS, PostGIS, and PostgreSQL are
also recommended.
 QGIS Basics

QGIS is maintained by an active group of volunteer developers who regularly release updates
and bug fixes. As of 2012 developers have translated QGIS into 48 languages and the
application is used internationally in academic and professional environments.

Graphical User Interface of QGIS

When QGIS starts, you are presented with the GUI as shown in the figure (the numbers 1
through 5 are discussed below).
The QGIS GUI is divided into five areas:
1. Menu Bar
2. Tool Bar
3. PANEL BAR
4. Map View
5. Status Bar
 QGIS Basics

QGIS Configuration
QGIS is highly configurable through the menu toolbar. Choose between

 Panels
 Toolbars
 Project Properties
 Options
 Customization, etc……

From View> Panels and View>Toolbar you can customize the QGIS window.
QGIS Basics
 QGIS Basics

Project Properties
Go to Project → Properties , you can set project-specific options in the Project Properties
Dialog Box.
 QGIS Basics

These include:

 In the General Tab you can set the project title, selection and background color, layer
units, precision, and the option to save relative paths to layers can be defined. If the CRS
transformation is on, you can choose an ellipsoid for distance calculations. You can define
the canvas units (only used when CRS transformation is disabled)and the precision of
decimal places to use. You can also define a project scale list, which overrides the global
predefined scales.
 The CRS Tab enables you to choose the Coordinate Reference System for this project, and
to enable on-the-fly re-projection of raster and vector layers when displaying layers from
a different CRS.
 With the third Identify layers Tab, you set (or disable) which layers will respond to the
identify tool
 The Default Styles Tab lets you control how new layers will be drawn when they do not
have an existing.qml style defined. You can also set the default transparency level for new
layers and whether symbols should have random colors assigned to them. There is also an
additional section where you can define specific colors for the running project. You can
find the added colors in the drop down menu of the color dialog window present in each
renderer.
 The tab OWS Server allows you to define information about the QGIS Server WMS and
WFS capabilities, extent and CRS restrictions.
 The Macros Tab is used to edit Python macros for projects. Currently, only three macros
are available: openProject(), saveProject() and closeProject().

References and sources:

https://docs.qgis.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QGIS

https://www.scribd.com/doc/307855862/qgis