Quantum GIS User, Installation and Coding Guide Version 1.0.0 ’Kore’ Preamble This document is the original user, installation and coding guide of the described software Quantum GIS. The software and hardware described in this document are in most cases registered trademarks and are therefore subject to the legal requirements. Quantum GIS is subject to the GNU General Public License. Find more information on the Quantum GIS Homepage http://qgis.osgeo.org. The details, data, results etc. in this document have been written and verified to the best of knowledge and responsibility of the authors and editors. Nevertheless, mistakes concerning the content are possible. Therefore, all data are not liable to any duties or guarantees. The authors, editors and publishers do not take any responsibility or liability for failures and their consequences. Your are always welcome to indicate possible mistakes. This document has been typeset with LATEX. It is available as LATEX source code via subversion and online as PDF document via http://qgis.osgeo.org/documentation/manuals.html. Translated versions of this document can be downloaded via the documentation area of the QGIS project as well. For more information about contributing to this document and about translating it, please visit: http://wiki.qgis.org/qgiswiki/DocumentationWritersCorner Links in this Document This document contains internal and external links. Clicking on an internal link moves within the document, while clicking on an external link opens an internet address. In PDF form, internal links are shown in blue, while external links are shown in red and are handled by the system browser. In HTML form, the browser displays and handles both identically. User, Installation and Coding Guide Authors and Editors: Tara Athan Radim Blazek Godofredo Contreras Otto Dassau Martin Dobias Jürgen E. Fischer StephanHoll MarcoHugentobler MagnusHomann LarsLuthman GavinMacaulay WernerMacho TylerMitchell BrendanMorely GaryE.Sherman Tim Sutton David Willis With thanks to Tisham Dhar for preparing the initial msys (MS Windows) environment documentation, to Tom Elwertowski and William Kyngesburye for help in the MAC OSX Installation Section and to Carlos Dávila, Paolo Cavallini and Christian Gunning for revisions. If we have neglected to mention any contributors, please accept our apologies for this oversight. Copyright c 2004 - 2009 Quantum GIS Development Team Internet: http://qgis.osgeo.org Contents Contents Title i Preamble ii Table of Contents iii List of Figures xii List of Tables xiv List of QGIS Tips xv 1 Forward 1 1.1 Features ............................................ 1 1.2 Conventions .......................................... 4 2 Introduction To GIS 6 2.1 Why is all this so new? .................................... 6 2.1.1 Raster Data ...................................... 7 2.1.2 Vector Data ...................................... 7 3 Getting Started 9 3.1 Installation .......................................... 9 3.2 Sample Data ......................................... 9 3.3 Sample Session ....................................... 10 4 Features at a Glance 12 4.1 Starting and Stopping QGIS ................................. 12 4.1.1 Command Line Options ............................... 12 4.2 QGIS GUI ........................................... 13 4.2.1 Menu Bar ....................................... 14 4.2.2 Toolbars ........................................ 17 4.2.3 Map Legend ..................................... 17 4.2.4 Map View ....................................... 19 4.2.5 Map Overview .................................... 19 4.2.6 Status Bar ....................................... 20 4.3 Rendering ........................................... 20 4.3.1 Scale Dependent Rendering ............................ 20 4.3.2 Controlling Map Rendering ............................. 21 4.4 Measuring ........................................... 22 4.4.1 Measure length and areas .............................. 22 4.5 Projects ............................................ 22 QGIS 1.0.0 User, Installation and Coding Guide iii Contents 4.6 Output ............................................. 23 4.7 GUI Options .......................................... 24 4.8 Spatial Bookmarks ...................................... 25 4.8.1 Creating a Bookmark ................................ 26 4.8.2 Working with Bookmarks .............................. 26 4.8.3 Zooming to a Bookmark ............................... 26 4.8.4 Deleting a Bookmark ................................. 26 5 Working with Vector Data 27 5.1 ESRI Shapefiles ....................................... 27 5.1.1 Loading a Shapefile ................................. 27 5.1.2 Improving Performance ............................... 28 5.1.3 Loading a MapInfo Layer .............................. 29 5.1.4 Loading an ArcInfo Coverage ............................ 30 5.2 PostGIS Layers ........................................ 30 5.2.1 Creating a stored Connection ............................ 30 5.2.2 Loading a PostGIS Layer .............................. 31 5.2.3 Some details about PostgreSQL layers ...................... 32 5.2.4 Importing Data into PostgreSQL .......................... 32 5.2.5 Improving Performance ............................... 34 5.3 The Vector Properties Dialog ................................ 35 5.3.1 General Tab ...................................... 36 5.3.2 Symbology Tab .................................... 36 5.3.3 Metadata Tab ..................................... 38 5.3.4 Labels Tab ...................................... 38 5.3.5 Actions Tab ...................................... 40 5.3.6 Attributes Tab ..................................... 43 5.4 Editing ............................................. 44 5.4.1 Setting the Snapping Tolerance and Search Radius ............... 45 5.4.2 Topological editing .................................. 46 5.4.3 Editing an Existing Layer .............................. 46 5.4.4 Creating a New Layer ................................ 53 5.5 Query Builder ......................................... 53 5.6 Select by query ........................................ 55 6 Working with Raster Data 56 6.1 What is raster data? ..................................... 56 6.2 Loading raster data in QGIS ................................. 56 6.3 Raster Properties Dialog ................................... 57 6.3.1 Symbology Tab .................................... 58 6.3.2 Transparency Tab .................................. 59 6.3.3 Colormap ....................................... 60 QGIS 1.0.0 User, Installation and Coding Guide iv Contents 6.3.4 General Tab ...................................... 61 6.3.5 Metadata Tab ..................................... 61 6.3.6 Pyramids Tab ..................................... 61 6.3.7 Histogram Tab .................................... 62 7 Working with OGC Data 63 7.1 What is OGC Data ...................................... 63 7.2 WMS Client .......................................... 63 7.2.1 Overview of WMS Support ............................. 63 7.2.2 Selecting WMS Servers ............................... 64 7.2.3 Loading WMS Layers ................................ 65 7.2.4 Using the Identify Tool ................................ 67 7.2.5 Viewing Properties .................................. 67 7.2.6 WMS Client Limitations ............................... 68 7.3 WFS Client .......................................... 69 7.3.1 Loading a WFS Layer ................................ 69 8 Working with Projections 71 8.1 Overview of Projection Support ............................... 71 8.2 Specifying a Projection .................................... 71 8.3 Define On The Fly (OTF) Projection ............................ 72 8.4 Custom Coordinate Reference System ........................... 74 9 GRASS GIS Integration 76 9.1 Starting the GRASS plugin ................................. 76 9.2 Loading GRASS raster and vector layers .......................... 77 9.3 GRASS LOCATION and MAPSET ............................. 78 9.3.1 Creating a new GRASS LOCATION ........................ 78 9.3.2 Adding a new MAPSET ............................... 80 9.4 Importing data into a GRASS LOCATION ......................... 81 9.5 The GRASS vector data model ............................... 82 9.6 Creating a new GRASS vector layer ............................ 82 9.7 Digitizing and editing a GRASS vector layer ........................ 83 9.8 The GRASS region tool ................................... 87 9.9 The GRASS toolbox ..................................... 87 9.9.1 Working with GRASS modules ........................... 87 9.9.2 Working with the GRASS LOCATION browser .................. 89 9.9.3 Customizing the GRASS Toolbox .......................... 90 10 Print Composer 92 10.1 Using Print Composer .................................... 92 10.1.1 Adding a current QGIS map canvas to the Print Composer ........... 94 10.1.2 Adding other elements to the Print Composer ................... 95 QGIS 1.0.0 User, Installation and Coding Guide v Contents 10.1.3 Navigation tools ................................... 96 10.1.4 Creating Output ................................... 97 11 QGIS Plugins 98 11.1 Managing Plugins ...................................... 98 11.1.1 Loading a QGIS Core Plugin ............................ 98 11.1.2 Loading an external QGIS Plugin .......................... 98 11.1.3 Using the QGIS Python Plugin Installer ...................... 99 11.2 Data Providers .......................................