Estimating density heatmaps
Whether they are animal sightings, accident locations, or general points of interest, many point datasets can be interpreted more easily by visualizing the point density using a heatmap. In this recipe, we will estimate the density of POIs in Wake county to find areas with a high density.
Getting ready
Load the poi_names_wake.shp POI dataset from our sample data. Make sure that the Heatmap plugin, which comes with QGIS by default, is enabled in Plugin Manager.
How to do it…
Using the following steps, we can calculate the POI heatmap:
Start the Heatmap plugin from the Raster menu.
Make sure that poi_names_wake is selected as Input point layer.
Select a location and filename for Output raster. You don't need to specify the file extension because this will be added automatically, based on the selected Output format. GeoTIFF is usually the first choice.
Select a search Radius of
1000meters.The Add generated file to map option should be activated by default. Click on OK to...