Book Image

QGIS Python Programming Cookbook, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Joel Lawhead
Book Image

QGIS Python Programming Cookbook, Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Joel Lawhead

Overview of this book

QGIS is a desktop geographic information system that facilitates data viewing, editing, and analysis. Paired with the most efficient scripting language—Python, we can write effective scripts that extend the core functionality of QGIS. Based on version QGIS 2.18, this book will teach you how to write Python code that works with spatial data to automate geoprocessing tasks in QGIS. It will cover topics such as querying and editing vector data and using raster data. You will also learn to create, edit, and optimize a vector layer for faster queries, reproject a vector layer, reduce the number of vertices in a vector layer without losing critical data, and convert a raster to a vector. Following this, you will work through recipes that will help you compose static maps, create heavily customized maps, and add specialized labels and annotations. As well as this, we’ll also share a few tips and tricks based on different aspects of QGIS.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
QGIS Python Programming Cookbook - Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Introduction


This chapter shows you how to bring raster data into a GIS and create derivative raster products using QGIS and Python. QGIS is equally adept at working with raster data as with vector data by incorporating leading-edge open source libraries and algorithms, including GDAL, SAGA, and the Orfeo Toolbox. QGIS provides a consistent interface for a large array of remote sensing tools. We will switch back and forth between visually working with raster data and using QGIS as a processing engine via the Processing Toolbox to completely automate remote sensing workflows.

Raster data consists of rows and columns of cells or pixels, with each cell representing a single value. The easiest way to think of raster data is as images, which is how they are typically represented by software. However, raster datasets are not necessarily stored as images. They can also be ASCII text files or binary large objects (BLOBs) in databases.

Another difference between geospatial raster data and regular digital...