GIS training for Neglected Tropical Diseases mapping

Using Quantum GIS 2.0.1. -Dufour

APPENDIX 2

Vector properties dialog

Below, a brief explanation of each tab is provided. In the course of this GIS
training will go explaining more in depth and making use of the functionalities of
some of these layer properties.

 Style tab. Enables us to change the symbology of features included in the

vector layer. There are three types of symbols: marker symbols (for points),
line symbols (for lines) and fill and outline symbols (for polygons). Symbols can
consist of one or more symbol layers. It is possible to define the colour of a
symbol and this colour is then defined for all symbol layers.

Labels
 Labels tab. The core application provides smart labeling for vector
point, line and polygon layers and only requires a few parameters. This new
application also supports on-the-fly transformed layers. The core functions of
the application have been redesigned. In QGIS 2.0 there are now a number of
other features which improve the labeling. The following menus have been
created for labeling the vector layers: text, formatting, buffer, background,
shadow, placement and rendering

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 Fields tab. The field attributes of the selected dataset can be manipulated.

The buttons and can be used, when the dataset is editable .

Within the Fields tab you also find an edit widget column. This column can be
used to define values or a range of values that are allowed to be added to the
specific attribute table column.

If you click on button, a dialogue opens, where you can define different
widgets; line edit, classification, range, unique values, file name, value map,
and so on.

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 General tab. It is essentially like that of the raster dialogue. There are several
options available, highlighting; i) change the display name of the layer, ii) set a
display field to be used for the Identify Results dialogue, iii) Update
Extents information for a layer and, iv) view or change the projection of the
specific vector layer, clicking on Specify CRS.

 Metadata tab. Contains general information about the layer, including specifics
about the type and location, number of features, feature type, and the editing
capabilities. The Extents section, providing layer extent information, and
the Layer Spatial Reference System section, providing information about the
CRS of the layer. This is a quick way to get information about the layer.

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 Action tab. Provides the ability to perform an action based on the attributes of
a feature. This can be used to perform any number of actions, for example,
running a program with arguments built from the attributes of a feature or
passing parameters to a web reporting tool. Actions are useful when you
frequently want to run an external application or view a web page based on
one or more values in your vector layer (e.g. Python script).

 Join tab. Allows you to join a loaded attribute table to a loaded vector layer.
As key columns you have to define a join layer, a join field and a target field.

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 Diagram tab. Allows you to add a graphic overlay to a vector layer. The current
core implementation of diagrams provides support for pie charts, histograms
and text diagrams. The placement of the diagrams interacts with the new
labeling, so position conflicts between diagrams and labels are detected and
solved. In addition to chart positions can be fixed by the user‟s hand.

Raster properties dialog

 Style tab. QGIS offers four different render types. The renderer chosen is
dependent on the data type.

1. Multiband color - if the file comes as a multi band with several bands (e.g.
used with a satellite image with several bands).
2. Paletted - if a single band file comes with an indexed palette (e.g. used with a
digital topographic map)
3. Singleband gray- (one band of) the image will be rendered as gray, QGIS will
choose this renderer if the file neither has multi bands, nor has an indexed
palette nor has a continous palette (e.g. used with a shaded relief map)
4. Singleband pseudocolor - this renderer is possible for files with a continuous
palette, e.g. the file has got a color map (e.g. used with an elevation map)

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 Transparency tab. QGIS has the ability to display each raster layer at varying
transparency levels. Use the transparency slider to indicate to what extent the
underlying layers (if any) should be visible though the current raster layer. This
is very useful, if you like to overlay more than one raster layer. This will make
the look of the map more three dimensional.

 General tab. Displays basic information about the selected raster, including the
layer source and display name in the legend (which can be modified). This tab
also shows a thumbnail of the layer, its legend symbol, and the palette.

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Additionally scale-dependent visibility can be set in this tab. Also the

coordinate reference system (CRS) is printed here as a PROJ.4-string.

 Metadata tab. Displays a wealth of information about the raster layer,

including statistics about each band in the current raster layer. This tab is
mainly for information. You cannot change any values printed inside this tab.

 Pyramids tab. Large resolution raster layers can exhibit a slow navigation in
QGIS. By creating lower resolution copies of the data (pyramids), performance

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can be considerably improved as QGIS selects the most suitable resolution to

use depending on the level of zoom.

 Histogram tab. Allows you to view the distribution of the bands or colours in
your raster. It is generated automatically when you open Histogram tab. You
can choose which bands to display by selecting them in the list box at the
bottom left of the tab.

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What‟s new in Quantum GIS 2.0.1-Durfour?

QGIS 2.0.1 version contains new features and extends the programmatic interface
over QGIS 1.8.0. We recommend that you use this version over previous releases.
This release includes hundreds of bug fixes and many new features and
enhancements that will be described in QGIS manual
(http://www.qgis.org/en/docs/user_manual/index.html). Also compare with the
visual change log at http://changelog.linfiniti.com/version/1/.
We have made a selection of the most meaningful enhancements of this version.

User Interface
 New icon theme: It has been updated the icon theme to use the „GIS‟ theme
introducing an improved level of consistency and professionalism to the QGIS
user interface.
 Side tabs, collapsable groups: It has been standardised the layout of tabs and
introduced collapsible group boxes into many of its dialogs to make navigating
the various options more easy, and to make better use of screen real estate.
 Soft notifications: With the new notification system QGIS can let you know
about important information via a message bar (colour depends on the
importance of the message) that appears at the top of the map canvas but
doesn‟t force you to deal with it if you are busy doing something else.
Programmers can create these notification (e.g. from a plugin) to using our
python API.
 Live colour chooser dialogs and buttons: Every colour chooser button
throughout the interface has been updated to give visual feedback on whether
the current colour has a transparent, or „alpha,‟ component. The colour
chooser opened by the new color buttons will now always be the default for the
operating system. If the user has Use live-updating colour chooser dialogs
checked under Options -> General -> Application, any change in the colour
chooser will immediately be shown in the colour button and for any item
currently being edited, where applicable.
 SVG Annotations: With QGIS 2.0 you can now add SVG annotations to your map
- either pinned to a specific place or in a relative position over the map canvas.

Data Provider
 Oracle Spatial support: QGIS 2.0 now includes Oracle Spatial support.
 Web Coverage Service provider added: QGIS now provides native support for
Web Coverage Service layers - the process for adding WCS is similar to adding a
WMS layer or WFS layer.
 Raster Data Provider overhaul: The raster data provider system has been
completely overhauled. One of the best new features stemming from this work
is the ability to Layer -> Save As... to save any raster layer as a new layer. In

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the process you can clip, resample, and reproject the layer to a new
Coordinate Reference System. You can also save a raster layer as a rendered
image so if you for example have single band raster that you have applied a
colour palette to, you can save the rendered layer out to a georeferenced RGB
layer.
 Raster 2% cumulative cut by default: Many raster imagery products have a
large number of outliers which result in images having a washed out
appearance. QGIS 2.0 introduces much more fine grained control over the
rendering behaviour of rasters, including using a 2% - 98% percent cumulative
cut by default when determining the colour space for the image.
 WMS identify format: It is now possible to select the format of the identify
tool result for WMS layers if multiple known formats are supported by the
server. The supported formats are HTML, feature (GML) and plain text. If the
feature (GML) format is selected, the result is in the same form as for vector
layers, the geometry may be highlighted and the feature including attributes
and geometry may be copied to clipboard and pasted to another layer.
 WMTS Support: The WMS client in QGIS now supports WMTS (Web Mapping Tile
Service) including selection of sub-datasets such as time slices. When adding a
WMS layer from a compliant server, you will be prompted to select the time
slice to display.

Symbology
 Data defined properties: With the new data defined properties, it is possible
to control symbol type, size, colour, rotation, and many other properties
through feature attributes.
 Improved symbol layer management: The new symbol layer overview uses a
clear, tree-structured layout which allows for easy and fast access to all symbol
layers.
 Support for transparency in colour definitions: In most places where you
select colours, QGIS now allows you to specify the alpha channel (which
determines how transparent the colour should be). This allows you to create
great looking maps and to hide data easily that you don‟t want users to see.
 Colour Control for Raster Layers: QGIS 2.0 allows you to precisely control
exactly how you‟d like raster layers to appear. You now have complete control
over the brightness, contrast and saturation of raster layers. There are even
options to allow display of rasters in greyscale or by colourising with a specified
colour.
 Copy symbology between layers: It‟s now super easy to copy symbology from
one layer to another layer. If you are working with several similar layers, you
can simply right-click on one layer, choose Copy Style from the context menu
and then right-click on another layer and choose Paste-Style.
 Save styles in your database: If you are using a database vector data store,
you can now store the layer style definitions directly in the database. This
makes it easy to share styled layers in an enterprise or multi-user environment.

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 Colour ramp support: Colour ramps are now available in many places in QGIS
symbology settings and QGIS ships with a rich, extensible set of colour ramps.
You can also design your own and many cpt-city themes are included in QGIS
now „out of the box‟. Colour ramps even have full support for transparency!
 Set custom default styles for all layer types: Now QGIS 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 colours assigned to them.

Map Composer
 HTML Map Items: You can now place html elements onto your map.
 Auto snap lines: Having nicely aligned map items is critical to making nice
printed maps. Auto snapping lines have been added to allow for easy composer
object alignment by simply dragging an object close to another.
 Manual Snap Lines: Sometimes you need to align objects a curtain distance on
the composer. With the new manual snapping lines you are able to add manual
snap lines which allow for better align objects using a common alignment.
Simply drag from the top or side ruler to add new guide line.
 Map series generation: The composer now includes built in map series
generation using the atlas feature. Coverage layers can be points, lines,
polygons, and the current feature attribute data is available in labels for on the
fly value replacement.
 Multipage support: A single composer window can now contain more than one
page.
 Expressions in composer labels: The composer label item in 1.8 was quite
limited and only allowed a single token $CURRENT_DATE to be used. In 2.0 full
expression support has been added to greater power and control of the final
labels.
 Automatic overview support in map frame: Need to show the current area of
the main map frame in a smaller overview window. Now you can. The map
frame now contains the ability to show the extents of other and will update
when moved. Using this with the atlas generation feature now core in the
composer allows for some slick map generation. Overview frame style uses the
same styling as a normal map polygon object so your creativity is never
restricted.
 Layer blending: Layer blending makes it possible to combine layers in new and
exciting ways. While in older versions, all you could do was to make the layer
transparent, you can now choose between much more advanced options such as
“multiply”, “darken only”, and many more. Blending can be used in the normal
map view as well as in print composer. For a short tutorial on how to use
blending in print composer to make the most out of background images, see
“Vintage map design using QGIS” from QGIS User Guide.

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 HTML Label support: HTML support has been added map composer label item
to give you even more control over your final maps. HTML labels support full
css styles sheets, html, and even javascript if you are that way inclined.
 Multicolumn composer legend: The composer legend now supports multiple
columns. Splitting of a single layer with many classes into multiple columns is
optional. Single symbol layers are now added by default as single line item.
Three different styles may be assigned to layer/group title: Group, Subgroup or
Hidden. Title styles allow arbitrary visual grouping of items. For example, a
single symbol layer may be displayed as single line item or with layer title (like
in 1.8), symbols from multiple following layers may be grouped into a single
group (hiding titles) etc. Feature counts may be added to labels.
 Updates to map composer management: The following improvements have
been made to map composer management:
o Composer name can now be defined upon creation, optionally choosing to
start from other composer names.
o Composers can now be duplicated.
o New from Template and from Specific (in Composer Manager) creates a
composer from a template located anywhere on the file system.
o Parent project can now be saved directly from the composer work space.
o All composer management actions now accessible directly from the
composer work space.

Labeling
 New labeling system: The labeling system has been totally overhauled - it now
includes many new features such as drop shadows, „highway shields‟, many
more data bound options, and various performance enhancements. QGIS is
slowly doing away with the „old labels‟ system, although you will still find that
functionality available for this release, you should expect that it will disappear
in a follow up release.
 Expression based label properties: The full power of normal label and rule
expressions can now be used for label properties. Nearly every property can be
defined with an expression or field value giving you more control over the label
result. Expressions can refer to a field (e.g. set the font size to the value of the
field „font‟) or can include more complex logic.
 Older labeling engine deprecated: Use of the older labeling engine available
in QGIS <= 1.8 is now discouraged (i.e. deprecated), but has not been removed.
This is to allow users to migrate existing projects from the old to new labeling
engine. The following guidelines for working with the older engine in QGIS 2.0
apply:
o Deprecated labeling tab is removed from vector layer properties dialog for
new projects or older opened projects that don‟t use that labeling engine.

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o Deprecated tab remains active for older opened projects, if any layer uses
them, and does not go away even if saving the project with no layers having
the older labeling engine enabled.
o Deprecated labeling tab can be enabled/disabled for the current project,
via Python console commands. Please note: There is a very high likelihood
the deprecated labelling engine will be completely removed prior to the
next stable release of QGIS. Please migrate older projects.

Analysis tools
 Processing Commander: For quick access to geoprocessing functionality, just
launch the processing commander (Ctrl + Alt + M) and start typing the name of
the tool you are looking for. Commander will show you the available options
and launch them for you. No more searching through menus to find tools. They
are now right at your fingertips.
 ‘Heatmap’ Plugin Improvements: The heatmap plugin has seen numerous
improvements and optimisations, resulting in much faster creation of
heatmaps. Additionally, you now have the choice of which kernel function is
used to create the heatmap.
 Processing Support: The SEXTANTE project has been ported to and
incorporated into QGIS as core functionality. SEXTANTE has been renamed to
„Processing‟ and introduces a new menu in QGIS from where you can access a
rich toolbox of spatial analysis tools. The processing toolbox has incredibly rich
functionality - with a python programming API allowing you to easily add new
tools, and hooks to provide access to analysis capabilities of many popular open
source tools such as GRASS, OTB, SAGA etc.
 Processing Modeller: One of the great features of the new processing
framework is the ability to combine the tools graphically. Using the Processing
Modeller, you can build up complex analysis from a series of small single
purpose modules. You can save these models and then use them as building
blocks in even more complex models. Awesome power integrated right into
QGIS and very easy to use!

Plugins
 Revamped plugin manager: In QGIS 1.x managing plugins was somewhat
confusing with two interfaces - one for managing already installed plugins and
one for fetching python plugins from an only plugin repository. In QGIS 2.0 a
new, unified, plugin manager has been introduced which provides a one stop
shop for downloading, enabling/disabling and generally managing you plugins.
 Application and Project Options: Define default start-up project and project
templates. With QGIS 2.0 you can specify what QGIS should do when it starts:
New Project (legacy behaviour, starts with a blank project), Most recent (when
you start QGIS it will load the last project you worked on), Specific (always
load a specific project when QGIS starts). You can use the project template
directory to specify where your template projects should be stored. Any

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project that you store in that directory will be available for use as a template
when invoking the Project ‣ New from template menu.
 System environment variables: Current system environment variables can now
be viewed and many configured within the application Options dialog. Useful
for platforms, such as Mac, where a GUI application does not necessarily inherit
the user‟s shell environment. Also useful for setting/viewing environment
variables for the external tool sets controlled by the processing toolbox, e.g.
SAGA, GRASS; and, for turning on debugging output for specific sections of the
source code.
 User-defined zoom scales: A listing of zoom scales can now be configured for
the application and optionally overridden per project. The list will show up in
the Scale popup combo box in the main window status bar, allowing for quick
access to known scales for efficiently viewing and working with the current
data sources. Defined scales can be exported to an XML file that can be
imported into other projects or another QGIS application.

Layer Legend
 Legend visual feedback and options
o Total count for features in layer, as well as per symbol.
o Vector layers in edit mode now have a red pencil to indicate uncommitted
(unsaved) edits.
o Active layer is now underlined, to indicate it in multi-layer selections or
when there is no selection.
o Clicking in non-list-item whitespace now clears the selection.
o Right-clicks are now treated as left-clicks prior to showing the contextual
menu, allowing for one click instead of two.
o Groups and layers can optionally be in a bold font style.
o Raster layer generated preview icons can now be turned off, for projects
where such rendering may be slow.
 Duplicate existing map layer: Duplicate selected vector and raster layers in
the map layer legend. Similar to importing the same data source again, as a
separate layer, then copy/pasting style and symbology attributes.
 Multi-layer toggle editing commands: User can now select multiple layers in
legend and, if any of those are vector layers in edit mode, choose to save,
rollback, or cancel current uncommitted edits. User can also choose to apply
those actions across all layers, regardless of selection.

Browser
 Improvements to in-app browser panel:
o Directories can be filtered by wildcard or regex expressions.

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o New Project home (parent directory of current project).

o View Properties of the selected directory in a dialog.
o Choose which directories to Fast scan.
o Choose to Add a directory directly to Favourites via file system browse
dialog.
o New /Volumes on Mac (hidden directory for access to external drives).
o New OWS group (collation of available map server connections).
o Open a second browser (View -> Panels -> Browser (2)) for drag-n-drop
interactions between browser panels.
o Icons now sorted by item group type (file system, databases, map servers).
o Layer Properties now have better visual layout.

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