Jan 27, 2021
Introducing Data Packages in QGIS
The cividi holiday season started early last year. On Dec. 10th, we released version 0.2 of our Spatial Data Package Plugin for QGIS 🎉
Why should I install it?
Do you want to share effective spatial visualisations with your collaborators, coworkers or friends? The plugin allows you to do just that, no coding required.
You can use it to…
- publish research results in a spatial context
- tell a story by combining data layers
- upload urban planning projects to juxtapose with data layers
- visualise surveys on a map
- highlight points and areas of interest for a workshop
- and many more
How do I install it?
Step 1. To install the plugin you will need a recent version of QGIS, the open source GIS application for Linux, Mac and Windows. Head over to qgis.org > Download and grab a copy for your operating system of choice.
Step 2. Once installed, open QGIS and head to Plugins > Manage and install Plugins, enter Spatial Data Package Export, select the plugin and click on install.
There is no step 3.
How do I use it?
Follow our blog here on Medium to stay tuned for tutorials on using QGIS and the plugin in tandem to creating and publishing your own 🤩 snapshots.
Why a QGIS plugin?
…and not, say, a feature rich interactive web-based data exploration tool like Kepler.gl, deck.gl, Unfolded and many others?
At cividi we are using Frictionless Data to improve data integrity and validation as well as a lightweight way of adding and managing metadata like licenses, authors/contributors, etc. In addition to Python based Data Science toolkits we use QGIS as a visual editor to test and analyse data. It has a great open-source community and already supports a large variety of geodata formats and has extensive tools to manage, analyse and visualise them. As a first attempt to combine these two worlds, the idea of a simple QGIS plugin was born. We developed an initial MVP together with our friends at Gispo and published it on Oct. 14th, 2020.
We see the core strength of the open web in sharing and collaboration. Native Desktop Apps on the other hand allow for feature-rich editing and exploration while working on traceable, timestamped documents. Marrying these two worlds is our mission to provide a robust framework for evidence-based decision-making on spatial policy and projects.
