QGIS, or Quantum GIS, is an open source GIS application framework: QGIS distribution is mainly a map viewer and editor, enhanced by numerous plugins.

QGIS upstream is a GitHub repo. QGIS hosts its own poorly organized official site, which has a Redmine issue tracker and lists all QGIS plugins.

Features

Graphical Interface:

  • top: main menu, toolbars (modes, measure, edit, import);
  • bottom: status bar (transformation: coordinate, scale, rotation; dynamic rendering; project projection), log messages panel;
  • floating, stack-able: panels (browsers, layers, GRASS Tools)
  • center: canvas.

Advanced digitizing panel; Tracing (base layer);

Spatial bookmark: save and name a viewport.

Expression: wildcard: %, used together with LIKE.

Keyboard Shortcuts

† denotes customized shortcuts.

?, keyboard shortcuts†

F12, options (preferences)†; C⇧p, project properties;

Mode

p, pan map†; s, select features†; i, identify features†; e, edit (toggle;)† a, add feature†; m, move feature†; n, node editor†; t, tracing (toggle); -, zoom out†; +, zoom in by rectangle†;

Viewport

1, zoom to data (full); 2, zoom to layer; 3, zoom to selection; 8, previous viewport; 9, next viewport; 0, zoom to native resolution;

PgUp, zoom in; PgDn, zoom out;

Cb, add bookmark; C⇧b, show bookmarks;

F5, refresh;

Features

Ch, hide selected layers†; C⇧h, hide all layers; Cu, show selected layers†; C⇧u, show all layers;

Ca, select all features in selected layers; C⇧a, deselect all features;

Ce, select by expression; Cf, filter by expression;

Computation

Ct, attribute table†; Ci, insert/update attribute (field calculator)†;

C⇧m, measure line; C⇧j, measure area;

Cr, raster calculator;

Plugins

CMp, Python console;

Processing: CMc, options; CMd, commander; CMh, history; CMt, toolbox;

GRASS Integration

QGIS is much less powerful than GRASS GIS, you may read this discussion about the differences between QGIS and GRASS.

QGIS ships with a GRASS plugin, acting as a more friendly interface of GRASS. QGIS 2.14 Documentation on GRASS Integration

GRASS allows all geometry types (point, line and polygon) in one vector map, but QGIS requires a layer to have a specific type.

OpenStreetMap

QGIS OSM support is in menu (Vector > OpenStreetMap), which can download and import OSM files by geometry type and with selected tags via a SpatiaLite database connection. OSM's 64-bit identifier is supported in QGIS.

QuickOSM plugin can send Overpass queries from QGIS to get OSM data.

🏷 Category=Geographic Information System