Point cluster renderer crowdfunding – the final countdown!

At North Road we are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to sponsor work on a new “Point Cluster Renderer” for QGIS. This is a really exciting new feature which would help make possible some neat styling effects which just aren’t possible in QGIS at the moment. The campaign is now in its final hours and we’ve still got some way to go to reach the campaign goals. If you’re interested in seeing this feature happen, now’s the time to jump onboard and contribute to the campaign! Before time runs out we’d like to share some more details on how the cluster renderer can be enhanced through the use of data defined symbol overrides. Data defined overrides are where a huge part […]

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Point cluster renderer crowdfund launched!

We’ve just launched a new crowd funding campaign to implement a live point cluster renderer within QGIS. Full details are available on the campaign page. This is a really exciting new feature which would help make possible some neat styling effects which just aren’t possible in QGIS at the moment. To make it possible we need 2300€ pledged before 31 August. You can help make this a reality by supporting the campaign or by sharing the page and increasing exposure to the campaign. Updates to follow!

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The road to QGIS 3.0 – part 1

As we discussed in QGIS 3 is under way, the QGIS project is working toward the next major version of the application and these developments have major impact on any custom scripts or plugins you’ve developed for QGIS. We’re now just over a week into this work, and already there’s been tons of API breaking changes landing the code base. In this post we’ll explore some of these changes, what’s motivated them, and what they mean for your scripts. The best source for keeping track of these breaking changes is to watch the API break documentation on GitHub. This file is updated whenever a change lands which potentially breaks plugins/scripts, and will eventually become a low-level guide to porting plugins to […]

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QGIS 3 is underway – what does it mean for your plugins and scripts?

With the imminent release of QGIS 2.16, the development attention has now shifted to the next scheduled release – QGIS 3.0! If you haven’t been following the discussion surrounding this I’m going to try and summarise what exactly 3.0 means and how it will impact any scripts or plugins you’ve developed for QGIS. QGIS 3.0 is the first major QGIS release since 2.0 was released way back in September 2013. Since that release so much has changed in QGIS… a quick glance over the release notes for 2.14 shows that even for this single point release there’s been hundreds of changes. Despite this, for all 2.x releases the PyQGIS API has remained stable, and a plugin or script which was […]

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Introducing QGIS live layer effects!

I’m pleased to announce that the crowdfunded work on layer effects for QGIS is now complete and available in the current development snapshots! Let’s dive in and explore how these effects work, and check out some of the results possible using them. I’ll start with a simple polygon layer, with some nice plain styling: If I open the properties for this layer and switch to the Style tab, there’s a new checkbox for “Draw effects“. Let’s enable that, and then click the little customise effects button to its right: A new “Effects Properties” dialog opens: You can see that currently the only effect listed is a “Source” effect. Source effects aren’t particularly exciting – all they do is draw the original layer […]

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QGIS – live layer effects Kickstarter update

Here’s another quick video demonstration of the latest developments in layer effects – effects on polygon and polyline layers, and outer glow effects: Time is running out to fund this campaign and make this work happen… Please donate via Kickstarter! I’ve also been asked what will happen if funding exceeds the Kickstarter goal? Well, if this happens, the extra funds will be used to add additional layer effects to QGIS. Next up will be inner glow, inner shadow and color modification effects.

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Kickstarter Alert – Live Layer Effects for QGIS

QGIS is well regarded for its fantastic cartographic abilities – it’s got a huge range of symbology styles and options which can be used to style your maps. But there’s more we can do to push this even further. One long requested cartographic feature has been for live drop shadows on layers. Why stop there? Why not inner and outer glow effects and live blur effects? Just imagine the cartographic possibilities if this functionality was available from within a GIS, and didn’t require exporting maps to external editors… I’ve launched a Kickstarter project to fund implementing live layer effects like this within QGIS. Please consider donating or spreading the word if you’d find this feature useful!

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