QGIS

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QGIS
v · d 
Author: Contributors GitHub
License: GNU GPL v2 (free of charge)
Platforms: Windows, Linux, and macOS
Status: Active
Version: 4.20 releases (2026-07-20)
Language:
English
Website: https://qgis.org
Source code: qgis/QGIS GitHub
Programming languages: C++ and Python

QGIS is a free, open source, cross platform (lin/win/mac) geographical information system (GIS)

Features
Feature Value
Map Display
Display map yes
Map data raster;vector
Source online;cache
Rotate map yes
3D view yes
Shows website
?
Shows phone number
?
Shows operation hours
?
Routing
Routing no
Create route manually
?
Calculate route
?
Create route via Waypoints
?
Routing profiles
?
Turn restrictions
?
Calculate route without Internet (Offline routing)
?
Routing providers
?
Avoid traffic
?
Traffic Provider
?
Navigating
Navigate no
Find location
?
Find nearby POIs
?
Navigate to point
?
Navigation with voice / Voice guidance
?
Keep on road
?
Lane guidance
?
Works without GPS
?
Navigate along predefined route
?
Tracking
Make track yes
Customizable log interval
?
Track formats
?
Geotagging
?
Fast POI buttons
?
Upload GPX to OSM
?
Monitoring
Monitoring no
Show current track
?
Open existing track
?
Altitude diagram
?
Show POD value
?
Satellite view
?
Show live NMEA data
?
Show speed
?
Send current position
?
Editing
Add POIs yes
Edit / Delete POIs
?
Add way yes;
Edit geometries yes
Edit arbitrary tags of existing OSM objects
?
Edit relations
?
View notes no
Create notes
?
Edit notes no
Work offline online;cache
Support imagery offset DB
?
Upload to OSM no
Rendering
?
Accessibility
?


QGIS (previously also known as Quantum GIS) is a free (GNU GPL v2) and open source GIS application to visualize, manage, edit, analyse data, and compose/make maps. It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, Windows and can be downloaded free of charge from qgis.org. It powers 3rd party open-source apps for mobile and tablet, Mergin Maps ([1]), QField or IntraMaps Roam.

OpenStreetMap in QGIS

Since QGIS version 3 it's possible view pixel/raster maps and vector data from OpenStreetMap.

Pixel/raster maps

OpenStreetMap pixel/raster map is available by default via Sources panel > XYZ Tiles > OpenStreetMap.

See this screenshot

If it's not there you can re-add it as an XYZ layer

Note that QGIS caches the raster maps. Changes made on OpenStreetMap will not show up until the QGIS cache is cleared. The Clear cache button is hidden in the Settings -> Options -> Network -> red Trash button on Size field's right hand side.

See this screenshot

Vector data

QGIS can open and read, but not edit, .osm vector data file.

Getting vector data

QuickOSM plugin

QuickOSM downloads OSM data to QGIS via Overpass API.

See tutorial (QGIS 3).

Other ways to get .osm

See Export for other ways to obtain an .osm file.

Editing

For editing export the .osm as geopackage or other editable format.

Export/upload to OSM

QGIS cannot edit and save .osm nor upload data/changes to a OpenStreetMap server. For this purpose

  1. Save/export data in suitable format (geopackage, shape file, GeoJSON or KML)
  2. Convert file to .osm with ogr2osm or Shape2osm
  3. Upload to OSM with bulk_upload.py or similar tools.

General QGIS info

See also QGIS website and wikipedia:Quantum GIS

Features

The major features of QGIS include:

  • Direct viewing and exploration of spatial data
    • Advanced symbology (edit rendering styles)
    • QGIS Browser as a simple and fast data viewer
  • Support for numerous vector, raster, and database formats
  • Create, edit and export spatial data
    • Work with nodes, lines and polygons
    • Convert between different coordinate systems (re-projection)
    • Down/upload directly to a GPS unit
  • Perform spatial analysis
    • Find polygon centroids and basic statistics
    • Distance matrix and line intersections
  • Publish your map on the internet
  • An extensible plug-in architecture
  • Remote control JOSM [2] with QuickOSM

Documentation & Tutorials

Rendering of Gallarate (see the 'Using OpenStreetMap data' tutorial [ dead link ]).

The QGIS wiki provides numerous guides and video tutorials to help users of all abilities. For new users a good place to start is the Introduction to Quantum GIS video. It is also important to have a basic understanding about the #Coordinate Reference System.

Other useful pages to bookmark:

  1. The free Beginning Quantum GIS guides stored in Google Docs (produced by learnosm).
  2. How do I do that in QGIS [ dead link ] on the QGIS wiki.
  3. QGIS Tutorials by Ujaval Gandhi.

QGIS allows you to to create advanced symbology (similar to Mapnik or Osmarender) in a powerful but very easy way (a few mouse clicks), see examples here [ dead link ] and a detailed video on youtube.

Coordinate Reference System

Earth is a three-dimensional body, roughly spherical in shape, yet the vast majority of maps are flat (2-dimesional). A Coordinate Reference System (CRS) defines a method of projecting all or part of the Earth onto a 2D surface. QGIS has support for approximately 2,700 known CRS. Some, such as WGS-84 are global projections, whereas others represent only specific regions.

Setting the CRS

When working with geo-spatial data it is essential that you are using the correct CRS. If you are lucky the projection will be specified as part of the vector file (for example, ESRI Shapefiles often include projection data in the .prj file), however you will often have to manually select the correct CRS.

To specify the CRS of a vector layer, select the layer and choice Layer->Set CRS of Layer(s).... Each layer can have a different CRS. If this is the case, you will need to convert them to the same CRS in order for them all to display correctly. The easiest way to do this is to use 'on the fly' CRS transformation:

  1. Settings->Project Properties (or click on the globe symbol in the lower right corner).
  2. Select the Coordinate Reference System (CRS) tab.
  3. Check the Enable 'on the fly' CRS transformation checkbox.
  4. Pick a suitable project CRS to work with (e.g. WGS-84).

More information can be found in this video tutorial.

Using QGIS to convert between CRS

QGIS can be used to convert between CRS. Open the input layer making sure to select the correct CRS as described above. Use Layer->Save As... to export the layer with a different CRS (you may choice between the "Project" CRS or select a CRS from QGIS's extensive list).

Using QGIS to filter data from government sources and convert it to KML

In Sweden multiple government agencies give out data in large shapefiles. These files do not load nicely in JOSM because of their size and/or JOSMs premature shp support.

To filter out part of a shp file in QGIS you can do this:

  1. get the file, e.g. http://gpt.vic-metria.nu/data/land/NR.zip
  2. open the shp file in QGIS
  3. enable editing
  4. select a number of nodes and delete them
  5. rightclick on the layer and choose "Export.."
  6. select KML (this is better supported in JOSM)
  7. click save and open up the result in JOSM

Here is a video tutorial describing more advanced filtering based on attributes. In this example it would be nice to only have the nature reserves where "BESLSTATUS" = 'Gällande' is true because that means they are in effect (and not just planned). Follow the tutorial in the video to archive this.

See also

External links

References

Retrieved from "https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=QGIS&oldid=3063981"