Book Image

QGIS Python Programming Cookbook, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Joel Lawhead
Book Image

QGIS Python Programming Cookbook, Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Joel Lawhead

Overview of this book

QGIS is a desktop geographic information system that facilitates data viewing, editing, and analysis. Paired with the most efficient scripting language—Python, we can write effective scripts that extend the core functionality of QGIS. Based on version QGIS 2.18, this book will teach you how to write Python code that works with spatial data to automate geoprocessing tasks in QGIS. It will cover topics such as querying and editing vector data and using raster data. You will also learn to create, edit, and optimize a vector layer for faster queries, reproject a vector layer, reduce the number of vertices in a vector layer without losing critical data, and convert a raster to a vector. Following this, you will work through recipes that will help you compose static maps, create heavily customized maps, and add specialized labels and annotations. As well as this, we’ll also share a few tips and tricks based on different aspects of QGIS.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
QGIS Python Programming Cookbook - Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Loading a vector layer from a geodatabase


The PostGIS geodatabase is based on the open source Postgres database. The geodatabase provides powerful geospatial data management and operations. PyQGIS fully supports PostGIS as a data source. In this recipe, we'll add a layer from a PostGIS database.

Getting ready

Installing and configuring PostGIS is beyond the scope of this book, so we'll use a sample geospatial database interface from the excellent service http://www.qgiscloud.com/. It has its own Python plugin called QGIS Cloud. You can sign up for free and create your own geodatabase online by following the site's instructions, or you can use the example used in this recipe.

How to do it...

Perform the following steps to load a PostGIS layer into a QGIS map:

  1. First, create a new DataSourceURI instance:

            uri = QgsDataSourceURI() 
    
  2. Next, create the database connection string:

            uri.setConnection("spacialdb.com", "9999", "lzmjzm_hwpqlf",
                              "lzmjzm_hwpqlf...