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88 lines
4.2 KiB
TeX
88 lines
4.2 KiB
TeX
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\chapter{Introduction}
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Welcome to the wonderful world of Geographical Information Systems (GIS)!
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Quantum GIS (QGIS) is an Open Source Geographic Information System. The project
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was born in May of 2002 and was established as a project on SourceForge in June
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of the same year. We've worked hard to make GIS software (which is traditionaly
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expensive commerical software) a viable prospect for anyone with basic access
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to a Personal Computer. QGIS currently runs on most Unix platforms, Window, and
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OS X. QGIS is developed using the Qt toolkit (\url{http://www.trolltech.com})
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and C++. This means that QGIS feels snappy to use and has a pleasing, easy to
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use graphical user interface.
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QGIS aims to be an easy to use GIS, providing common functions and features.
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The initial goal was to provide a GIS data viewer. QGIS has reached that point
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in its evolution and is being used by many for their daily GIS data viewing
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needs. QGIS supports a number of raster and vector data formats, with new
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support easily added using the plugin architecture (see Appendix
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\ref{appdx_data_formats} for a full list of currenly supported data formats).
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QGIS is released under the GNU Public License (GPL). Devloping QGIS under this
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license means that you can (if you want to) inspect and modify the source code
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and guarantees that you, our happy user will always have access to a GIS
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program that is free of cost and can be freely modified. You should have
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received a full copy of the license with your copy of QGIS, and is also
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available as Appendix \ref{gpl_appendix}.
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\begin{quote}
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\begin{center}
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\textbf{Note:} The latest version of this document can always be found at \newline
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http://qgis.sourceforge.net/docs/userguide.html
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\end{center}
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\end{quote}
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\section{Major Features}
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QGIS has many common GIS features and functions. The major features
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are listed below.
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\begin{compactenum}
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\item Support for spatially enabled PostgreSQL tables using PostGIS
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\item Support for ESRI shapefiles and other vector formats support by the
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OGR library, including MapInfo files
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\item GRASS integration, including view, edit, and analysis
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\item On the fly projection of vector layers
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\item Map composer
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\item Identify features
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\item Display attribute table
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\item Select features
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\item Label features
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\item Persistent selections
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\item Save and restore projects
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\item Support for raster formats supported by the GDAL library
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\item Change vector symbology (single, graduated, unique value, and continuous)
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\item SVG markers symbology (single, unique value, and graduated)
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\item Display raster data such as digital elevation models, aerial photography
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or landsat imagery
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\item Change raster symbology (grayscale, pseudocolor and multiband RGB)
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\item Export to Mapserver map file
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\item Digitizing support
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\item Map overview
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\item Plugins
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\end{compactenum}
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\section{Whats New in 0.7}
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Version 0.7 brings several important features, including projection support, a map composer, and better integration with GRASS. The major new features in this release include:
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\begin{compactenum}
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\item On the fly projection for reprojecting layers in different coordinate systems
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\item Map Composer for creating print layouts
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\item Toolbox for running GRASS tools from QGIS
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\item Raster graphing tool to produce a histogram for a raster layer.
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\item Raster query using the identify tool to get the pixel
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values from a raster
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\item New customizable settings for the digitizing line width, color, and selection color
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\item New symbols for use with point layers are available from the layer properties dialog
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\item Spatial bookmarks allow you to create and manage bookmarks for an area on the map
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\item Measure tool to measure distances on the map with both
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segment length and total length displayed as you click
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\item GPX loading times and memory consumption for large GPX (GPS) files
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has been drastically reduced.
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\item Digitizing enhancements, including the ability to capture data straight
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into PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and improvements to the definition of attribute tables
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for newly created layers.
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\item Raster Georeferencing plugin can be used
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to generate a world file for a raster by defining known
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control points in the raster coordinate system.
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\end{compactenum}
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