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QGIS practical training manual

Introduction
QGIS (quantum geographic information system) is a popular open-source GIS with advanced
capabilities. Here is a practical manual for using it to undertake common GIS workflows. The
user can follow the hands-on support to learn the skills of using the software and some practical
tasks of carrying out real world problems. You can refer to the table of contents to directly go
to the topic of your interest without following the entire material.

Contents
QGIS practical training manual .......................................................................................................... 1
1. An Overview of the QGIS Interface ............................................................................................... 3
Goal ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Description of the different parts of the QGIS user interface ............................................................. 3
Layers List ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Browser Panel ................................................................................................................................. 4
Toolbars .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Map canvas ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Status bar......................................................................................................................................... 4
Side toolbar ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Locator bar ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Tasks ................................................................................................................................................... 4
What is next?....................................................................................................................................... 5
2. Adding layers to QGIS .................................................................................................................... 5
Prepare a map ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Self-task .............................................................................................................................................. 8
Loading vector data from a GeoPackage Database............................................................................. 8
Loading vector data from a SpatiaLite Database with the Browser panel .......................................... 9
Self-task ............................................................................................................................................ 10
Reordering the layers ........................................................................................................................ 11
What is next?..................................................................................................................................... 11
3. Navigating the map canvas ........................................................................................................... 12
Basic Navigation Tools ..................................................................................................................... 12
4. Symbology ...................................................................................................................................... 15
Changing colors ................................................................................................................................ 15
Self-task ............................................................................................................................................ 16
Changing Symbol Structure .............................................................................................................. 16
Self-task ............................................................................................................................................ 17

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5. Importing Spreadsheets or CSV files ........................................................................................... 17

Task overview ................................................................................................................................... 17
Get the data ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Procedure .......................................................................................................................................... 18
6. Working with projections ............................................................................................................. 24
Task overview ................................................................................................................................... 24
Data ................................................................................................................................................... 24
Procedure .......................................................................................................................................... 24
7. Georeferencing scanned topo sheets............................................................................................. 34
Overview of the task ......................................................................................................................... 35
Skills you will learn .......................................................................................................................... 35
Data: .................................................................................................................................................. 35
Procedure: ......................................................................................................................................... 35
8. Digitizing map data........................................................................................................................ 43
Task overview ................................................................................................................................... 43
Skills you will learn .......................................................................................................................... 43
Data ................................................................................................................................................... 43
Procedure .......................................................................................................................................... 43
9. Spatial data analysis ...................................................................................................................... 58
Overview........................................................................................................................................... 58
Data ................................................................................................................................................... 58
Vector Analysis.................................................................................................................................... 58
The GIS Process................................................................................................................................ 58
1. The Problem .............................................................................................................................. 58
2. The Data .................................................................................................................................... 58
Basic Geoprocessing Tools in QGIS .................................................................................................. 58
A. Buffer ........................................................................................................................................ 59
B. Intersect ................................................................................................................................... 59
C. Union ........................................................................................................................................ 60
D. Symmetrical Difference ........................................................................................................ 61
E. Clip ........................................................................................................................................... 62
F. Difference ................................................................................................................................ 63
G. Dissolve ................................................................................................................................... 64
10.Mapping .......................................................................................................................................... 65
Key Options of Geospatial Data Representations ............................................................................. 65
Layer Order and Transparency...................................................................................................... 66
Symbology and Label ................................................................................................................... 67

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Annotations ................................................................................................................................... 70
Map Components .............................................................................................................................. 70
Export Map ....................................................................................................................................... 73

1. An Overview of the QGIS Interface

Quantum GIS, which is often called QGIS, is an open source GIS desktop application.
Comparing to ArcGIS, QGIS can be installed on various operating systems, such as Windows,
Mac OS X, Linux (Ubuntu), and UNIX, while ArcGIS only has Windows version. More
importantly, QGIS is FREE and has many plugins, adding different functions.
In this practical session, we will explore the QGIS user interface so that you will be familiar
with the menus, toolbars, map canvas and layers list that form the basic interface.

Goal
 To understand the basics of the QGIS user interface.
The following figure shows the elements of QGIS user interface.

The elements identified in the figure above are:

1. Layers list / browser panel 4. Status bar
2. Toolbars 5. Side toolbar
3. Map canvas 6. Locator bar
Description of the different parts of the QGIS user interface
Layers List
In the Layers list, you can see a list of all the layers available to you.
Expanding collapsed items (by clicking the arrow or plus symbol beside them) will provide
you with more information on the layer’s current appearance.

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Hovering over the layer will give you some basic information like layer name, type of
geometry, coordinate reference system and the complete path of the location on your device.
Right clicking on a layer will give you a menu with lots of extra options. You will be using
some of them so often.
Browser Panel
The QGIS Browser is a panel in QGIS that lets you easily navigate in your database. You can
have access to common vector files (e.g. ESRI Shapefile or MapInfo files), databases (e.g.
PostGIS, Oracle, SpatiaLite, GeoPackage or MSSQL Spatial) and WMS/WFS connections.
You can also view your GRASS data.
You can set one or more folder as Favorites: search under your path and once you have found
the folder, right click on it and click on Add as a Favorite. You should then be able to see your
folder in the Favorites item.
Tip: It can happen that the folders added to Favorite item have a long name: do not worry right-
click on the path and choose Rename Favorite... to set another name.
Toolbars
Your most often used sets of tools can be turned into toolbars for basic access. For example,
the File toolbar allows you to save, load, print, and start a new project. You can easily
customize the interface to see only the tools you use most often, adding or removing toolbars
as necessary via the View ⇒ Toolbars menu.
Even if they are not visible in a toolbar, all of your tools will remain accessible via the menus.
For example, if you remove the File toolbar (which contains the Save button), you can still
save your map by clicking on the Project menu and then clicking on Save.
Map canvas
This is where the map itself is displayed and where layers are loaded. In the map canvas, you
can interact with the visible layers: zoom in/out, move the map, select features and many other
operations that we will deeply see in the next sections.
Status bar
It shows you information about the current map. It allows you to adjust the map scale, the map
rotation and see the mouse cursor’s coordinates on the map.
Side toolbar
By default, the Side toolbar contains the buttons to load the layer and all the buttons to create
a new layer. However, remember that you can move all the toolbars wherever it is more
comfortable for you.
Locator bar
Within this bar, you can access to almost all the objects of QGIS including: layers, layer
features, algorithms, spatial bookmarks, etc.
Tip: With the shortcut Ctrl+K you can easily access the bar.
Tasks
Try to identify the elements listed above on your own screen, without referring to the diagram
above. Check if you can identify their names and functions. You will become more familiar
with these elements as you use them in the coming sessions.

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Try to find each of these tools on your screen. What is their purpose?

1.
2.
3.
4. Render

5.
Note: If any of these tools is not visible on the screen, try enabling some toolbars that are
currently hidden. Also, keep in mind that if there is not enough space on the screen, a toolbar
may be shortened by hiding some of its tools. You can see the hidden tools by clicking on the
double right arrow button in any such collapsed toolbar. You can see a tooltip with the name
of any tool by holding your mouse over the tool for a while.

What is next?
Now that you are familiar with the basics of the QGIS interface, in the next lesson we will
see how to load some common data types.

2. Adding layers to QGIS

We will start the application, and create a basic map to use for exercises.
The goal for this lesson: To get started with loading different data layers from several
different sources.
Launch QGIS from its desktop shortcut, menu item, pinned at the taskbar, etc., depending on
how you configured its installation.
Prepare a map
1. Open QGIS. You will have a new, blank map.

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2. The Data Source Manager dialog allows you to choose the data to load depending on the
Open Data Source Manager
data type. We will use it to load our dataset: click the button.
If you cannot find the icon, check that the Data Source Manager Toolbar is enabled in the
View ⇒ Toolbars menu.

3. Load the protected_areas.shp vector dataset:

 Click on the Vector tab.
 Enable the File source type.
 Press the … button next to Vector Dataset(s) to indicate the source of the vector data.

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 Select exercise_data/shapefile/protected_areas.shp file in your data directory.

 Click Open. You will see the original dialog, with the file path filled in (figure below).

 Click Add. The data you specified will now load: you can see a protected_areas item in the
Layers panel (bottom left) with its features shown in the main map canvas.

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Congratulations! You now have a basic map. Now would be a good time to save your work.

1. Click on the Save As button ( )

2. Save the map under ProjectFiles folder next to exercise_data and call it add_data.qgz.
Self-task
Repeat the steps above to add the places.shp and rivers.shp layers from the same folder
(exercise_data/shapefile ) to the map.
Loading vector data from a GeoPackage Database
Databases allow you to store a large volume of associated data in one file. The GeoPackage
open format is a container that allows you to store GIS data (layers) in a single file. Unlike
the ESRI Shapefile format (e.g. the protected_areas.shp dataset you loaded earlier), a single
GeoPackage file can contain various data (both vector and raster data) in different coordinate
reference systems, as well as tables without spatial information; all these features allow you
to share data easily and avoid file duplication.
In order to load a layer from a GeoPackage, you will first need to create the connection to it:
Open Data Source Manager
1. Click on the button.

2. On the left, click on the GeoPackage tab.

3. Click on, the <New= button and browse to the training_data.gpkg file in the exercise_data
folder created for this exercise.
4. Select the file and press Open. The file path is now added to the Geopackage connections
list, and appears in the drop-down menu.
You are now ready to add any layer from this GeoPackage to QGIS.

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1. Click on the Connect button. In the central part of the window, you should now see
the list of all the layers contained in the GeoPackage file.
2. Select the roads layer and click on the Add button.

A roads layer is added to the Layers panel with features displayed on the map canvas.
3. Click on Close.
Congratulations! You have loaded the roads layer from a GeoPackage.
Loading vector data from a SpatiaLite Database with the Browser panel
QGIS provides access to many other database formats. Like GeoPackage, the SpatiaLite
database format is an extension of the SQLite library. Adding a layer from a SpatiaLite
provider follows the same rules as described above: Create the connection –> Enable it –>
Add the layer(s).
While this is one way to add SpatiaLite data to your map, let us explore another powerful
way to add data: the Browser.

1. Click the icon to open the Data Source Manager window.

2. Click on the Browser tab.

3. In this tab, you can see all the storage disks connected to your computer as well as
entries for most of the tabs in the left. These allow quick access to connected
databases or folders.

For example, click on the drop-down icon next to the GeoPackage entry. You will
see the training-data.gpkg file we previously connected to (and its layers, if expanded).

4. Right-click the SpatiaLite entry and select New Connection….

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5. Navigate to the exercise_data folder, select the landuse.sqlite file and click Open.

Notice that a landuse.sqlite entry has been added under the SpatiaLite one.

6. Expand the landuse.sqlite entry.

7. Double-click the landuse layer or select and drag-and-drop it onto the map canvas.
A new layer is added to the Layers panel and its features are displayed on the map
canvas. You may also click the Add Selected Layer ( ) button to add the data to the
map canvas.

Tip: Enable the Browser panel in View ► Panels ► and use it to add your data. It is a handy
shortcut for the Data Source Manager ► Browser tab, with the same functionality.
Note: Remember to save your project frequently! The project file does not contain any of the
data itself, but it remembers which layers you loaded into your map.
Self-task
Load the following datasets from the exercise_data folder into your map using any of the
methods explained above:
 buildings
 water

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