QGIS 3.0 To Be Released in February!

It's an exciting month for QGIS. On February 23rd there will be a major new release of QGIS: QGIS 3.0. We haven't had a major new release since 2013 when 2.0 came out. The development team has been working on this for a solid year. This version will be faster and have a lot of new features. Kurt Menke has been closely following the development of QGIS3. Over the last few months he has been experimenting with the pre-release version (v2.99). This post will cover some of the highlights that will be useful to Community Health Mappers. In general QGIS is going to be faster, more powerful and more efficient to work with. First off QGIS 3.0 comes with a new logo!Overall the look of QGIS is very similar.  There are  the Layers and Browser panels to the left, a Map Canvas and lots of buttons and menus above. However, upon closer inspection there are a lot of very useful changes. For example, instead of there being a row of add data buttons down the left side, there is now a Unified Data Source Manager button which opens up a browser.The Unified Data Source Manager can be used to access the myriad of data formats QGIS supports and add them to QGIS. This includes vector, raster, database, web services etc. You can even browse within Esri File Geodatabases. Any GIS layer you are interested in, can then be added to QGIS by dragging and dropping it onto the map.  The Processing toolbox was completely redesigned and many tools were rewritten. This means many are now faster, more flexible and stable. There are also many new tools that didn't exist in QGIS v2.x. Additionally processing tasks also now run in the background. This means  you don't have to stop working while a tool runs! Yet another new processing feature is that layers in different projections will automatically be reprojected, so there is no need to reproject beforehand. Map Labels: It now much easier to edit labels. Previously you had to set up attribute columns and set those as data defined overrides. If you don't know what all that means, it's OK. Now all you have to do is simply put the layer into edit mode and edit labels with tools on the Label toolbar. Maps also now redraw more quickly due to cached label renderers. There is now a Search bar in the lower left corner that can be used to search for map layers, features and processing tools. This makes finding things in QGIS quick and easy. The QGIS print composer was completely redesigned. They are now referred to as Layouts. Map insets can now be in a different map projection than the main map. There is a new and improved system of guides which include settings in any unit of measurement you could want (mm, cm, m, in, ft, pt, pica, pix). There are new controls for choosing fonts which include recently used fonts. When you export a map, a link to the folder shows up making it easy to track down the exported map. Other notable enhancements include:

• A fully integrated 3D environment
• Editing improvements including: a) widgets for layer attributes, b) CAD style digitizing tools that allow you to create perfect rectangles, circles, ellipses etc. and c) a new node editing tool with a lot of behavior improvements
• Previews of where each map projection can be used. This will be a big help for beginners!
• User profiles that allow you to set up QGIS with different panels, plugins and toolbars for different projects or uses.
• Improved hidpi/retina support

 Where do you go from here?

• 2.18 will be considered the supported long-term release (LTR) through June.
• When 3.0 is released in a few weeks it will be considered the latest stable version.
• 3.2 will become the LTR in June when it is released.
• Starting on February 23rd you will be able to download and install it. Remember you can have multiple versions installed with no conflicts. I encourage  you to install it in a few weeks and begin to explore it! You won't want to go back.

NOTE: QGIS 3 projects won't be entirely backwards compatible with QGIS 2.x. So if you are going to open an existing project in QGIS 3, be sure to click Project -->Save As and save a new verion of the project for use in QGIS3.

Community Health Mapping: A New Year Review

To start the New Year I thought I’d begin with a review of Community Health Mapping (CHM). There are a lot of new project partners, and I thought it would be a good time to give a project overview. CHM is a collaborative effort between the National Library of Medicine, Center for Public Service Communications and Bird’s Eye View. The National Library of Medicine is funding the initiative.The overall goal is to empower community organizations serving vulnerable or underserved populations with low cost, intuitive mapping technology. Therefore we’ve been working with programs organizations who:

• Focus on vulnerable populations
• Frequently use and collect data
• Need effective, scalable & easy to use mapping tools
• Lack resources (i.e., for proprietary GIS training & software)

We have identified a suite of tools that allow you to collect custom field data, analyze that data, combine it with other spatial datasets, and generate both static maps and/or dynamic maps on the internet. This allows organizations to collect and work with their own data, and if appropriate, share it with others. CHM involves three components that meet all basic mapping needs:

• Field Data Collection
• Desktop Analysis and Cartography
• Internet Mapping

A given project may not require all three, however, collectively these components address the basic needs of all mapping projects.Field Data Collection:Rather than focusing on the use of expensive GPS receivers, we recommend the use of smart phones and tablets for these reasons:

• Most community-based organizations already have them!
• Many know how to use them
• They're intuitive
• They're portable
• They come with an on board GPS receiver (iPhone 5 uses GPS + GLONASS)
• Have on board cameras
• Can connect to wireless networks
• Access to the internet
• Email is available
• “There's an app for that!”

Of course an important consideration is horizontal accuracy. You can read our blog post on that topic to see if mobile smart devices meet your project needs.When collecting data you need to be able to develop your own custom data collection form. The top three mobile apps we have found are:

• Fulcrum: Easiest to use - iOS & Android – low monthly subscription - http://www.fulcrumapp.com/ 
• iForm: Slightly steeper learning curve – iOS and Android – free account - https://www.iformbuilder.com/
• ODK Collect: Easy to use – Android only – free account - https://opendatakit.org/use/collect/

Desktop Analysis and Cartography:After community field data collection, the next step typically involves bringing the data into a desktop GIS. This is the middle step in the workflow. Here the data can be viewed against basemaps such as Google or OpenStreetMap, and combined with other organizational data. This is also where analyses (proximity, density etc.) can be conducted. Presentation quality maps can also be generated in this step.The software we found to be the best fit is QGIS. This is an open source desktop GIS software. It has many strengths:

• It can consume many kinds of data, including all the data that would come out of the field data collection apps.
• It is both intuitive and robust.
• It has a large suite of geoprocessing tools for analyzing data.
• It will run on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
• It is free to download and install.
• It is well documented.
• There is a large user community.
• New functionality is being continuously added. New stable versions are being released every 4 months!

Web PresentationOften you may want to present an interactive map of your results. Interactive means the map reader can zoom in/out, pan the map and turn layers off and on. For this we recommend CartoDB.You can sign up for a free account, which gives you 50Mb of storage space. Data can be collected with a smart phone or tablet and brought directly into CartoDB.  It is a very intuitive platform. You can literally drag and drop a spreadsheet onto the CartoDB page and have the data upload to your account.  It will accept the most common geospatial file formats including: spreadsheets and comma delimited text files with addresses or coordinates, KML/KMZ, GPX, and shapefiles.CartoDB also has great documentation including:

• CartoDB Editor Documentation
• A comprehensive series of tutorials breaking tasks up into Basic, Medium and Advanced categories
• Tips and Tricks
• FAQ’s

In ConclusionThis blog has a lot of resources including reviews of mapping technology and case studies. You might begin by clicking on some of the links in this entry. We are also working on a 6 lab CHM curriculum that interested parties will be able to use to hone their skills. Stay tuned for that!We are always looking for new partners and continuously work to support current project partners. If you are interested, or have questions please don't hesitate to contact John Scott (jscott at cpsc.com) or Kurt Menke (kurt at birdseyeviewgis.com). Most importantly get out and do some mapping in 2016!