Tag: en_gb

How to Download OpenStreetMap Data into QGIS

QuickOSM for a town, a Geofabrik .pbf for a country, Overpass Turbo for custom queries. Tested on Kisumu, with the timeouts and the ODbL credit.
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How to Download Sentinel-2 Images in QGIS

Stream Sentinel-2 into QGIS over STAC with no account, or download the L2A product from Copernicus Browser. Bands, clouds and NDVI, tested in Brazil.
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How to Georeference a Map or Image in QGIS

Open Layer > Georeferencer, place control points, pick Polynomial 1 and a projected CRS. Then read the RMSE in metres: tested on a 1947 USGS map.
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How to QGIS 4.2 on Linux Mint (Sept ’26)

For a while now, my preferred way of installing QGIS has been from conda-forge. However, while we’re waiting for QGIS 4 to become available on conda-forge, there are alternatives:

Option 1: Flatpak

In the Software Manager, you can find QGIS from Flathub in two different versions: stable and lts. And stable should give you 4.2 (even if the Software Manager preview shows an older one):

Option 2: Meet the official QGIS Docker Images

First off, you’ll need Docker. If you haven’t installed it yet, it’s directly available from the Linux Mint Software Manager:

From there on, we just switch to the Terminal for the rest.

If you get “permission denied while trying to connect to the docker API” when running any of the following commands, you may have to add your user account to the docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker # or just log out and back in

Afterwards, it should be straightforward to get the image from Docker Hub, e.g.:

docker pull qgis/qgis:4.2.2-questing

And once it’s downloaded, we can launch QGIS:

xhost +local:docker
docker run --rm -it --name qgis \
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
-e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
qgis/qgis:4.2.2-questing qgis

Voilá, QGIS 4!

To persist your QGIS profile/settings across container runs, mount a local folder to the config path, e.g.:

docker run --rm -it --name qgis \
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
-e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
-v ~/.qgis-docker-profile:/root/.local/share/QGIS \
qgis/qgis:4.2.2-questing qgis

Of course, last but not least, we’ll also need access to our data, so let’s mount a data directory as well, e.g.:

docker run --rm -it --name qgis \
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
-e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY \
-e LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 \
-v ~/.qgis-docker-profile:/root/.local/share/QGIS \
-v /mnt/ssd1/Geodata:/data \
qgis/qgis:4.2.2-questing qgis

Fancy a bit of a stress test? I happened to find a project file written by QGIS 2.19 🫢

Yes, my friend, this project file is indeed a litte bit older … but hey, that doesn’t look too bad at all! Some icons seem to be off but, otherwise, looks like winter is coming.


On a side note, whom do I need to ping to the QGIS logo in the System Package / Software Manager updated?

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Photogrammetry vs LiDAR: Which One for Which Job

Photogrammetry rebuilds a surface from overlapping photos. LiDAR measures it with a laser. One gives colour and a cheap flight, the other sees under the trees.
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Multispectral vs Hyperspectral Imagery, Explained

Multispectral imagery records a few wide bands of light. Hyperspectral records hundreds of narrow ones. What each can tell you about a field, a roof or a mine.
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Site Plan vs Plot Plan: What Each One Shows

A plot plan draws one lot: its lines, its building, its setbacks. A site plan draws the whole project. Which one a permit asks for, and who draws it.
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What Is an Orthomosaic? Orthomosaic vs Orthophoto Explained

An orthomosaic is one map-corrected image stitched from many aerial photos. An orthophoto is one corrected photo. Which you have, and where seams go wrong.
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Semantic vs Instance Segmentation on Aerial Imagery

Semantic segmentation labels every pixel with a class: building or not. Instance segmentation draws every building as its own object.
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