Posts by QField

🚀 QField has officially hit 1 million downloads – thanks to you! 🎉

Let’s not beat around the bush: QField has hit 1+ million downloads. What started as an ambitious open-source project has transformed into a global tool that’s changing how professionals collect spatial data in the field. This big milestone is the result of years of dedication, with over 50,000 hours invested by our team. Our GeoNinjas contributed 14% of QGIS, while also driving open-source projects like ModelBaker and SwissLocator.Thank you for making GIS nerds the unsung heroes of fieldwork everywhere. Here’s to changing the world, one field at a time!

🚀 GET QFIELD NOW

From Switzerland to the world!🇨🇭

Born in the Swiss Alps, raised by open-source, and now roaming the globe, QField has gone international! What started in Switzerland is now in the hands of field mappers, researchers, and GIS pros on six continents. Thank you for taking QField worldwide! 🌍

Mapping the world one field at a time.

The numbers tell a story 📖

One million downloads might sound like just a number, but for us, it represents something much bigger. It’s 1'000'000 times someone chose an innovative, flexible mobile mapping solution. It’s 1’000’000 instances of fieldwork made easier, more efficient, and more accurate.

From humble beginnings to over 1 million downloads, QField has officially gone from “little app that could” to “open-source overachiever. ” Thanks to the power of open source (and probably some caffeine).

QField has hit 1 million downloads in over 150 countries.

QField’s top user countries 🏆

QField’s passport is full! 🌍 We’re blown away by how far our geospatial tool has travelled: from mountaintops to city blocks, you’re mapping it all. Our amazing global user community is making QField a true #DigitalPublicGood.A map made in heaven! 💚

Mapping knows no borders, just like QField’s growing community.

More than just an app 📱

This cross-platform flexibility helps professionals collect GIS data anywhere, anytime. QField goes wherever you do. Android? Check. iOS? Check. Desktop? Check. If it has a screen, we’re probably on it. Collect GIS data anywhere, anytime.

QField isn’t just software, it’s a community-driven project that turns complex geospatial challenges into precise, actionable data. Every download represents a connection to our core mission: making professional-grade mobile GIS accessible, reliable, and straightforward.

QField’s Journey: Mapping our milestones 📍

Our roadmap is packed with milestones and highlights that will continue to push the boundaries of mobile GIS.

QField toQFieldCloud ☁️

You can play a key role in the sustainable growth of QField, the open-source digital good. Your support  can take many forms, like contributing… or:

This not only streamlines and enhances your fieldwork but also gives you access to the full QField ecosystem with all its advantages. At the same time, you directly contribute to the continuous improvement of QField, ensuring its impact grows for everyone.

💚 SUPPORT US

As long time sponsors of FOSSGIS, we stepped up the game this year and became Platinum Sponsors for FOSSGIS 2025. We are proud to be part of a thriving open-source GIS community and to contribute to such a great conference. Here’s a recap of everything we were involved in:

🚀 Talks & Presentations

🌍 QField: New Strategy and Application Potential
Berit and Marco presented how QField, with over 1 million downloads and 350,000 active users, is now recognized as Digital Public Good aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Marco also shared the vision and mission behind QField’s development — highlighting our commitment to empowering field teams across the globe with open, user-friendly tools for data collection.
Real-world stories illustrated how QField helps bridge data gaps to support informed, sustainable decision-making.
👉 View talk

⚙️ QField in Practice: Fieldwork Made Easy
Berit and Michael led an interactive workshop demonstrating how to develop a QField project from scratch. The goal was for each participant to create and sync their own field study project using QFieldCloud, focused on collecting data on flowering plants in the picturesque “Schlussgarten.”
👉 View session

🌐 When Web Meets Desktop
Matthias demonstrated how Django can be used to build consumable geodata layers via OGC API - Features endpoints. His talk covered how to use Python and Django ORM to elegantly define data models and business logic, offering an alternative to complex database logic.
👉 View talk

☁️ Extending QFieldCloud – Ideas and Practical Examples
Michael showed how QFieldCloud can be extended with Django apps, sharing practical implementations such as automated project generation and integration of remote sensing workflows.
👉 View talk

fossgis25-poster-extending-qfc Download

🔌 QField Plugins – Examples and Possibilities
In a lightning talk, Michael introduced useful QField plugins, explained how to install and use them, and explored how they can enhance your mobile GIS workflows.
👉 View talk

🧪 Hands-on qgis-js: Building Interactive QGIS-Based Web Maps
In this practical workshop, Michael guided participants through using qgis-js, an exciting new project that brings QGIS functionality directly into the browser.
👉 View session

💬 QGIS AMA Expert Session
Matthias and Marco hosted a live Q&A session where attendees could ask everything about QGIS development, best practices, organisation and real-world applications.

🤝 At the Booth

Our QField booth was buzzing with activity all week – from plugin demos and project showcases to deep dives into QFieldCloud and field mapping workflows. We had great conversations, received valuable feedback, and met many enthusiastic users.

💚 Supporting Open Source

We were proud to be Platinum Sponsors of FOSSGIS 2025. Supporting open-source events like this is essential for fostering innovation, collaboration, and community-driven growth in the GIS world.

👋 Looking Ahead

Thank you to the organisers, speakers, and everyone who joined us in Münster. We left the event full of ideas, motivation, and appreciation for this community – and we’re already looking forward to the next FOSSGIS!

#QField #QFieldCloud #FOSSGIS2025 #OpenSourceGIS #QGIS #SupportOpenSource

This year, OPENGIS.ch celebrated its 10th anniversary in Bern, with an afternoon full of workshops attended by clients, long-term friends, and colleagues. Here, we will give a glimpse of QField: its vision, where it’s headed, and the exciting features future users can look forward to.

QField was created on June 8th, 2011, with its first commit titled “ added first script”. Since then, it has grown into a powerful tool with a clear vision for the future: to empower people to map and understand the world, tackle daily challenges, and address global issues. Over the next ten years, QField aims to make this vision a reality for everyone, everywhere.

Layers of cake, designed by QField ecosystem’s leading team members, were explained with 2034 in mind: intuitive and accessible to anyone wanting to map our world, while pioneering an innovative and collaborative app for the geospatial community. And last but not least: building strong and engaged communities to drive further adoption of the QField ecosystem.

This vision is taking shape through the forging of strategic partnerships with geospatial stakeholders: hardware manufacturers, ambassadors, trainers and technological partners. For the team, it is clear that good collaboration is key to building a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. Community as well as financial sustainability can become a strong reality with user groups, sponsors and crowdfundings.

And then it became reality: In the summer of 2024, heavy rains caused severe flooding in Switzerland and, suddenly, QField became a vital tool for supporting emergency response through data surveys and photo documentation.

With this emotional story, the technical lead, Mathieu took over and shared other QField success stories and several mapping use cases with partners in Finland and Tonga. But seamless fieldwork wouldn’t be possible without QFieldCloud, so Ivan provided an insight into the last years’ QFieldCloud enhancements, before diving into the busy server-side roadmap for 2025, which includes many new features related to the authentication, security, internationalization and performance. Finally, Zsanett shared QField product news and updates, including new storage capacities like WebDAV and new packaging capabilities. Last but not least, the new Fangorn version introduces new features developed by the evolving QField Community.

Building communities by sharing thoughts and ideas for the ecosystem is now possible through the ideas.qfield.cloud platform, open to everybody to suggest new ideas for QField.

The final topping of the (layer) cake: the new QField plugin framework was presented to the workshop attendees by Mathieu, who explained how the field workflow can be enhanced and optimized through the development of plugins – unique extensions that further personalize QField. For example, with the Routing Plugin, users can compute optimal ways between locations directly in QField using an external API. To make team efforts in the field even more efficient, the Live Location Plugin allows each team member to see the location of other members on the QField map, preventing debilification in the field.

Last but not least, the workshop ended with a Q&A session, where several topics were addressed such as virtual reality, AI, machine learning, etc. This was followed by a happy and cheerful welcome drink with OPENGIS.chpartners. 🍻

Let’s not bury the lead here: the long-awaited capability to track position while QField is in the background or the device is locked has arrived in this brand-new version of QField. This feels like a magical moment, so we settled for a fantastical forest for our release name.

Main highlights

As highlighted above, QField 3.5 has unlocked background position tracking on the Android platform. This allows users to keep track of their positions even as they put QField in the background to conduct other tasks on their devices. It also means that tracking has become far more battery efficient, as users can lock/suspend their phones and tablets for long periods while QField continues to collect and track positions. On top of it all, this will work out of the book with internal GNSS as well as external high-precision GNSS devices.

This is a long-requested functionality for QField, and we couldn’t be prouder to deliver it to our hundreds of thousands of Android users. Big thanks to Groupements forestiers Québec, Biotope, and Terrex Seismic, who jointly sponsored the development.

Moving on to the next major feature added to this new version. Users can now easily import folders from WebDAV services and subsequently upload and download content to that remote folder within QField itself. This functionality eases friction on Android and iOS platforms where storage access is heavily regulated. This implementation highlights our commitment to providing QField users with the freedom they need to build their workflows; thanks to Prona Romandie, AgaricIG, and Oslandia for commissioning this work.

It’s important to note that the WebDAV functionality does not provide data synchronization. The download and upload operations will overwrite datasets stored locally or remotely. For users in need of synchronization and smooth project distribution, QFieldCloud is the way to go. With this new version of QField, downloading large datasets from QFieldCloud has become much more reliable, especially on devices with low memory.

Last but not least, QField has gained support for project-configured grid decoration. When activated, a grid is overlayed on top of the map canvas, which will dynamically render while panning and zooming around. The grid is configured and activated while setting up projects within QGIS itself.

Pro tip: this functionality can replace heavy grid datasets when covering a large dataset, something to consider when trying to optimize projects’ storage size. Big thanks to Oester Messtechnik GmbH for supporting the implementation of this fourth decoration following the arrival of title, copyright, and image decorations in earlier releases.

Other improvements in this release include “forward” angle snapping to digitize perfectly angled polygons, pinch gesture-driven feature rotation, and a new print template which unlocks printing of map canvas to PDF even when their projects have no layouts defined.

Plugin-specific improvements

One of the main additions to QField’s plugin framework is the capability to integrate custom results into the search bar. Thanks to Kanton Basel-Landschaft for supporting the development, users can enjoy OpenStreetMap Nominatim search result integration by installing this plugin (instructions available on the repository). This integration also opens up many new possibilities, such as enabling plugins to send prompts to AI, just like this plugin does.

Other noteworthy improvements include shipping Quick3D QML modules, which allow authors to develop 3D overlays, a new API to customize QField’s colour appearance and a new mechanism for plugins to add a configuration button within the plugin manager.

Users and plugin authors can expect an exciting year ahead as the QField plugin framework continues to grow with new functionalities and improvements. Watch this space!

Let’s not bury the lead here: the long-awaited capability to track position while QField is in the background or the device is locked has arrived in this brand-new version of QField. This feels like a magical moment, so we settled for a fantastical forest for our release name.

Main highlights

As highlighted above, QField 3.5 has unlocked background position tracking on the Android platform. This allows users to keep track of their positions even as they put QField in the background to conduct other tasks on their devices. It also means that tracking has become far more battery efficient, as users can lock/suspend their phones and tablets for long periods while QField continues to collect and track positions. On top of it all, this will work out of the book with internal GNSS as well as external high-precision GNSS devices.

This is a long-requested functionality for QField, and we couldn’t be prouder to deliver it to our hundreds of thousands of Android users. Big thanks to Groupements forestiers Québec, Biotope, and Terrex Seismic, who jointly sponsored the development.

Moving on to the next major feature added to this new version. Users can now easily import folders from WebDAV services and subsequently upload and download content to that remote folder within QField itself. This functionality eases friction on Android and iOS platforms where storage access is heavily regulated. This implementation highlights our commitment to providing QField users with the freedom they need to build their workflows; thanks to Prona Romandie, AgaricIG, and Oslandia for commissioning this work.

It’s important to note that the WebDAV functionality does not provide data synchronization. The download and upload operations will overwrite datasets stored locally or remotely. For users in need of synchronization and smooth project distribution, QFieldCloud is the way to go. With this new version of QField, downloading large datasets from QFieldCloud has become much more reliable, especially on devices with low memory.

Last but not least, QField has gained support for project-configured grid decoration. When activated, a grid is overlayed on top of the map canvas, which will dynamically render while panning and zooming around. The grid is configured and activated while setting up projects within QGIS itself.

Pro tip: this functionality can replace heavy grid datasets when covering a large dataset, something to consider when trying to optimize projects’ storage size. Big thanks to Oester Messtechnik GmbH for supporting the implementation of this fourth decoration following the arrival of title, copyright, and image decorations in earlier releases.

Other improvements in this release include “forward” angle snapping to digitize perfectly angled polygons, pinch gesture-driven feature rotation, and a new print template which unlocks printing of map canvas to PDF even when their projects have no layouts defined.

Plugin-specific improvements

One of the main additions to QField’s plugin framework is the capability to integrate custom results into the search bar. Thanks to Kanton Basel-Landschaft for supporting the development, users can enjoy OpenStreetMap Nominatim search result integration by installing this plugin (instructions available on the repository). This integration also opens up many new possibilities, such as enabling plugins to send prompts to AI, just like this plugin does.

Other noteworthy improvements include shipping Quick3D QML modules, which allow authors to develop 3D overlays, a new API to customize QField’s colour appearance and a new mechanism for plugins to add a configuration button within the plugin manager.

Users and plugin authors can expect an exciting year ahead as the QField plugin framework continues to grow with new functionalities and improvements. Watch this space!

Oslandia is the main partner of OPENGIS.ch around QField. We are proud today to forward the announcement of the new QField release 3.4 “Ebo”.

Main highlights

A new geofencing framework has landed, enabling users to configure QField behaviors in relation to geofenced areas and user positioning. Geofenced areas are defined at the project-level and shaped by polygons from a chosen vector layer. The three available geofencing behaviours in this new release are:

• Alert user when inside an area polygon;
• Alert user when outside all defined area polygons and
• Inform the user when entering and leaving an area polygons.

In addition to being alerted or informed, users can also prevent digitizing of features when being alerted by the first or second behaviour. The configuration of this functionality is done in QGIS using QFieldSync.

Pro tip: geofencing settings are embedded within projects, which means it is easy to deploy these constraints to a team of field workers through QFieldCloud. Thanks Terrex Seismic for sponsoring this functionality.

QField now offers users access to a brand new processing toolbox containing over a dozen algorithms for manipulating digitized geometries directly in the field. As with many parts of QField, this feature relies on QGIS’ core library, namely its processing framework and the numerous, well-maintained algorithms it comes with.

The algorithms exposed in QField unlock many useful functionalities for refining geometries, including orthogonalization, smoothing, buffering, rotation, affine transformation, etc. As users configure algorithms’ parameters, a grey preview of the output will be visible as an overlay on top of the map canvas.

To reach the processing toolbox in QField, select one or more features by long-pressing on them in the features list, open the 3-dot menu and click on the process selected feature(s) action. Are you excited about this one? Send your thanks to the National Land Survey of Finland, who’s support made this a reality.

QField’s camera has gained support for customized ratio and resolution of photos, as well as the ability to stamp details – date and time as well as location details – onto captured photos. In fact, QField’s own camera has received so much attention in the last few releases that it was decided to make it the default one. On supported platforms, users can switch to their OS camera by disabling the native camera option found at the bottom of the QField settings’ general tab.

Wait, there’s more

There are plenty more improvements packed into this release from project variables editing using a revamped variables editor through to integration of QField documentation help in the search bar and the ability to search cloud project lists. Read the full 3.4 changelog to know more, and enjoy the release!

Contact us !

A question concerning QField ? Interested in QField deployment ? Do not hesitate to contact Oslandia to discuss your project !

QField 3.4 is out, and it won’t disappoint. It has tons of new features that continue to push the limits of what users can do in the field.

Main highlights

A new geofencing framework has landed, enabling users to configure QField behaviors in relation to geofenced areas and user positioning. Geofenced areas are defined at the project-level and shaped by polygons from a chosen vector layer. The three available geofencing behaviours in this new release are:

• Alert user when inside an area polygon;
• Alert user when outside all defined area polygons and
• Inform the user when entering and leaving an area polygons.

In addition to being alerted or informed, users can also prevent digitizing of features when being alerted by the first or second behaviour. The configuration of this functionality is done in QGIS using QFieldSync.

Pro tip: geofencing settings are embedded within projects, which means it is easy to deploy these constraints to a team of field workers through QFieldCloud. Thanks Terrex Seismic for sponsoring this functionality.

QField now offers users access to a brand new processing toolbox containing over a dozen algorithms for manipulating digitized geometries directly in the field. As with many parts of QField, this feature relies on QGIS’ core library, namely its processing framework and the numerous, well-maintained algorithms it comes with.

The algorithms exposed in QField unlock many useful functionalities for refining geometries, including orthogonalization, smoothing, buffering, rotation, affine transformation, etc. As users configure algorithms’ parameters, a grey preview of the output will be visible as an overlay on top of the map canvas.

To reach the processing toolbox in QField, select one or more features by long-pressing on them in the features list, open the 3-dot menu and click on the process selected feature(s) action. Are you excited about this one? Send your thanks to the National Land Survey of Finland, who’s support made this a reality.

QField’s camera has gained support for customized ratio and resolution of photos, as well as the ability to stamp details – date and time as well as location details - onto captured photos. In fact, QField’s own camera has received so much attention in the last few releases that we have decided to make it the default one. On supported platforms, users can switch to their OS camera by disabling the native camera option found at the bottom of the QField settings’ general tab.

Wait, there’s more

There are plenty more improvements packed into this release from project variables editing using a revamped variables editor through to integration of QField documentation help in the search bar and the ability to search cloud project lists. Read the full 3.4 changelog to know more, and enjoy the release!

QField Rapid Mapper is a project for the QField mobile app, which allows emergency responders, civil protection, military, and citizens to assess and report damages from natural catastrophes by quickly sharing geolocated images, videos and audio. QField Rapid Mapper offers real-time data collection, mapping and sharing to help enhance disaster response and coordination.
QField and QFieldCloud are open-source, and OPENGIS.ch is donating the needed QFieldCloud infrastructure and expertise to help map the floods in Ticino in 2024

Join the effort

OPENGIS.ch Supports Flood Mapping Efforts in Ticino

After discussing with the Protezione Civile Locarno e Valle Maggia and the Centro di Competenza per la geoinformazione (CCGEO), we are proud to announce that OPENGIS.ch is donating the necessary QFieldCloud infrastructure and dedicated projects for a rapid crowdsourcing POC to aid in mapping the 2024 floods in Ticino. This crowdsourcing initiative aims to provide essential support to professionals and volunteers working on flood and landslide assessment and recovery.

https://www.rsi.ch/play/embed?urn=urn:rsi:video:2191880&subdivisions=false

Empowering Response with Advanced Technology

What is needed?

Photographing damaged houses and infrastructure is the most critical aspect of this mapping initiative. These images provide crucial information for assessing the extent of the damage, planning rescue and reconstruction operations, and ensuring that resources are allocated effectively. It’s also important to document any submerged or damaged vehicles, as they offer additional insights into the disaster’s impact. During these activities, it’s essential to be careful and respect the privacy and property of others, avoiding capturing license plate numbers or entering destroyed buildings without permission. Using QField Rapid Mapper can contribute to a faster and more coordinated emergency response while ensuring respect for those affected.

The QFieldCloud infrastructure enables efficient, real-time data collection and sharing, ensuring that accurate and up-to-date information is available to all stakeholders involved in the flood response. This effort underscores our commitment to leveraging technology for social good and environmental resilience.

How You Can Get Involved

1. if you don’t have a QFieldCloud account yet, sign up at https://app.qfield.cloud/accounts/signup/
2. fill out the quick participation form at https://forms.gle/dkjZsSWdmCzr9xic8

By participating, you will have access to powerful tools for field data collection and can contribute valuable information to the ongoing efforts in Ticino. All the data collected will be released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public domain license.

Join the Effort

Using QField and QFieldCloud, you can help create detailed maps crucial for understanding the impact of the floods and planning effective recovery strategies. Your contributions will make a significant difference in managing and mitigating the effects of this natural disaster.

Join the effort

Visit our QField Rapid Mapper project page for more information on how QField and QFieldCloud can assist in flood mapping and other field data collection projects.

Together, we can make a difference. Join us in mapping the floods in Ticino and support the community’s recovery efforts.

This blog post will introduce QField’s brand new plugin framework and walk through the creation of a plugin to support bird watchers in need of a quick way to digitize photos of spotted birds onto a point vector layer.

A plugin framework is born!

As announced recently, QField now empowers users through a brand new plugin framework allowing for simple customization on the way the application behaves or looks all the way through to creating completely new functionalities.

The plugin framework relies on Qt’s QML engine and JavaScript, allowing for cross-platform support out of the box. This means that plugins will run perfectly fine on all platforms currently supported by QField: Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, and macOS.

App-wide plugin vs. project plugin

First, let’s look at the two types of plugins supported by QField: app-wide plugins and project plugins. As their names imply, the main difference is their scope. An enabled app-wide plugin will remain active as long as QField is running, while project plugins are activated on project load and deactivated when the project tied to the plugin is closed.

Project plugins are shipped alongside a given project file ( .qgs/ .qgz). Project plugins must share the same name of the project file with a .qml extension. For example, if your project file is birdwatcher.qgz, QField will look for the presence of a birdwatcher.qml to activate the project plugin. For app-wide plugins, installation is done via the plugins manager popup; more on this below.

Distribution of project plugins can be greatly facilitated through QFieldCloud. The presence of project plugins within a cloud project environment will be automatically detected and packaged alongside the project file and its datasets when deployed to QField devices.

Starting with a project plugin

We will start with looking into a simple project plugin that offers a new digitizing mechanism focused on snapping photos as a trigger for point feature addition. This plugin will demonstrate how new functionalities and behaviors can be added to QField to serve specific needs. In this case, the new digitizing mechanism could come in handy for bird watchers and other users in need of a quick way to snap photos!

It’s advised to download a version of QField running on your desktop environment while testing plugins. Links to Windows, Linux, and macOS builds are available here. Once installed, download this project archive containing a tiny birdwatcher sample project and extract it into a new directory on your local machine.

The project archive consists of a point vector layer ( observations.gpkg), a project file ( birdwatcher.qgz) as well as a project plugin ( birdwatcher.qml) which we will look into below. Please note that the point vector layer’s attribute form is already configured to display captured photos. We will not spend time on attribute form setup in this post; see this relevant documentation page if you are interested in knowing how that was achieved.

We can now test the project plugin by opening the project ( birdwatcher.qgz) in QField. Users familiar with QField will notice a new ‘camera’ tool button present on the top-right corner of the map canvas. This button was added by the project plugin. You can press on it, to open the QField camera, take a photo (of yourself, a random object on your table, or with a bit of luck a bird), and witness how that leads to a point feature creation.

Digging into the project plugin file

Let’s open the project plugin file (birdwatcher.qml) in your favorite text editor. The first few lines define the QML imports needed by the plugin:

import QtQuick
import QtQuick.Controls

import org.qfield
import org.qgis
import Theme

import "qrc:/qml" as QFieldItems

Beyond the two QtQuick imports, we will make use of QField-specific types and items as well as QGIS ones ( registered and declared in this source file), a Theme to retrieve icons and colors as well as QField items such as tool buttons ( see this source directory), as well as the QField QML items embedded into the application itself to make use of the camera.

The next line declares an generic Item component which will be used by QField to initiate the plugin. This must be present in all plugins. As this plugin does, you can use the Component.onCompleted signal to trigger code execution. In this case, we are using iface to add a tool button on top of the map canvas:

Component.onCompleted: {
  iface.addItemToPluginsToolbar(snapButton)
}

Just above these lines, the plugin declare a number of properties pointing to items found in the main QField ApplicationWindow:

property var mainWindow: iface.mainWindow()
property var positionSource: iface.findItemByObjectName('positionSource')
property var dashBoard: iface.findItemByObjectName('dashBoard')
property var overlayFeatureFormDrawer: iface.findItemByObjectName('overlayFeatureFormDrawer')

Users can reach through to any items within QField’s ApplicationWindow provided they have an objectName property defined. The string value is used in the iface.findItemByObjectName() function to retrieve the item.

The rest of the file consists of a loader to activate the QField camera, a tool button to snap a photo, and a function to create a new feature within which the current position is used as geometry and the snapped photo is attached to the feature form.

The function itself provides a good example of what can be achieved by using the parts of QGIS exposed through QML, as well as utility functions and user interface provided by QField:

function snap(path) {
  let today = new Date()
  let relativePath = 'DCIM/' + today.getFullYear()
                              + (today.getMonth() +1 ).toString().padStart(2,0)
                              + today.getDate().toString().padStart(2,0)
                              + today.getHours().toString().padStart(2,0)
                              + today.getMinutes().toString().padStart(2,0)
                              + today.getSeconds().toString().padStart(2,0)
                              + '.' + FileUtils.fileSuffix(path)
  platformUtilities.renameFile(path, qgisProject.homePath + '/' + relativePath)

  let pos = positionSource.projectedPosition
  let wkt = 'POINT(' + pos.x + ' ' + pos.y + ')'

  let geometry = GeometryUtils.createGeometryFromWkt(wkt)
  let feature = FeatureUtils.createFeature(dashBoard.activeLayer, geometry)

  let fieldNames = feature.fields.names
  if (fieldNames.indexOf('photo') > -1) {
    feature.setAttribute(fieldNames.indexOf('photo'), relativePath)
  } else if (fieldNames.indexOf('picture') > -1) {
    feature.setAttribute(fieldNames.indexOf('picture'), relativePath)
  }

  overlayFeatureFormDrawer.featureModel.feature = feature
  overlayFeatureFormDrawer.state = 'Add'
  overlayFeatureFormDrawer.open()
}

The QGIS API Documentation site is a good resource for learning what parts of the many QGIS classes are exposed to QML. For example, the QgsFeature documentation page contains a Properties section and a Q_INVOKABLE prefix next to functions indicating their availability within a QML/JavaScript environment.

Deployment of a project plugin via QFieldCloud

As mentioned above, QFieldCloud greatly eases the deployment of project plugins to devices in the field. We will now go through the steps required to create a cloud project environment based on the birdwatcher sample project, and witness it handling the project plugin automatically.

This will require you to registered for a freely available QFieldCloud community account if you haven’t done so yet ( it takes a minute to do so, what are you waiting for ;) ). We will also need the QFieldSync plugin in QGIS, which can be enabled through the QGIS plugin manager.

Let’s open QGIS, and log into QFieldCloud by clicking on the QFieldSync toolbar’s blue cloud icon. Once logged in, click on the ‘Create New Project’ tool button found at the bottom of the dialog.

In the subsequent panel dialog, choose the ‘Create a new empty QFieldCloud project’ and then hit the ‘Next’ button. Give it a name and a description, and for the local directory, pick the folder within which you had extracted the birdwatcher project, then hit the ‘Create’ button.

QFieldSync will then ask you to upload your newly created cloud project environment to the server. Notice how the project plugin file (birdwatcher.qml) is part of the files to be delivered to the cloud. Confirm by clicking on the ‘Upload to server’ button.

When QFieldSync is finished uploading, you are ready to take your mobile device, open QField, log into your QFieldCloud account and download the cloud project. Once the cloud project is loaded, you will be asked for permission to load the project plugin, which you can grant on a permanent or one-time basis.

Bravo! You have successfully deployed a project plugin through QFieldCloud.

Creating an app-wide plugin directory

Let’s move on to creating a functional app-wide plugin directory. Download this sample app-wide plugin and extract it into a new directory placed in the ‘plugins’ directory, itself found within the QField app directory. The location of the app directory is provided in the ‘About QField’ overlay, take note of it prior to extracting the plugin if you have not done so yet.

As seen in the screenshot above, which demonstrates the directory hierarchy, a given plugin directory must contain at least two files: a main.qml file, which QField will use to activate the plugin, and a metadata.txt file containing basic information on the plugin, such as the plugin name, author details, and version.

Here’s a sample metadata.txt from the birdwatcher project plugin upgraded into an app-wide plugin:

[general]
name=Snap!
description=Digitize points through snapping photos
author=OPENGIS.ch
icon=icon.svg
version=1.0
homepage=/

Opening main.qml in your favourite text editor will reveal that it has the exact same content as the above-shared project plugin. The only change is the renaming of birdwatcher.qml to main.qml to take into account this plugin’s app-wide scope.

PSA: we have setup this GitHub QField template plugin repository to ease creation of plugins. Fork at will!

Deploying app-wide plugins

While currently not as smooth as deploying a project plugin through QFieldCloud, app-wide plugins can be installed onto devices using a URL pointing to a zipped archive file containing the content of a given plugin directory. The zipped archive file can then be hosted on your own website, on a GitHub or GitLab repository, a Dropbox link, etc.

In QField, open the plugins manager popup found in the settings panel, and use the ‘Install plugin from URL’ button to paste a URL pointing to a zipped plugin file.

You should keep the zipped archive file name consistent for a better user experience, as it is used to determine the installation directory. This is an important consideration to take into account when offering plugin updates. If your zipped plugin file name changes, the plugin will not be updated but rather added to a new directory alongside the previously installed plugin.

QField does allow for a version tag to be added to a zipped archive file name, provided it is appended at the end of the file name, preceded by a dash, and includes only numbers and dots. For example, myplugin-0.0.1.zip and myplugin-0.2.1.zip will install the plugin in the myplugin directory.

Empowering users as well as developers

Here at OPENGIS.ch, we believe this new plugin framework empowers not only users but also developers, including our very own ninjas! With plugin support, we now have the possibility to develop answers to specific field scenarios that would not necessarily be fit for QField-wide functionalities. We would love to hear your opinion and ideas.

If you would like to supercharge your fieldwork and need some help, do not hesitate to contact us - your projects are our passion 💚

P.S. If you are developing a cool QField plugin, also let us know! :)

Bird SVG in video CC-BY https://svgrepo.com/svg/417419/bird

Oslandia is the main partner of OPENGIS.ch around QField. We are proud today to forward the announcement of the new QField release 3.3 “Darién”. This release introduces a brand new plugin framework that empowers users to customize and add completely new functionalities to their favourite field application.

The plugin framework comes with other new features and improvements for this release, detailed below.

Main highlights

One of the biggest feature additions of this version is a brand new drawing tool that allows users to sketch out important details over captured photos or annotate drawing templates. This was a highly requested feature, which is brought to all supported platforms (Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and, of course, Linux) with the financial support of the Swiss QGIS user group.

Also landing in this version is support for copying and pasting vector features into and from the clipboard. This comes in handy in multiple ways, from providing a quick and easy way to transfer attributes from one feature to another through matching field names to pasting the details of a captured feature in the field into a third-party messenger, word editing, or email application. Copying and pasting features can be done through the feature form’s menu as well as long pressed over the map canvas. Moreover, a new feature-to-feature attributes transfer shortcut has also been added to the feature form’s menu. Appreciation to Switzerland, Canton of Lucerne, Environment and Energy for providing the funds for this feature.

The feature form continues to gain more functionalities; in this version, the feature form’s value map editor widget has gained a new toggle button interface that can help fasten data entry. The interface replaces the traditional combo box with a series of toggle buttons, lowering the number of taps required to pick a value. The German Archaeological Institut – KulturGutRetter sponsored this feature.

Other improvements in the feature form include support for value relation item grouping and respect for the vector layer attributes’ « reuse last entered value » setting.

Finally, additional features include support for image decoration overlay, a new interface to hop through cameras (front, back, and external devices) for the ‘non-native’ camera, the possibility to disable the 3-finger map rotation gesture, and much more.

User experience improvements

Long-time users of QField will notice the new version restyling of the information panels such as GNSS positioning, navigation, elevation profile, and sensor data. The information is now presented as an overlay sitting on top of the map canvas, which increases the map canvas’ visibility while also achieving better focus and clarity on the provided details. With this new version, all details, including altitude and distance to destination, respect user-configured project distance unit type.

The dashboard’s legend has also received some attention. You can now toggle the visibility of any layer via a quick tap on a new eye icon sitting in the legend tree itself. Similarly, legend groups can be expanded and collapsed directly for the tree. This also permits you to show or hide layers while digitizing a feature, something which was not possible until now. The development of these improvements was supported by Gispo and sponsored by the National Land Survey of Finland.

Plugin framework

QField 3.3 introduces a brand new plugin framework using Qt’s powerful QML and JavaScript engine. With a few lines of code, plugins can be written to tweak QField’s behaviour and add new capabilities. Two types of plugins are possible: app-wide plugins as well as project-scoped plugins. To ensure maximum ease of deployment, plugin distribution has been made possible  through QFieldCloud! Amsa provided the financial contribution that brought this project to life.

Our partner OPENGIS.ch will soon offer a webinar to discover how QField plugins can help your field (and business) workflows by allowing you to be even more efficient in the field.

Users interested in authoring plugins or better understanding the framework, can already visit the dedicated documentation page and a sample plugin implementation sporting a weather forecast integration.

A question concerning QField ? Interested in QField deployment ? Do not hesitate to contact Oslandia to discuss your project !