Desktop GIS - the book

Eventually, most of us are interested in getting our GIS data from the desktop to the web. If you use Quantum GIS (QGIS) there are a couple of handy plugins/tools that allow you to do just that.

Converting a QGIS Project to MapServer

There are two ways to convert a QGIS project file to a MapServer map file:

1. The MapServer export plugin included with QGIS
2. The new standalone QgisToMapServer application

The key thing to remember when exporting to MapServer is to load the layers, symbolize them to get the colors and look the way you want it, then save it as a QGIS project. Once you have a project file you can export it and create an almost-ready-to-use map file.

The QgisToMapServer application allows you to preview your map file to confirm you are getting what you expect.

Converting OGR Layers to OpenLayers/KML

Using the OGR2Layers plugin you can create KML and an OpenLayers map from any OGR supported data layers loaded into QGIS. The resulting KML can also be used directly in Google Earth.

You can customize the size of the output map, the default extent, as well as choose from three base layers:

• OpenStreetMap WMS
• OpenLayers WMS
• Demis WMS

Once you have generated an OpenLayers HTML file, you can further customize it to add additional layers.

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These plugins allow you to use QGIS as a map composer for your web data delivery. For more information, check out the sites referenced in this post.