This chapter offered you a simplified way to interact with QGIS, and it is more oriented toward a GIS analyst than a GIS programmer or a computer scientist. The chapter is also oriented to GIS companies that are interested in reusing code that has already been developed but was probably developed for GIS platforms that are not free.

This chapter gives basic knowledge about how to interact with QGIS using the PyQGIS programming language.

We saw how to programmatically load different kinds of layers, from raster to vector. We also explained vectors and how to manage different kinds of vector resources, from filesystems to remote database connections. We also explored the vector structure in more detail, and you learned how to browse and edit its records. Different kinds of editing workflows were proposed in the chapter so that you can interact with the QGIS framework in a better manner.

You learned how to launch Processing Toolbox algorithms and user-developed Processing Toolbox scripts to enhance QGIS with new functionalities. You also learned how to launch external commands or scripts to offer a way to integrate already developed code, and thereby reduce developing and testing costs.

Lastly, we explored the QGIS map canvas and how to interact with that using Map Tools. We obtained canvas coordinates and created new Map Tools to draw canvas objects. This will give you the basic skills needed to create new plugins that interact with layers displayed in the QGIS canvas.