[Qgis-developer] Make QGIS interact with LibreCAD.

Antonio Locandro antoniolocandro at hotmail.com
Mon Apr 22 06:30:08 PDT 2013


I  started the shared document please be free to edit it, add your own preferences, comments etc. This could be used as a user requirement document of what editing tolos are needed to perform the feature creating needs the user base hashttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1aw_amN2_vNtw5TWooyvVxt5cfDhfA6J1sszITOBNRkY/edit?usp=sharing

 
 
Ing. Antonio Locandro
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
+504 9503 5747
Need a GPS map for Central America, Asia or South America / Necesitas un mapa GPS para Centro America, Asia o Sur America




 From: olivier.dalang at gmail.com
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:53:08 +0000
Subject: Re: [Qgis-developer] Make QGIS interact with LibreCAD.
To: Stefan.Ziegler at bd.so.ch
CC: antoniolocandro at hotmail.com; bernhard.stroebl at jena.de; diego.gnesi at gmail.com; qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org

I'd also suggest to include numerical entry (length, angle, X/Y coordinates).
Please have a look at http://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/improvedpolygoncapturing/ (it does not work well in 2.0 yet).

With advanced snapping environment (include angles, midpoints, intersections...), I'd say it's the CAD feature I miss the most in QGis.




2013/4/22 Ziegler Stefan <Stefan.Ziegler at bd.so.ch>










I would like to see some changes in the snapping interface.
If you got some 30+ layers it is really difficult to find a specific layer.
A layer tree for snapping just like for the legend would be great. And add the tree as tab like the browser.


 



Von: qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org]
Im Auftrag von antoniolocandro

Gesendet: Montag, 22. April 2013 14:36

An: bernhard.stroebl at jena.de; diego.gnesi at gmail.com

Cc: qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org

Betreff: Re: [Qgis-developer] Make QGIS interact with LibreCAD.


 

I would say add CAD tools within QGIS, 


 


1. Extend 


2. Trim


3. Snapping environment


4. digitise using either icons or commands on a console


5. Intersection, etc.


 


CAD tools are faster for digitising and more precise, having that possibility from within QGIS would make it so much better, I find digitising in QGIS very limited so for me right now its not to a point I can recommend it since in my industry
 we do a lot of complex shapes and edits.


 


 


 


 



Sent from Samsung tablet




Bernhard Ströbl <bernhard.stroebl at jena.de> wrote:

Hi Diego,



based on a discussion [1] on this list a couple of months ago I started 

coding some of the missing tools as my time allows. This is going to be 

a Python plugin made from scratch.

What I do have right now is:

1) Dissolve multi geometries (code from Alexandre Neto's plugin)

2) Split feature with feature of another layer

3) Cut out feature with polygon of another layer



I can share what I have on github. Maybe you want to have a look or join in.



What would be the tools you have in mind (I do not know LibreCAD)?



Bernhard





[1] 

http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/more-advanced-editing-tools-td5019552.html



Am 22.04.2013 13:29, schrieb Diego Gnesi Bartolani:

> Hi Bernhard,

>

> I'll take your opinion into account. I'm still in a preliminary phase

> and I'm still deciding. I verified that adding shapefile support to

> LibreCAD is relatively simple, due to the good architecture of

> LibreCAD's IO and geometry classes. Now I'll test how hard is adding

> advanced cad tools to QGIS and how much time it can require to me.

> Then I'll compare all the pros and cons of the two solutions and I'll

> start to work. I need to finish the work before september, when I'll

> have to use it in my job).

> I'm not an expert of the QGIS API, and I need to study the source code

> and the documentation in order to know precisely how can I interact

> with QGIS while drawing:

>

> - changing the snapping behavior and override the default one when required;

> - having context menus with CTRL + right click (like on AutoCAD);

> - drawing temporary entities (i.e. to trace extension lines);

> - forcing the pointer to move along specific directions inside the map canvas;

> - fast accessing to vertices, lines and angles of the existing shapes,

> also for polygons.

>

> I also need to understand if I can do all these things from a plugin

> or do I need to make changes to the QGIS source code (I'll try to

> avoid this).

> I'll update this threads with all my progresses in the next days.

>

> Diego

>

> 2013/4/22 Bernhard Ströbl<bernhard.stroebl at jena.de>:

>> Hi Diego,

>>

>> some of my users with more complex editing tasks (and familiar with CAD

>> software) are complaining about not having similar possibilities in QGIS and

>> I admit that our CAD has much more to offer in that respect (snapping,

>> construction), so thanks for the move.

>> IMHO the best would be to have CAD-like functions in QGIS (strategy #1)

>> because

>> 1) many people missing these functions already might use some CAD or another

>> to get their work done and are exchanging data between the two systems (with

>> all problems), so strategy #2 would simply exchange their CAD software (if

>> they are willing to change)

>> 2) and more important: many things that work in CAD do not work in GIS and

>> vice versa, e.g. CAD: line color, hatching, dimensioning...., GIS:

>> attributes. Splines could be resolved into polylines, resembling the

>> original spline, though. In short words: CAD is about drawing, GIS is about

>> data modelling. So if you have the functions in QGIS you can more easily

>> prevent users from doing silly things.

>>

>> my 2 ct

>>

>> Bernhard

>>

>> Am 21.04.2013 12:52, schrieb Diego Gnesi Bartolani:

>>>

>>> Hi,

>>>

>>> Yesterday I posted in a wrong thread, so I'm opening a new one. I'll

>>> copy and paste the previous message and add some notes. Sorry for the

>>> mess!

>>>

>>> Original post:

>>>

>>> I am an Italian archaeologist and an enthusiastic QGIS user. I do what

>>> I can to spread the knowledge about QGIS and other open source

>>> softwares to my university students (I am a contract professor at the

>>> Basilicata University and some days ago I've become contract professor

>>> at the Specialization School of Archeology of Udin, Venice and

>>> Trieste). The main difficulty I have with open source GIS is the

>>> advanced editing of vector layers. QGIS doesn't offer too much support

>>> for digitizing, the CAD Tools plugin has some useful functions but is

>>> far from being complete and the kind of interaction that it proposes

>>> is not very productive and time-saving (it's not a critic: CAD Tools

>>> saved my life a lot of time, and I want to thank the developers and

>>> maintainers). Many times, I had to convert my vector layers to dxf and

>>> back in order to perform some complex tasks (with all kind of

>>> conversion problems, like the preservation of the attributes values,

>>> etc.).

>>> I have some experience in programming (about ten years of

>>> developement, mainly in C# with the .NET Framework, before I switched

>>> to Linux), and I would like to try (only try, without promising

>>> anything!!) to implement complete CAD tools and functions (If there

>>> isn't and analogous project already active; in that case, nevermind!).

>>>

>>> I think that developing a CAD plugin from scratch is very hard to me

>>> and maybe not the better way to get good results, so I'm oriented to

>>> try to augment the interaction between QGIS and an existing CAD

>>> software (I'm thinking to LibreCAD). I thought to two possible

>>> strategies:

>>>

>>> 1. Use the LibreCAD library and source code to develop a C++ QGIS plugin;

>>> 2. Create a shapefile/spatialite/postgis driver for LibreCAD in order

>>> to edit those formats inside LibreCAD.

>>> 3. Convert some layers of the QGIS project in a dxf file and back

>>> (each QGIS layer in a different layer of the final dxf file).

>>>

>>> I'm asking your opinion about which of those ways could be the faster

>>> or the better to implement, or which one is impossible to undertake

>>> according to your knowledge of the QGIS API.

>>>

>>> My doubts are:

>>>

>>> Strategy #1: Probably the ideal one, but does the implementation of

>>> complex snaps or constraints against the features of other layers

>>> (i.e. midpoint, parallels, etc.) require changes to the QGIS API, or

>>> all these operations can be contained on a plugin? Is it better to

>>> work directly on QGIS vector layers or to create a plugin layer, edit

>>> it and then commit the changes to the vector layer? The conversion

>>> could help me to manage geometries in the way LibreCAD wants. Is it

>>> possible in your opinion to have an interactive shell (i.e. draw the

>>> first point, and then inserting the coordinates of the second point)?

>>>

>>> Strategy #2: Probably the easier, but I should find a way to disable

>>> some LibreCAD functions (i.e. the drawing of splines, or the drawing

>>> of points on a line layer) without disseminating my changes all over

>>> LibreCAD's source files. For this kind of solution I'll ask to the

>>> developers of LibreCAD.

>>>

>>> Strategy #3: The problem is on committing the changes of the dxf file

>>> to the original layer: how to specify that a line in the dxf file must

>>> replace the geometry of and existing record of the original spatialite

>>> layer? Maybe it's impossible, it doesn't seem to me that I can put on

>>> a dxf file the necessary metadata to preserve a link to the original

>>> features.

>>>

>>> What do you think? And what do you actually do when you have to draw

>>> complex shapes on shapefiles or other vector layers?

>>>

>>> NEW COMMENTS:

>>>

>>> - Antonio Locandro is compiling a list of required CAD features. It

>>> would be very useful, so please Antonio, get me a link to this list

>>> when it's finished.

>>> - The more I explore QGIS and LibreCAD source codes, the more I'm

>>> convincing that integrating LibreCAD's tools on QGIS is very

>>> difficult, and it would be easier to develop those tools from scratch.

>>> To get the best results in a short amount of time, I think that I

>>> could work to make shapefiles and other vector layers editable in

>>> LibreCAD (using GDAL). This solution has the issue that it doesn't

>>> allow to snap to other QGIS layers, nevertheless it could be of great

>>> help and available in a reasonable amount of time. Then, when I have

>>> more practice with QGIS and LibreCAD APIs, I'll try to do something

>>> better (i.e. develop a "QGIS driver" for LibreCAD in order to open the

>>> whole QGIS project in LibreCAD, organized by layers).

>>> I'm waiting for the answers to an analogous thread in LibreCAD's mailing

>>> list:

>>>

>>>

>>> 
http://forum.librecad.org/Using-LibreCAD-s-tools-on-GIS-vector-layers-td5707930.html

>>>

>>> I think that I'm going to work on this project in a few weeks.

>>>

>>> Let me know what do you think and if you have suggestions.

>>>

>>> Diego Gnesi

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> Qgis-developer mailing list

>>> Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org

>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer

>>>

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