[Qgis-psc] A question on the etymology of QGIS

Andreas Neumann andreas at qgis.org
Mon Sep 3 23:23:10 PDT 2018


Hi,

I was also always assuming that the "Q" stems from the fact, that the qt
library is essential in the creation of QGIS. qt is the cross-platform
library that allows us to deliver QGIS on many different operating systems.
It provides the GUI (graphical user interface), rendering (2D and 3D),
network access, calculations and many more. But it is not the only library
that is essential for QGIS. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_(software)
for more information on QT.

Or maybe the "Q" still refers to "Quantum" - which I would assume that it
means that it is a very "small" GIS, referring to the humble beginnings of
QGIS, which as far as I know started as a Postgis viewer.

@Gary - could you please comment on this question?

Thanks,
Andreas

On 4 September 2018 at 07:33, Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I assumed `Q` came from the Qt framework used since the beginning, but
> only Gary knos that for sure.
>
> All the best.
>
> Il 09/03/2018 11:35 PM, gavin.schrock at xyht.com ha scritto:
>
> Thank you Tim,
>
> It only gets mentioned once, a to note that it was once used but is now no
> longer, only in the article mentioning the origins ,and for all other
> articles QGIS is the only term used.
>
> G
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From*: "Tim Sutton" <tim at kartoza.com> <tim at kartoza.com>
> *Sent*: Monday, September 03, 2018 2:23 PM
> *To*: gavin.schrock at xyht.com
> *Cc*: "qgis-psc" <qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org> <qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org>,
> "Paolo Cavallini" <cavallini at faunalia.it> <cavallini at faunalia.it>
> *Subject*: Re: [Qgis-psc] A question on the etymology of QGIS
>
> Hi Gavin
>
>
>
> On 03 Sep 2018, at 23:02, gavin.schrock at xyht.com <gavin.schrock at xyHt.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Paolo and team,
>
> I have a quick question regarding the 4 articles appearing in the
> September issue of xyHt Magazine.  There are four articles containing
> insights from you, Nick B, Anita, Tim S, etc.  I'm the editor of xyHt and a
> question has come up about the Q in QGIS.  The running of these articles
> came directly f=as result of inquiries from our readers asking to
> learn more about QGIS. One of the questions, while perhaps trivial was
> "what is the meaning of the Q in QGIS".
>
> I fully understand that in the present  that no one would ever refer to
> QGIS with the 'quantum' prefix, but it was part of the history and all we
> wanted to do was resolve the mystery of the 'Q" by stating: *at one time
> referred to as Quantum GIS, but now simply as QGIS*
>
> One of the article contributors would like us to remove any mention of
> 'quantum', but is that the desire of the entire team?  We are a news
> publication, and the history is part of the news. Does the board have any
> problem with us mentioning this item from the history of QGIS as stated
> above?
>
>
> I think there is no problem mentioning that it was formally called Quantum
> GIS, but it would be good to use QGIS consistently after that. The Q /
> Quantum word don’t have any deeper meaning that I am aware of.
>
> Regards
>
> Tim
>
>
>
>
> Kindest regards,
>
> Gavin Schrock, PLS
> Editor, xyHt Magazine
> www.xyht.com
> +206-816-9338
>
> _______________________________________________
> Qgis-psc mailing list
> Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>
>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Tim Sutton*
>
> *Co-founder:* Kartoza
> *Ex Project chair:* QGIS.org
>
> Visit http://kartoza.com to find out about open source:
>
> Desktop GIS programming services
> Geospatial web development
> GIS Training
> Consulting Services
>
> *Skype*: timlinux
> *IRC:* timlinux on #qgis at freenode.net
>
>
> --
> Paolo Cavallini - www.faunalia.eu
> QGIS & PostGIS courses: http://www.faunalia.eu/training.htmlhttps://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=IT&q=qgis,arcgis
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Qgis-psc mailing list
> Qgis-psc at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc
>



-- 

--
Andreas Neumann
QGIS.ORG board member (treasurer)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-psc/attachments/20180904/7374701f/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: KartozaNewLogoThumbnail.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 6122 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-psc/attachments/20180904/7374701f/attachment.jpg>


More information about the Qgis-psc mailing list