Preface

QGIS is a user-friendly, open source Geographic Information System (GIS) that runs on Linux, Unix, macOS, and Windows. The popularity of open source GIS, and QGIS in particular, has been growing rapidly over the last few years.

This book will take you, as a new user, on a journey from the first time you fire up QGIS, all the way through to being on the cusp of developing your own processing pathway. We will travel together through familiarization with the user interface, loading some data, editing it, and then creating data. QGIS often surprises new users with its mapping capabilities. We will unlock these doors by looking at styling and creating your first map. And that is not all! Learning about spatial analysis and the powerful tools in QGIS will form the final part of this introductory book, before we end our journey by looking at the Python processing options.