QGIS a constantly growing free and open-source geospatial software contributing to scientific development

Abstract

QGIS is the most popular free geospatial software in the world. QGIS belongs to the Open-Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). Among the main strengths of this Geographic Information Systems are: the incorporation of tools via plugins, and a community of users and developers in constant growth. Despite the importance on the use of QGIS on the scientific community, to date there are no systematic studies indicating how the acceptance of this software has evolved through time. Therefore, the objective of this research was to characterize the scientific production and extent where QGIS has been used as their main geospatial tool. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of documents published in Scopus from 2005 to 2020 (931 manuscripts). The annual rate of publications increase was 40.3%. We found strong and positive correlations regarding the number of contributing code programmers (r=0.66, p0.005); and the total income of the QGIS project (r=0.88, p0.001). Seventy-two percent of the publications were included in six fields of study, being Earth and Planetary Sciences the most representative. Italy was the country with larger scientific production, while the USA was the most influential country (being the first, regarding the number of citations). In terms of the countries, the larger number of papers found were from Portugal, Italy, Brazil, and France. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives stands among journals with the largest number of publications (47). In terms of collaborative networks among countries, we found strong links between authors from Germany, Switzerland, Greece, and Spain. Author network analysis showed three solid networks in different fields of study. We observed a favorable trend in the acceptance of QGIS across the world and a widespread development of collaborative networks. The present paper allowed increase the knowledge of geographic information systems, especially the development of scientific production using QGIS.

A Phytogeographic Approach of the Savanic Formations of Ceará: Beta Diversity Patterns and Prospects for Conservation / Uma Abordagem Fitogeográfica Das Formações Savânicas Do Ceará: Padrões De Diversidade Beta E Perspectivas Para a Conservação

“…In total, 11 areas were selected for analysis, with the classification of vegetation types in accordance with the proposal by Ribeiro and Walter (2008), as well as the concept of "savanna" used here to encompass all areas in the state that have typical Cerrado plant components, regardless of their arrangement in the landscape. Distribution maps of these areas were created in QGIS 3.28 Firenze (Rosas-Chavoya et al, 2022), and each location was placed within the context of the Phytogeological Units of Ceará, as defined by Figueiredo (1997) and Moro et al (2015). For each area, information related to the number of genera and species per family, as well as the number of species per genus, was selected.…”

Multitemporal Analysis of Potential Geographic Distribution of Lama Guanicoe

“…QGIS, es software libre que sirve para visualizar, editar y realizar análisis de datos geoespaciales complejos. (Rosas, 2021). El software fue descargado de https://qgis.org/es/site/forusers/download.html R studio, es un software libre y gratuito que se utiliza para trabajar datos estadísticos, con él podemos realizar análisis estadísticos y gráficos.…”

Evaluation of Forestry Component Survival in Plots of the Program “Sembrando Vida” (Sowing Life) Using Drones

“…Subsequently, to perform the visual assessment of survival, the generated orthomosaics were integrated into the free and open source geographic information system software, QGIS 3.28 [38], to detect the status of individuals grouped into live or dead categories and thus calculate survival. Thus, Figure 3 shows the contrast between alive and dead seedlings from the on-the-ground field view (Figure 3a,b, respectively) and the orthogonal view of the orthomosaic generated with photogrammetry displayed in QGIS (Figure 3c,d).…”