On February 24th, the long-awaited official release of QGIS 3.0 with the codename “Girona” was released. QGIS 3.0 is the third major version of the free and well-known desktop GIS software.
We are pleased to announce the release of QGIS 3.0 ‘Girona’ https://t.co/6Y2uUqii6T pic.twitter.com/POKOSpTaZs
— QGIS (@qgis) February 23, 2018
Back in October, Till Adams, partner at terrestris, gave an introduction to QGIS 3.0 at the OSGeo-Park of this year’s INTERGEO. It is hardly possible at this point to present all the new features of QGIS 3.0, but we would like to point out some highlights of the new version here.
The first important piece of news in advance: It is possible to open projects created under QGIS 2.x in QGIS 3 as well. It becomes more problematic if your project uses QGIS plugins, because these have to be adapted. Some of the plugin developers have already adapted their plugins, but this is unlikely to apply to the majority of plugins. However, a random evaluation by terrestris developers has shown that the expected adjustments are not too dramatic. Due to the version changes of QT and Python (now Python 3), adjustments are required in any case.
With the new QT version, the interface has been made clearer. In addition, QGIS 3.0 itself comes with a lot of new standard symbols and symbol groups. Furthermore, some new renderers have been integrated, such as a point cluster and a unique value renderer for discrete raster surfaces. A powerful 3D rendering engine has been integrated for 3D visualization. A redesigned geoprocessing toolbox allows easier access to the largely optimized geoprocessing tools in QGIS. The default support for Geopackage as a data format is also pleasing. A complete list of all changes can be found in the official changelog. Kurt Menke, the author of some QGIS books, presents his personal highlights in his blog post.
To install QGIS 3, simply visit the official download page; for Windows users, the standalone installer for 64-bit systems should be easy to download. If you would like to use other open source GIS software in addition to QGIS, you can also try the OSGEO installer, which contains a variety of other free GIS software.
Basically, it is worth trying out QGIS 3.0. We currently advise against completely replacing your proven and stable QGIS 2.x. The 3 version certainly has one or two teething troubles as a surprise and is also marked as an ‘early adopter release’. If you have any questions about QGIS 3.0, please do not hesitate to contact us.
