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A very simple question: Is there a simple tool in QGIS to graphically visualise geometry formatted as text?

Example geometry:

"POLYGON((571178 6337246,571178 6402217,598061 6402217,598061 6337246,571178 6337246))"

Result:

A layer in QGIS showing the polygon from above.

The intention is to do quick and dirty visualisation for debugging purposes - I feel it is easier to relate to a graphical representation than a coordinate list.

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3 Answers

up vote 17 down vote accepted

Try "QuickWKT" plugin. You have to allow experimental plugins to be able to install it.

enter image description here

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Just about exactly what I was looking for - thanks a lot! – Chau Aug 10 '11 at 6:44
@underdark, will QuickWKT render multiple WKT features in the same "paste"? That is, given your screenshot, can you input multiple features using some sort of delimiter? I tried comma, semicolon, and linebreaks but none of those worked. Any thoughts? – elrobis Dec 3 '11 at 17:51
Nice! Exactly what I was looking for! – Burkhard Mar 1 at 8:27
up vote 8 down vote

Indeed there is! Look here for how to achieve it with the Add Delimited Text Layer plugin.

Essentially you create a CSV file (although you should use a delimiter other than comma), where one column is the WKT representation of your geometry. Then when you select that file in the plugin, it picks up that there is a WKT column, and does the right thing.

I can't vouch for its robustness, but the sample you gave works fine:

id|wkt
1|POLYGON((571178 6337246,571178 6402217,598061 6402217,598061 6337246,571178 6337246))

enter image description here

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In an ideal world, I would imagine a window with a textbox where I could input my string. But apart from my imagination, your solution comes close :) Thanks a lot, I will try it out. – Chau Aug 9 '11 at 12:46
1  
An option would be to develop a plugin yourself, which would be a fairly simple bit of Python, or sponsor a developer to do it for you. – MerseyViking Aug 9 '11 at 13:55
3  
No need. QuickWKT already exists. We're approaching an ideal world ;) – underdark♦ Aug 9 '11 at 15:22
In case anyone else didn't know how to change the delimiter, in Windows go to the control panel > Regional and Language Options > Additonal Settings/Customize > List Separator and type in | instead of , – coelacanth Dec 11 '12 at 16:20
up vote 0 down vote

Quick and dirty: select the record in the table of attributes, ctrl-c and then paste with ctrl-v in a text editor. Along with attributes you will see also the geometry as text.

Probably there are more elegant alternatives.

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My goal is to visualise the string as geometry in a layer. – Chau Aug 9 '11 at 12:13

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