Tell me more ×
Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for cartographers, geographers and GIS professionals. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite

Given my enthusiasm for QGIS, does anyone have a simple workflow for drawing cross sections of earth features? My thing is that QGIS is being used to present the plan view, but we have a little interest in some elevations as well. All the data is one set and is simply an elevation value in the attribute table, I don't want to have to move all that to CAD. One logic workaround is to present the z value as the y, but what is the simplest process to achieve this?

I will have to reveal that I am a dunce in paper space in CAD, and would be more comfortable with the QGIS Composer.

ciao

share|improve this question
I'm guessing you want to do it on a vector layer? – Nathan W Jul 21 '12 at 1:01
I think so, probably anything that is convenient to use in Composer. – Willy Jul 21 '12 at 1:04
I got going with Excel and some lines in a chart. Once set up I knocked off 6 in 3 hrs. I pasted the crossections pngs at the bottom of the map in QGIS MAP Composer, quite happy in the end. – Willy Jul 21 '12 at 11:44

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

First you have to use a DEM, then you have to have installed the terrain profile plugin. Once is active, all you have to do is draw a line over your DEM and the plugin will calculate the profile. A nice thing is that you can play with the vertical exaggeration and also that you can export the profile as a PDF. A minor thing is that the drawing tool of the plugin only allows you trace a straight line...Git it a try!

share|improve this answer
Hmm, tried to get the data into a format for a dem, not suitable for that. – Willy Jul 21 '12 at 4:06
1  
Is this because your elevation data is too thin to let you make a meaningful DEM? How about using an SRTM DEM together with the 'profile from line' plug-in. Nick. – nhopton Jul 21 '12 at 8:20
The elevation data is from two sources, a DGPS survey of points, and from a CAD file containing developed survey data including contours. So it is all vector data. – Willy Jul 21 '12 at 11:41
If your contours have elevation values you can build a dem using the interpolation plugin. The you can use the terrain profile plugin – Gerardo Jimenez Jul 22 '12 at 0:56

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.