3

Fairly competent ArcGIS user here, very new to QGIS.

What I am trying to do is create a one-mile buffer around the highlighted parcel in QGIS 2.14 (from a .shp). Seemed straightforward enough: select polygon, click 'use only selected feature' (said polygon), input buffer distance in meters (I will reproject if needed, but I haven't even got that far yet), browse to output folder, and..."No feature selected, please uncheck 'use selected' or make a selection"

I did select a feature. It's right there, highlighted. Or is there some other way to 'select a feature' that I don't know about? Attached is a screen capture of what happens when I thought I had it figured out.

enter image description here

Improve this question
1
  • Also, perhaps a caution from looking at the image you included would be to make sure you have the "Distance" field set properly. Right now it is set to an OBJECTID_1 field, which unless you chose it just for a test, may give you some undesirable results.
    – Get Spatial
    Commented Apr 22, 2016 at 22:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10

You haven't selected the feature, you used the Identify tool. The Select tool icon 2 over to the right in your toolbars

enter image description here

Improve this answer
2
  • OK, I think I figured it out. Only thing is, the buffer (which should be 1 mile, about 1610 m) is HUGE- larger than the entire county. I recall reading somewhere that you have to reproject sometimes (which confuses me somewhat because I don't recall ArcGIS requiring that step to make a buffer). Something about reprojecting from meters to degrees?
    – dlunsford
    Commented Apr 28, 2016 at 20:15
  • QGIS uses the project CRS for the units. Since you have your project in WGS84 (EPSG:4326) the distance for the buffer will be in degrees. In order to calculate a correct distance, you do need to set the CRS to a projected grid, like UTM or Psuedo Mercator that use meters as their units
    – HDunn
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 18:24

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

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