Intersect multiple layers at once QGIS

Question

I'm very new to QGIS and am just learning the intersect function. I have about 10 polygons that overlap (not perfectly) and one layer of about say 15 points. I want to know with which of the polygons each point intersects. The goal is to eventually have data that looks like:

TRUE/FALSE not needed. Any way to denote yes the point intersects with the polygon or no it does not will suffice.

Answer 1

Queries shall do the work but they can probably be optimised, e.g. proceeding with a loop. Currently working on those improvements

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Tested on QGIS 2.18 and QGIS 3.4

I can suggest using a "Virtual Layer" through Layer > Add Layer > Add/Edit Virtual Layer...

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Option 1. For features in different layers

Let's assume we have the following layers "some_points" and two polygon layers, "Layer_1" (two features) and "Layer_2" (three features) accordingly, see image below.

With the following query, it is possible to create a variable that is either TRUE or FALSE.

SELECT poi.*,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "Layer_1" AS l1
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, l1.geometry)
         AND l1.id = 1)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Layer1_1,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "Layer_1" AS l1
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, l1.geometry)
         AND l1.id = 2)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Layer1_2,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "Layer_2" AS l2
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, l2.geometry)
         AND l2.id = 1)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Layer2_1,   
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "Layer_2" AS l2
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, l2.geometry)
         AND l2.id = 2)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Layer2_2,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "Layer_2" AS l2
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, l2.geometry)
         AND l2.id = 3)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Layer2_3    
FROM "some_points" AS poi

The output Virtual Layer with its Attribute table will look as follows.

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Option 2. For features in one layer

Let's assume we have the following layers "some_points" and "some_polygons", see image below.

With the following query, it is possible to create a variable that is either TRUE or FALSE.

SELECT poi.*,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "some_polygons" AS pol
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, pol.geometry)
         AND pol.id = 1)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Polygon1,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "some_polygons" AS pol
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, pol.geometry)
         AND pol.id = 2)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Polygon2,
(CASE
    WHEN poi.id IN
        (SELECT poi.id
         FROM "some_points" AS poi, "some_polygons" AS pol
         WHERE st_intersects(poi.geometry, pol.geometry)
         AND pol.id = 3)
    THEN 'TRUE'
    ELSE 'FALSE'
    END) AS Polygon3    
FROM "some_points" AS poi

The output Virtual Layer with its Attribute table will look as follows.

Answer 2

I would go with a QGIS/LibreOffice combo (HT Kazuhito):

In QGIS

Use the intersection tool to create a new layer, with repeated features.

Each time a (point) feature of the Input layer is contained in a (polygon) feature of the Overlay layer, a new (point) feature is created in the Output layer.

(Point) features not contained in any (polygon) feature will not be created in the Output layer.

Beware: this can create a lot of features.

In LibreOffice / Excel

• Import/paste the table associated with the Output layer
• Create a pivot with a Layout like the one in the next screenshot:

Answer 3

You can do this with the join attributes by location (summary) tool.

If your polygons are in multiple layers, merge them into a single layer before proceeding. Use the merge vector layers tool or select, copy and paste the polygons into a single layer.

I'm assuming that your polygon layer has an attribute table field (eg, "name") which contains the polygon names (eg, polygon1, polygon2, etc). If you don't have this column, you can create it with the field calculator using this expression: 'polygon' || @row_number. Or you can use @row_number = 1 in step 1 instead of the expression "name" = 'polygon1'.

1. Use the Field Calculator to add a new numerical field named after each polygon.

   • The first polygon will have the number 1 in the column "polygon1", and 0 in the columns called "polygon2", "polygon3", etc. Use this expression: "name" = 'polygon1'

   

   • For the second column, "polygon2", use this expression: "name" = 'polygon2'
   • Continue in the same fashion until you have a new column for each polygon.

   

2. Use the Join Attributes by Location (Summary) tool, which you can find in the Processing Toolbox.

   • input layer: Points
   • join layer: Polygons
   • geometric predicate: intersects
   • fields to summarize: select all the fields you created in step 1
   • summaries to calculate: select Sum

   

   

The output is a point layer, with an attribute table that looks like this:

Each point has a 1 in the column representing each polygon that it intersects. Almost every point has a 0 in the columns for polygons that it doesn't intersect.

Points that don't intersect any polygon have in all the columns. If you need all the non-intersecting fields to have 0 (currently some of them are null), update each field with the field calculator.

• For example, for the field "polygon1" use this expression: if("polygon1" is null, 0, "polygon1") (This expression means: If the current value of the field "polygon1" is null, replace it with 0. Otherwise, keep the current value.)

If you want the 0's and nulls to display as FALSE, and the 1's to display as TRUE, you can set up Value Map field edit widgets in the layer properties.