Snapping point to line in QGIS

Question

In QGIS I have a point feature class that I want to snap to the nearest line feature class so that the point is on top of the line. How would I do this?

Answer 1

Use Menu Processing > Toolbox > Geometry by expression on the point layer with this expression:

closest_point (
    overlay_nearest ('name_of_your_line_layer',$geometry)[0],
    $geometry
)

---

The same effect can be achieved using Geometry generator (for visualization purpose only, see here for details).

Solution using Geometry generator: blue = initial points, red = points snapped to closest line:

Answer 2

If you are looking for a Pyqgis solution you can try this code:

from math import sqrt

#define layers
points = QgsProject.instance().mapLayersByName("point")[0]
linelayer = QgsProject.instance().mapLayersByName("line")[0]
provider = linelayer.dataProvider()

#spatial index for polygonal layer (Archaeological Features)
spIndex = QgsSpatialIndex() #create spatial index object
linelayer.removeSelection()
feat = QgsFeature()
fit = provider.getFeatures() #gets all features in layer


#selected points on DP
selected_DP = []
new_points = []

for p_feat in points.selectedFeatures():
    old_DP_point = p_feat.geometry().asPoint()
    old_DP_point_Wkt = p_feat.geometry().asWkt()
    selected_DP.append(old_DP_point)
    old_DP_point_id = [p_feat.id()]
    
    
    # insert features to index
    while fit.nextFeature(feat):
        spIndex.insertFeature(feat)
    pt = selected_DP[0]
    
    # QgsSpatialIndex.nearestNeighbor (QgsPoint point, int neighbors)
    nearestIds = spIndex.nearestNeighbor(pt,1) # we need only one neighbour
    
    single_nearestIds = []
    if len(nearestIds) == 1:
        single_nearestIds = nearestIds
    if len(nearestIds) > 1:
        single_nearestIds.append(nearestIds[-1])
    
    #select nearest polygon by id
    linelayer.select(nearestIds)
    linelayer
    for feature in linelayer.selectedFeatures():
        g_poly = feature.geometry()


       
        
        calc_new_geom = g_poly.closestSegmentWithContext(old_DP_point)
        new_geom = calc_new_geom[1]
        sqrDist = calc_new_geom[0]
        
      
        
        real_distance = sqrt(sqrDist)
        

        if real_distance <= 5:
            new_pt_wtk = new_geom.asWkt()
            points.startEditing()
            points.beginEditCommand("Snap Drawing Point")
            points.selectByIds(old_DP_point_id)
            new_geometry = QgsGeometry.fromWkt(new_pt_wtk)
            points.changeGeometry(old_DP_point_id[0], new_geometry)

            # Save the changes in the buffer 
            points.triggerRepaint()
            #iface.mapCanvas().refresh()
            
            points.endEditCommand()
        else:
            print ('nudda')
        
        
linelayer.removeSelection()

The logic used in this code is the same used in a plugin that I've created some time ago. You can check the complete code here: https://github.com/PCA-Geodata/Snap-Point-QGIS-Plugin