Generating large number of maps using PyQGIS?

Question

I have to make a large number (hundreds) of distribution maps of species. I have a shapefile that contain the distributions for each species, and for each one, I would like to get a map as an image (jpg, png or otherwise) which contain the name of the species concerned, the legend (to distinguish areas of annual distributions, breeding, non-breeding, etc. ...).

I'd like to use QGIS to do this.

Answer 1

I had a similar requirement and put together a QGIS plugin to generate the maps, based on a shapefile with point localities for all species (it assumes a unique taxon name in the attribute table as the common identifier). My requirements were not as complex - I did not need seasonal information, titles or legend, but it may be a useful starting point for you. For the more complex aspects, you will need to use the map composer. See the PyQGIS cookbook for more on that.

Plugin

The plugin automates the creation of the maps, and allows you to configure extents, resolution and other aspects. It applies the same style to the output as your grid overlay. Currently it only runs on the development version of QGIS (1.9 or later).

• Short intro page
• QGIS Plugin page
• GitHub repository

Sextante script

Before I made the plugin I worked out the logic using SEXTANTE. This user script should also work in 1.8 (haven't tested it). The distribution style file (.qml) is the style of the output distributions (it ignores the style of the distribution overlay). Currently it places output maps in the temp directory based on your operating system defaults (/tmp in Linux, and various places in Windows - defined by the TEMP environmental variable). You can pretty easily define that yourself in the code though. You will also need to edit the extent and the output resolution in the code (and the background colour if you want a different colour for the sea).

#Definition of inputs and outputs
#==================================
##[Scratch]=group
##all_localities=vector
##taxon_field=field all_localities
##africa_map=vector
##sa_map=vector
##grid_layer=vector
##distribution_style_file=file

#Algorithm body
#==================================
from qgis.core import *
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
from sextante.core.QGisLayers import QGisLayers
from sextante.core.SextanteVectorWriter import SextanteVectorWriter
import tempfile
import os

def print_map(taxon,taxon_shp):
    #load taxon layer (necessary?)
    #QGisLayers.load(taxon_shp,name = "taxon",style = distribution_style_file)
    taxon_layer = QgsVectorLayer(taxon_shp,"taxon","ogr")
    QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().addMapLayer(taxon_layer)
    taxon_layer.loadNamedStyle(distribution_style_file)

    # create image (dimensions 325x299)
    img = QImage(QSize(325,299), QImage.Format_ARGB32_Premultiplied)

    # set image's background color
    color = QColor(192,192,255)   # blue sea
    img.fill(color.rgb())

    # create painter
    p = QPainter()
    p.begin(img)
    p.setRenderHint(QPainter.Antialiasing)

    render = QgsMapRenderer()

    # create layer set
    africa_layer = QGisLayers.getObjectFromUri(africa_map)
    sa_layer = QGisLayers.getObjectFromUri(sa_map)
    #taxon_layer = QGisLayers.getObjectFromUri(taxon_shp)

    lst = []
    lst.append(taxon_layer.id())    
    lst.append(sa_layer.id())
    lst.append(africa_layer.id())

    render.setLayerSet(lst)

    # set extent (xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax)
    rect = QgsRectangle(14.75,-36.00,34.00,-21.00)
    render.setExtent(rect)

    # set output size
    render.setOutputSize(img.size(), img.logicalDpiX())

    # do the rendering
    render.render(p)
    p.end()

    # save image
    #outdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(output))
    tempdir = tempfile.gettempdir()
    img.save(os.path.join(tempdir,taxon+".png"),"png")

    # remove taxon layer from project
    QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().removeMapLayers([taxon_layer.id()])

tempdir = tempfile.gettempdir()   
taxa = sextante.runalg('qgis:listuniquevalues', all_localities, taxon_field, None)['UNIQUE_VALUES'].split(";")
for taxon in taxa:
    sextante.runalg('qgis:selectbyattribute', all_localities, taxon_field, 0, taxon)
    sextante.runalg('qgis:selectbylocation', grid_layer, all_localities, 0)
    filename = os.path.join(tempdir,"taxon.shp")    #memory file better?
    sextante.runalg('qgis:saveselectedfeatures', grid_layer, filename)
    print_map(taxon,filename)

Answer 2

I took few time to work on this today. So I made some changes to your script. I don't need to add an additional selectbyattribute and saveselectedfeatures step as I use a .qml files and the Seasonal field is in the same shapefile. Below, you can see what I have done:

#Definition of inputs and outputs
#==================================
##[Scratch]=group
##all_localities=vector
##taxon_field=field all_localities
##seasonal_field=field all_localities
##countries_map=vector
##distribution_style_file=file
##output_folder=folder

#Algorithm body
#==================================
from qgis.core import *
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
from sextante.core.QGisLayers import QGisLayers
from sextante.core.SextanteVectorWriter import SextanteVectorWriter
import tempfile
import os

def print_map(taxon,taxon_shp):
#load taxon layer (necessary?)
#QGisLayers.load(taxon_shp,name = "taxon",style = distribution_style_file)
taxon_layer = QgsVectorLayer(taxon_shp,"taxon","ogr")
QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().addMapLayer(taxon_layer)
taxon_layer.loadNamedStyle(distribution_style_file)

# create image (dimensions 325x299)
img = QImage(QSize(325,299), QImage.Format_ARGB32_Premultiplied)

# set image's background color
color = QColor(221,249,254)   # blue sea
img.fill(color.rgb())

# create painter
p = QPainter()
p.begin(img)
p.setRenderHint(QPainter.Antialiasing)

render = QgsMapRenderer()

# create layer set
countries_layer = QGisLayers.getObjectFromUri(countries_map)
taxon_layer = QGisLayers.getObjectFromUri(taxon_shp)

lst = []
lst.append(taxon_layer.id())    
lst.append(countries_layer.id())
render.setLayerSet(lst)

# set extent (xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax)
rect = QgsRectangle(-11,32,39,71)
render.setExtent(rect)
# set output size
render.setOutputSize(img.size(), img.logicalDpiX())

# do the rendering
render.render(p)
p.end()

#save image
#outdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(output))
tempdir = output_folder
img.save(os.path.join(tempdir,taxon+".png"),"png")

# remove taxon layer from project
QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().removeMapLayers([taxon_layer.id()])

tempdir = tempfile.gettempdir()  

taxa = sextante.runalg('qgis:listuniquevalues', all_localities, taxon_field, None)        ['UNIQUE_VALUES'].split(";")

for taxon in taxa:
sextante.runalg('qgis:selectbyattribute', all_localities, taxon_field, 0, taxon)
filename = os.path.join(tempdir,"taxon.shp")    #memory file better?
sextante.runalg('qgis:saveselectedfeatures', all_localities, filename)
print_map(taxon,filename)

If you have any remark or advices to improve it, don't hesitate.

To improve it, the best would be when we select the extent (for exemple Europe), it use this extent to select only species included inside this extent. This, because I obtain maps for all species, even those which are outside europe for example (so I have many empty maps). Do you think that is possible?

Cheers,

Onesime