Warning
Free maps, gis layers and ArcGIS shapefiles and geospatial data. Download Free TIGER/Line 2010 Census Redistricting (P.L. 94-171) ArcGIS Shapefiles.
As of 29 January, 2015 Google Maps Engine has stopped creation of new freeaccounts. If you already have a Maps Engine account, the Google Maps EngineConnector will continue to work till 29 January, 2016.
Import a GIS shapefile, or other vector dataset; Import GeoTIFF, or other raster. Not qualify, you may buy Google Earth Pro or download a 7-day free trial here. How do I download a Google Map as a vector file? Update Cancel. A d b y A h a! What is a marketing plan? Can you download Google Maps building outlines as a shapefile? How can I download a picture from Google Maps? How do you know the boundaries of maps you download in Google maps? How much data does Google Maps use?
- Here is a list of 10 global GIS data sets that you can download for free. 1 Natural Earth Data Natural Earth Data is number 1 on the list because it does an amazing job to suit the needs of cartographers.
- Pre-Made Maps Standard Map Products Demographic Maps Community Registry Maps Public Safety Maps (Police, Fire, EMS) Zoning Maps by City of Austin 200 Grid (Updated Quarterly) Aerial Photography Aerial Photography (1940-2017) Capital Area of Council of Governments (Additional orthoimagery/lidar) GIS Downloads GIS Data on Open Data Portal GIS Downloads (GIS data too large for the Open Data Portal.).
Google Maps Engine is a cloud based mapping platform for creating and sharingcustom maps. Google Maps Engine Connector is a pluginthat allows you to view and upload Google Maps Engine data from within QGIS.This tutorial will go through the process of creating a Google Maps Engineaccount, obtaining necessary credentials for using the connector, creating a mapusing Google Maps Engine and consuming the resulting map in QGIS.
Note
Disclaimer: I am the author of the Google Maps Engine Connector andcurrently part of the Google Maps team.
Overview of the task¶
We will take a line layer representing bike routes in San Francisco and uploadit to Google Maps Engine using the plugin. Once the layer is styled and a mapis created, we will add that map to QGIS as a WMS layer.
Other skills you will learn¶
- Using the Google Developer Console to set up a new project for using GoogleAPIs.
Get the data¶
San Francisco Data is an excellent sourceof open data for San Francisco.
- Download the SFMTA Bikeway Networkshapefile using the Export option on the portal.
Data Source: [SFMTA]
Create a Google Maps Engine account¶
- You can sign up for a free Google Maps Engine trial account. The trialaccount is a full featured Maps Engine instance with limited storage quota.Visit Google Maps Engine homepage andclick the Get started with a free account link.
- You will need to sign-in to your Google account. If you wish to use yourwork email, you can create a new Google account with your work email addressas well. Once signed in, you will see the Create a Maps EngineProject screen. Enter a Project Name which will identify youraccount when using Google Maps Engine. Accept the terms and clickAccept and create button.
Create a Google Developer Console project¶
- The Google Maps Engine Connector uses the
GoogleMapsEngineAPI
to access the data stored in your account. You will need to obtainspecial credentials which the plugin will use to programatically access yourdata. Visit Google Developer Consoleand click Create Project. EnterGMEConnectorforQGISAPI
as the PROJECT NAME andgme-qgis-api
as thePROJECT ID. These names are just a suggestion - you may use anyname and id you like.
- Once the project is created, click the APIs & auth link. Scrolldown and find the Google Maps Engine API. Click theOFF button to toggle it to ON.
- Next, click on the Credentials link. Click CREATE NEWCLIEND ID under the OAuth section.
- In the Create Client ID dialog, select InstalledApplication as the APPLICATION TYPE and Other asthe INSTALLED APPLICATION TYPE. Click Create ClientID.
- Once the client id is created, you will see a new section calledClient ID for native application. Note the Client IDand Client secret. These are the credentials you will need to usein QGIS.
- Back in QGIS, visit Plugins ‣ Manage and InstallPlugins... Find the
GoogleMapsEngineConnector
plugin andclick Install plugin.
- Once the plugin is installed, you will see a new toolbar in QGIS. Thistoolbar contains various tools to work with Google Maps Engine. Click theMore button.
- In the Advanced Settings dialog, enter the ClientID and Client Secret you obtained from Google DeveloperConsole. Click OK.
- As you entered new API credentials, you will be prompted to log-in andauthorize the plugin to use these. Sign-in to your Google account.
- Click Accept in the next screen.
Download Shapefiles From Google Maps Download
- If all went well, you will see a message indicating you have successfullylogged in.
- Now lets add the SFMTA Bikeway Network layer that was downloaded earlier.Go to Layer ‣ Add Vector Layer. Browse to the downloaded
SFMTA_Bikeway_Network.zip
file and click Open. Select theSFMTA_Bikeway_Network.shp
layer and click OK.
- One of the features of the
GoogleMapsEngineConnector
pluginis the ability to upload datasets directly from QGIS. Select theSFMTA_Bikeway_Network
layer and click Upload icon in thetoolbar.
- In the Upload a dataset to Google Maps Engine dialog, enter aDescription of the dataset. You may leave all other settings todefault values. Click OK.
- The plugin will use the Google Maps Engine API to upload the layer andcreate a Google Maps Engine Data Source. Once the upload is finished, anew browser tab will open and take you to the newly created data source.
- The next few steps will demonstrate the process of creating a map usingGoogle Maps Engine. Once the map is created, we will access that map usingthe plugin in QGIS. Once your vector table has finished processing, clickCreate styled layer.
- Name the layer as
SFMTA_Bikeway_Network
and click Create.
- Click Add rule to add a custom style for the layer.
- Choose the color and label options under the Line stylesection. Click Apply to view the style settings applied to yourlayer. You may also select No Basemap option from top-rightcorner to allow you to see your layer without the underlying basemap. Onceyou are satisfied with the styling, switch to the Info windowstab.
- Here you can specify what content is shown when a feature is clicked on themap. You can access the feature attributes using the markup
{attribute_name}
. In this case, we just want to display the street namefor the line feature. Enter the following in the text area. ClickApply and click on any line feature on the map to test the infowindow code. When done, check the Publish on exit button andclick Exit.
- Click Add to map to create a map with this layer.
- Select Create new and enter
SFMTABikewayNetwork
as theMap title.
- You will see a new map containing the styled layer. You have an option ofchoosing different basemaps for the map. Since this is a bike path map, youcan select the Terrain style basemap.
- Click Publish map.
- Once the map is published, click on the Access links icon.
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- You will see various options to view, embed and access the newly createdmap. Since we will be accessing the map using the QGIS plugin, you do notneed any links from here.
- Back in QGIS, click the Search icon in the toolbar.
- In the Maps Engine Maps dialog, you will see your map listed.Click on the row to select it. Click Add Selected to Map.
- The plugin will query Google Maps Engine and load a vector layer containingthe bounding box of the map. If you do not see any data on the canvas,right-click on the
SFMTA_Bikeway_Network
layer and selectZoom to Layer Extent.
- Click on the bounding box layer to select it. You will notice that theView tools are now enabled. Click on the WMSOverlay icon in the toolbar.
- In the Select A Layer to Add dialog, choose the
SFMTA_Bikeway_Network
layer and click Add Selected to Map.
- A new WMS layer will be added to QGIS and you will see your styled layerfrom Google Maps Engine displayed in QGIS.
California Shapefile Download
Hope this tutorial gives an overview of the capabilities of the plugin. How to download netflix on xbox 360. You canvisit the plugin homepageto view the source code and learn more about the plugin.
Below is the Google Maps Engine map that was created for this tutorial.