Native SLD support in QGIS

The current Quantum GIS master (i.e. the latest development version) supports now loading and saving of Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) styles in the layer properties dialog.

The QGIS API has been extended by the new methods saveSldStyle and loadSldStyle in QgsMapLayer and writeSld and loadSld in QgsVectorLayer. Currently these methods are not yet available in the Python API, but it is simple to add them in the corresponding SIP files.

Line extraction with GRASS GIS

This post presents another way how to use Landsat imagery to map features for OpenStreetMap in an easy way with free and open source software only. After remapping the Nam Ngum 1, Nam Leuk reservoir and other lakes using a similar approach, I wanted to improve the Nam Ngum river. The second largest river in Laos and an important tributary to the Mekong was in OpenStreetMap only mapped as a single line instead of an area, although it's more than hundred metre wide downstream of the Nam Ngum 1 reservoir.