Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| QGIS | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Developer | QGIS Development Team |
| Release | July 2002 |
| Stable release | 4.2.3[1] 
/ 25 September 2026 |
| Written in | C++, Python, Qt |
| Platform | Windows, Linux, OpenBSD, macOS; Android (beta) |
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Type | Geographic information system |
| License | GNU GPLv2 |
| Website | qgis |
| Repository | |
QGIS is a free and open-source geographic information system (GIS) software.[2] QGIS supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.[3] It supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data in a range of data formats. Its name comes from an abbreviation of its previous name, Quantum GIS.
QGIS functions as geographic information system (GIS) software, allowing users to analyze and edit spatial information, in addition to composing and exporting graphical maps.[2] QGIS supports raster, vector, mesh, and point cloud layers.[4] Vector data is stored as either point, line, or polygon features. Multiple formats of raster images are supported, and the software can georeference images.
QGIS supports shapefiles, personal geodatabases, dxf, MapInfo, PostGIS, and other industry-standard formats.[5] Web services, including Web Map Service and Web Feature Service, are also supported to allow use of data from external sources.[6]
QGIS integrates with other open-source GIS packages, including PostGIS, GRASS GIS, Felt (GIS company), SAGA GIS,[7] and MapServer.[6] Plugins written in Python or C++ extend QGIS's capabilities. Plugins can geocode using the Google Geocoding API, perform geoprocessing functions similar to those of the standard tools found in ArcGIS, and interface with PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SpatiaLite and MySQL databases.
QGIS is built on top of, and standard installs include, broadly-used open-source GIS format and projection conversion libraries GDAL and proj.
Gary Sherman began the development of Quantum GIS in early 2002, and it became an incubator project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation in 2007.[8] Version 1.0 was released in January 2009.[9]
In 2013, along with release of version 2.0 the name was officially changed from Quantum GIS to QGIS to avoid confusion as both names had been used in parallel.[10]
Written mainly in C++, QGIS makes extensive use of the Qt library.[6] In addition to Qt, required dependencies of QGIS include GEOS and SQLite. GDAL, GRASS GIS, PostGIS, and PostgreSQL are also recommended, as they provide access to additional data formats.[11]
As of 2017[update], QGIS is available for multiple operating systems including Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, and Microsoft Windows.[12] There are several third-party apps that allow use of QGIS on mobile devices such as QField (Android, iOS and Windows), Mergin Maps (Android, iOS and Windows) and IntraMaps Roam (Windows).[12]
QGIS can also be used as a graphical user interface to GRASS. QGIS has a small install footprint on the host file system compared to commercial GISs and generally requires less RAM and processing power; hence it can be used on older hardware or running simultaneously with other applications where CPU power may be limited.[citation needed]
QGIS is maintained by volunteer developers who regularly release updates and bug fixes. As of 2012[update], developers have translated QGIS into 48 languages and the application is used internationally in academic and professional environments. Several companies offer support and feature development services.[13]
QGIS enables users to visualize their data using maps, charts, and diagrams while customizing the presentation with a variety of symbology choices. The capabilities for geographical analysis provided by QGIS include buffer construction, spatial querying, and geoprocessing. For more complex geographical analysis, users can additionally make use of plugins and algorithms. QGIS also makes it simple to share and publish geospatial data as maps, online services, or print maps in a variety of file formats, such as shapefiles, GeoTIFFs, and KML files.
In order to prepare printed map with QGIS, Print Layout is used. It can be used for adding multiple map views, labels, legends, etc.
As a free software application under GNU GPLv2, QGIS can be freely modified to perform different or more specialized tasks. Two examples are the QGIS Browser and QGIS Server applications, which use the same code for data access and rendering, but present different front-end interfaces.[14]
Many public and private organizations have adopted QGIS, including:
"LTR" indicates a Long Term Release. Detailed changelogs are available for releases 2.0 and later.[19]
| Version | Codename | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0.1-alpha | 2002–07 | First public release | |
| 1.0 | Kore | 2009-01-05 | |
| 2.0 | Dufour | 2013-09-08 | New vector API, integration of SEXTANTE geoprocessing, symbology and labeling overhaul. Dropped "Quantum" from the name. |
| 3.0 | Girona | 2018-02-23 | Significant rewrite, upgrading to Qt5, PyQt5, and Python 3. |
| 3.2 | Bonn | 2018-06-22 | |
| 3.4 LTR | Madeira | 2018-10-26 | |
| 3.6 | Noosa | 2019-02-22 | |
| 3.8 | Zanzibar | 2019-06-21 | |
| 3.10 LTR | A Coruña | 2019-10-25 | |
| 3.12 | Bucureşti | 2020-02-21 | |
| 3.14 | Pi | 2020-06-19 | New temporal controller. |
| 3.16 LTR | Hannover | 2020-10-23 | |
| 3.18 | Zürich | 2021-02-19 | |
| 3.20 | Odense | 2021-06-18 | |
| 3.22 LTR | Białowieża | 2021-10-22 | |
| 3.24 | Tisler | 2022-02-18 | |
| 3.26 | Buenos Aires | 2022-06-17 | Improved pointcloud and 3D support. New profile plotting framework. |
| 3.28 LTR | Firenze | 2022-10-21 | |
| 3.30 | 's-Hertogenbosch | 2023-03-03 | |
| 3.32 | Lima | 2023-06-23 | |
| 3.34 LTR | Prizren | 2023-10-27 | |
| 3.36 | Maidenhead | 2024-02-23 | |
| 3.38 | Grenoble | 2024-06-21 | |
| 3.40 LTR | Bratislava | 2024-10-25 | |
| 3.42 | Münster | 2025-02-21 | |
| 3.44 LTR | Solothurn | 2025-06-20 | |
| 4.0 | Norrköping | 2026-03-06 | major upgrade to Qt6 framework |
| 4.2 | Belém do Pará | 2026-07-03 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
QGIS is a free and open-source geographic information system (GIS) software. QGIS supports Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports viewing, editing, printing, and analysis of geospatial data in a range of data formats. Its name comes from an abbreviation of its previous name, Quantum GIS.
GRASS (originally Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, formerly often referred to as GRASS GIS) is a software package used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, producing graphics and maps, spatial and temporal modeling, and visualizing. It can handle raster, topological vector, image processing, and graphic data, and it can be used as a geographic information system (GIS). GRASS contains over 400 modules to render maps and images on monitor and paper; manipulate raster and vector data including vector networks; process multispectral image data; and create, manage, and store spatial data. It is licensed and released as free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It runs on multiple operating systems, including macOS, Windows and Linux. Users can interface with the software features through a graphical user interface (GUI) or by plugging into GRASS via other software such as QGIS. They can also interface with the modules directly through a bespoke shell that the application launches or by calling individual modules directly from a standard shell. The GRASS development team is a multinational group consisting of developers at many locations. GRASS is one of the eight initial software projects of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation and is fiscally sponsored by NumFOCUS.
Watershed delineation is the process of identifying the boundary of a watershed, also referred to as a catchment, drainage basin, or river basin. It is an important step in many areas of environmental science, engineering, and management, for example to study flooding, aquatic habitat, or water pollution. The activity of watershed delineation is typically performed by geographers, scientists, and engineers. Historically, watershed delineation was done by hand on paper topographic maps, sometimes supplemented with field research. In the 1980s, automated methods were developed for watershed delineation with computers and electronic data, and these are now in widespread use. Computerized methods for watershed delineation use digital elevation models (DEMs), datasets that represent the height of the Earth's land surface. Computerized watershed delineation may be done using specialized hydrologic modeling software such as WMS, geographic information system software like ArcGIS or QGIS, or with programming languages like Python or R. Watersheds are a fundamental geographic unit in hydrology, the science concerned with the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth. Delineating watersheds may be considered an application of hydrography, the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers. It is also related to geomorphometry, the quantitative science of analyzing land surfaces. Watershed delineation continues to be an active area of research, with scientists and programmers developing new algorithms and methods, and making use of increasingly high-resolution data from aerial or satellite remote sensing.
Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Keyhole Earth Viewer. It was created by Keyhole, Inc, which was acquired by Google in 2004. KML became an international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium in 2008. Google Earth was the first program able to view and graphically edit KML files, but KML support is now available in many GIS software applications, such as Marble, QGIS, and ArcGIS.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.