6. Geological Data

Geological data is varied in nature but is usually either as points, lines, or polygons. Geological mapping comprises the collection of points using a GPS, with lines and polygons drawn as an overlay on aerial or satellite images. More commonly these days is that the data is collected in a portable field device and uploaded to the GIS database.

Hint

When editing data, remember that in QGIS, it is a click to select and then click to the location to be moved - not a click and drag!

The following discussion covers a variety of tasks commonly associated with field data collection and interpretation. Detailed editing tasks will not be discussed as there are numerous resources available on the web, in the QGIS User Manual and various books. A variety of tips and tricks can be found in section 13.

The Android tablet application “QField” and MerginMaps are available for tablets and more details on this will be added in the near future. They can both be used in the field for data collection and mapping.

QGIS can sometimes have problems when digitising into layers with differing projections in the map window. It is recommended that digitising be done on layers in one projection at a time. The new file can be reprojected at subsequently into a different projection if required.

Note

Turn off the auto-save plugin if you have this enabled, as it may cause problems during digitising.

Details on the digitising and editing functions can be found in the QGIS User Guide. This guide gets regularly updated.

• 6.1. Point Data
• 6.2. Outcrop Photographs
  • 6.2.1. Import Photos Plugin
  • 6.2.2. Import Geotagged Photos
  • 6.2.3. Forms for Improved Viewing Photos Using the File Widget and Tabbed Pages
  • 6.2.4. Viewing Photos by the Action Tab
  • 6.2.5. Opening pdf attachements
• 6.3. Line Data
• 6.4. Plotting Drill Hole Traces and 3D Drill Data Display
  • 6.4.1. Geoscience Plugin
  • 6.4.2. Alternative Way to Plot Drill Hole Traces on Plan
  • 6.4.3. Displaying Drill Hole Traces in 3D
  • 6.4.4. Extracting Maximum Values for Drill Holes
• 6.5. Polygon Data
  • 6.5.1. Creating Drop-Down Lists for Data Entry
• 6.6. Geological Symbols and Geological Patterns
  • 6.6.1. Geological Fonts
  • 6.6.2. SVG Symbols and Patterns
• 6.7. Geological Line Styles
• 6.8. Labelling Features
  • 6.8.1. Labelling points
• 6.9. Joining Spatial and Non-Spatial Data
• 6.10. Geological Legends
  • 6.10.1. Adding user defined polygon colours
• 6.11. Importing and Exporting GPS Data
• 6.12. Using the GSWA WAROX and WAMINES data
• 6.13. Creating and converting Local (Non-Earth) Grids to Real World Coordinates
• 6.14. Creating a Grid Layout
• 6.15. GeoPackages