Geospatial developers launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring reality capture technology and upgraded animation tools to QGIS.
Australian GIS developer North Road and UK-based counterpart Lutra Consulting are partnering to push the capabilities of QGIS in the 3D space, Spatial Source reported. The crowdfunding campaign aims to raise $137,500 (€85,000) to enable further development of QGIS, according to the companies.
The main theme is bringing state-of-the-art reality capture technology to QGIS alongside a major upgrade to animation support. Without these updates, fine details of pylon cables and meshes remain missing in current 3D data renders.
“Creating animations of 3D maps in existing QGIS versions can be a fiddly, frustrating process,” the developers said. “We realise that there’s a need for improving this drastically! We also realise that some users have a desire to create animated versions of their 2D maps.”
Roadmap includes 3D Gaussian splatting and animation upgrades
The development roadmap includes adding reality capture through 3D Gaussian splatting and building a flexible animation system for both 2D and 3D maps. Developers also plan to introduce atmospheric scattering by harnessing recent QGIS functionality to produce automated effects like dawn, midday, and dusk.
Additional features on the agenda include scene presets for switching between CAD/BIM and realistic views, an identify tool for points and lines such as trees and billboards, and gamepad control to move through 3D scenes. North Road has a long history of adding cartographical and analytical features to QGIS, while Lutra Consulting has contributed to the 3D map view for over 10 years.
“Now imagine being able to open this kind of data in QGIS, have such scans overlaid with the rest of your geospatial data in 2D and 3D map canvas! That’s exactly what we’d like to do,” the developers said.
Planned QGIS release timeline
The developers hope to deliver the promised features over QGIS releases in 2027, specifically targeting versions 4.6, 4.8, and 4.10, according to Spatial Source. A full outline of all intended improvements and information on contributions are available online.
Frequently asked questions about the QGIS 3D campaign
How much money does the crowdfunding campaign aim to raise?
The campaign aims to raise $137,500 (€85,000) to fund the upcoming development cycle for QGIS.
Which companies are leading the QGIS 3D development project?
Australian GIS developer North Road and UK-based Lutra Consulting are leading the initiative to upgrade the software’s 3D capabilities.
When are the new 3D features scheduled for release?
The developers hope to deliver the promised features over QGIS releases in 2027.
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