<s>
QGIS	B-Application
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
and	O
open-source	B-Application
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
desktop	O
geographic	B-Application
information	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
GIS	B-Application
)	O
application	O
that	O
supports	O
viewing	O
,	O
editing	O
,	O
printing	O
,	O
and	O
analysis	O
of	O
geospatial	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
functions	O
as	O
geographic	B-Application
information	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
GIS	B-Application
)	O
software	O
,	O
allowing	O
users	O
to	O
analyze	O
and	O
edit	O
spatial	O
information	O
,	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
composing	O
and	O
exporting	O
graphical	O
maps	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
supports	O
raster	B-Algorithm
,	O
vector	O
and	O
mesh	O
layers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Vector	O
data	O
is	O
stored	O
as	O
either	O
point	O
,	O
line	O
,	O
or	O
polygon	B-General_Concept
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multiple	O
formats	O
of	O
raster	B-Algorithm
images	I-Algorithm
are	O
supported	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
software	O
can	O
georeference	B-General_Concept
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
supports	O
shapefiles	O
,	O
personal	O
geodatabases	O
,	O
dxf	O
,	O
MapInfo	B-Application
,	O
PostGIS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
other	O
industry-standard	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Web	O
services	O
,	O
including	O
Web	B-Application
Map	I-Application
Service	I-Application
and	O
Web	O
Feature	O
Service	O
,	O
are	O
also	O
supported	O
to	O
allow	O
use	O
of	O
data	O
from	O
external	O
sources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
integrates	O
with	O
other	O
open-source	B-Application
GIS	B-Application
packages	O
,	O
including	O
PostGIS	B-Application
,	O
GRASS	B-Application
GIS	I-Application
,	O
and	O
MapServer	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Plugins	B-Application
written	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
or	O
C++	B-Language
extend	O
QGIS	B-Application
's	O
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Plugins	B-Application
can	O
geocode	O
using	O
the	O
Google	O
Geocoding	O
API	O
,	O
perform	O
geoprocessing	O
functions	O
similar	O
to	O
those	O
of	O
the	O
standard	O
tools	O
found	O
in	O
ArcGIS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
interface	O
with	O
PostgreSQL/PostGIS	O
,	O
SpatiaLite	B-Language
and	O
MySQL	B-Application
databases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
SAGA	B-Language
GIS	I-Language
and	O
Kosmo	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gary	O
Sherman	O
began	O
development	O
of	O
Quantum	B-Application
GIS	I-Application
in	O
early	O
2002	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
became	O
an	O
incubator	O
project	O
of	O
the	O
Open	O
Source	O
Geospatial	O
Foundation	O
in	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2013	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
release	O
of	O
version	O
2.0	O
the	O
name	O
was	O
officially	O
changed	O
from	O
Quantum	B-Application
GIS	I-Application
to	O
QGIS	B-Application
to	O
avoid	O
confusion	O
as	O
both	O
names	O
had	O
been	O
used	O
in	O
parallel	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Written	O
mainly	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
QGIS	B-Application
makes	O
extensive	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
Qt	B-Language
library	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
Qt	B-Language
,	O
required	O
dependencies	O
of	O
QGIS	B-Application
include	O
GEOS	O
and	O
SQLite	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
GDAL	B-Language
,	O
GRASS	B-Application
GIS	I-Application
,	O
PostGIS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
PostgreSQL	B-Application
are	O
also	O
recommended	O
,	O
as	O
they	O
provide	O
access	O
to	O
additional	O
data	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
QGIS	B-Application
is	O
available	O
for	O
multiple	O
operating	O
systems	O
including	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
mobile	O
version	O
of	O
QGIS	B-Application
was	O
under	O
development	O
for	O
Android	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
graphical	O
user	O
interface	O
to	O
GRASS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
has	O
a	O
small	O
install	O
footprint	O
on	O
the	O
host	O
file	O
system	O
compared	O
to	O
commercial	O
GISs	O
and	O
generally	O
requires	O
less	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
processing	O
power	O
;	O
hence	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
on	O
older	O
hardware	O
or	O
running	O
simultaneously	O
with	O
other	O
applications	O
where	O
CPU	O
power	O
may	O
be	O
limited	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
is	O
maintained	O
by	O
volunteer	O
developers	O
who	O
regularly	O
release	O
updates	O
and	O
bug	O
fixes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
developers	O
have	O
translated	O
QGIS	B-Application
into	O
48	O
languages	O
and	O
the	O
application	O
is	O
used	O
internationally	O
in	O
academic	O
and	O
professional	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
enables	O
users	O
to	O
visualize	O
their	O
data	O
using	O
maps	O
,	O
charts	O
,	O
and	O
diagrams	O
while	O
customizing	O
the	O
presentation	O
with	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
symbology	O
choices.The	O
capabilities	O
for	O
geographical	O
analysis	O
provided	O
by	O
QGIS	B-Application
,	O
including	O
as	O
buffer	O
construction	O
,	O
spatial	O
querying	O
,	O
and	O
geoprocessing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
more	O
complex	O
geographical	O
analysis	O
,	O
users	O
can	O
additionally	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
plugins	B-Application
and	O
algorithms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
QGIS	B-Application
also	O
makes	O
it	O
simple	O
to	O
share	O
and	O
publish	O
geospatial	O
data	O
as	O
maps	O
,	O
online	O
services	O
,	O
or	O
print	O
maps	O
in	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
file	O
formats	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
shapefiles	O
,	O
GeoTIFFs	O
,	O
and	O
KML	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
prepare	O
printed	O
map	O
with	O
QGIS	B-Application
,	O
Print	O
Layout	O
is	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
application	O
under	O
GNU	O
GPLv2	O
,	O
QGIS	B-Application
can	O
be	O
freely	O
modified	O
to	O
perform	O
different	O
or	O
more	O
specialized	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
examples	O
are	O
the	O
QGIS	B-Application
Browser	O
and	O
QGIS	B-Application
Server	O
applications	O
,	O
which	O
use	O
the	O
same	O
code	O
for	O
data	O
access	O
and	O
rendering	O
,	O
but	O
present	O
different	O
front-end	O
interfaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
public	O
and	O
private	O
organizations	O
have	O
adopted	O
QGIS	B-Application
,	O
including	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
3.0	O
Girona	O
2018-02-23Significant	O
rewrite	O
,	O
upgrading	O
to	O
Qt5	O
,	O
PyQt5	O
,	O
and	O
Python	B-Language
3	O
.	O
</s>
