MalaGIS

Sharing GIS Technologies, Resources and News.

While updating to QGIS 3.40.3, I stumbled upon a surprising fact: QGIS is now 23 years old – possibly older than many of its users. It’s remarkable that this powerful open-source GIS software, used worldwide for mapping, data processing, and service publishing, was born in the dial-up internet era. Since Gary Sherman wrote its first line of code in Germany in 2002, QGIS has quietly revolutionized spatial technology for 23 years. Debuting five years before the iPhone and thirteen years before TensorFlow, this open-source GIS has not only survived three technological earthquakes (the dot-com crash, mobile revolution, and AI explosion) but evolved from a basic map viewer into global geospatial infrastructure. Let’s journey through time to uncover how this "living tech fossil" defied commercial giants to become king.

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From late last year to early this year, DeepSeek has undoubtedly dominated the tech landscape. My social feeds—public accounts and short videos—have featured daily updates about DeepSeek, from model comparisons to website glitches and workarounds for full-featured access. Concurrently, industries and institutions have launched an "arms race," with corporate announcements flooding newsfeeds about xxx adopting DeepSeek. Sectors like internet services, finance, construction, and even government agencies are rushing to deploy DeepSeek solutions, as if falling behind would mean obsolescence. The GIS industry is no exception—software vendors and GIS practitioners alike have publicly announced their DeepSeek integrations.

This prompts a question for GIS professionals like myself: After integrating DeepSeek, what comes next? Where are the practical applications for DeepSeek + GIS?

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Red Layer is a sketch annotation plugin for QGIS 3 that enables rapid hand-drawn annotations directly on your map canvas. A sample output is shown below:

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Share a WKT configuration for Bonne projection in QGIS. For those needing to apply Bonne projection in QGIS, this reference may prove useful.

WKT File

PROJCRS["Bonne_WGS84",
    BASEGEOGCRS["WGS 84",
        DATUM["World Geodetic System 1984",
            ELLIPSOID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
                LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
            ID["EPSG",6326]],
        PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
            ANGLEUNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]]],
    CONVERSION["unnamed",
        METHOD["Bonne",
            ID["EPSG",9827]],
        PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",45,
            ANGLEUNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],
        PARAMETER["Longitude of natural origin",0,
            ANGLEUNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433],
            ID["EPSG",8802]]],
    CS[Cartesian,2],
        AXIS["(E)",east,
            ORDER[1],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,
                ID["EPSG",9001]]],
        AXIS["(N)",north,
            ORDER[2],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,
                ID["EPSG",9001]]]]

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Bezier Editing is an open-source plugin for QGIS that specializes in precision vector graphic editing, particularly suited for complex curve design scenarios like roads, rivers, and landscape boundaries. By introducing Bezier curve control points, it transforms rigid polylines into smooth, natural curves, significantly enhancing both cartographic aesthetics and data accuracy.

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Valentine’s Day is here again, and the GIS community group at Malagis is buzzing with excitement. Watching the lively discussions makes one nostalgic for youthful enthusiasm. On such a romantic day, shouldn't everything—including GIS—have its own charm? Let’s explore two GIS-inspired romantic ideas shared by the group.

1. The Bonne Projection

Do you still remember the Bonne projection? Or have your cartography lessons faded into memory? Here's what it looks like:

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Since U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on his first day in office renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," the ripple effects have begun to spread. Recent reports indicate that major map service providers like Google Maps have already followed suit. But how does this change affect GIS professionals in China, and how should we respond? This article provides a brief analysis.

Updates from International Map Services

After reviewing services like Google Maps, Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap, and Cesium, here’s a summary of how each platform is handling the name change.

Google Maps

Google Maps was one of the first to react. Here's how it looks now:

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Recently, a screenshot from a Wuhan-based company's website went viral across Chinese social platforms. When I attempted to visit their official site (https://www.focuz-in.com), access was already restricted. However, the internet never forgets—through digital archaeology using the Wayback Machine, I recovered the controversial page:

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When visualizing national highway mileage across Chinese provinces in QGIS, I needed provincial capital markers without local data access. Using DeepSeek AI, I generated geographic layers directly in QGIS via Python scripting.

Visualization requiring provincial capitals

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Following our guide on https://malagis.com/qucik-build-a-cesium-study-example.html, this article addresses limitations of Cesium Ion—particularly accessibility challenges for Chinese users—by demonstrating alternative basemap integration methods.

Understanding ImageryLayers

The ImageryLayers class manages map imagery display in CesiumJS, enabling:

• Multi-layer overlays (satellite imagery, custom maps)
• Layer ordering control
• Transparency/visibility adjustments

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