QuickMapServices – from plugin to service for everyone

There are so many geodata services around. And we all want them to be available at the tip of our fingers, without having to memorize URLs, parameters, etc.

Almost two years ago we rolled out QuickMapServices (QMS) – a new handy QGIS plugin with a dozen preset basemaps, easily expandable to three times more by downloading a contributed pack.

QMS for QGIS was downloaded 130.000 times, but our vision for QMS has always been even more ambitious, so now we’re bringing you hundreds of geoservices! And not just basemaps but also WMS/WFS services and even simple server-hosted GeoJSON files.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s new.

qms.nextgis.com

QMS now has its own website – qms.nextgis.com.

Here you can search for and browse through all available geoservices and check out their details, as well as add new ones and report problems. The website is a place to get important information about QMS.

But most importantly, the website is the place to ….

… add your service!

Github is not the best place to crowd-source data, and for a long time we wanted to simplify adding of new services.

From now on, to get your service available for everyone everywhere follow 2 simple steps:

1. Register or log in
2. Click ‘Add service‘ and fill a short form

That’s all! No waiting, no moderation. The service you’ve added will immediately become available wherever QMS API is supported (QGIS, NextGIS Mobile, nextgis.com, etc.).

New service will become ‘yours’ and you will be able to edit it in the future.

Public API

Do you develop applications where user would like to get access to dozens of different basemaps and/or other data services? QMS now has documented public API which provides access to all of its catalog.

For example, simple https://qms.nextgis.com/api/v1/geoservices/?type=tms request will get you all available basemaps.

QMS for QGIS

For a better support of new features we’re releasing next version of QuickMapServices QGIS plugin. This is a relatively minor release but it includes some important features:

1. New tool for Search QMS
   
2. New improved services search list
   
3. While search bar is empty, last 5 used services will be shown for quick access
4. Thanks to MatzFan, QMS now supports custom tiling grids. Note that this support is experimental and we will continue polishing it, taking into consideration new QGIS abilities to render XYZ.

Check out the changelog for more information.

ArcQMS – QMS for ArcGIS

One of the question we’re often asked is how can we get something like QMS in Arc universe. Today we’re releasing ArcQMS – the plugin for ArcGIS that provides early support for some of QMS resources, namely TMS basemaps.

Overall, this is a big release for us and we hope you enjoy it.

Also, you can learn more about QuickMapServices from this presentation:

Let us know what you think and please contribute services!