In the first quarter of 2020 we expect to present our new GeoCat Bridge for QGIS. This will be one of the most effective data publishing solutions for QGIS. The experimental plug-in is already available for download.
One-click publication workflow
GeoCat Bridge for QGIS provides a one-click publication workflow from desktop to web. GeoCat Bridge was previously known for helping ArcMap users publish data, metadata and importantly cartography to a GeoServer or MapServer stack. With GeoCat Bridge 4 we are pleased to bring this experience to QGIS Desktop.
First version of Bridge for QGIS
With great dedication our developers are working on our first version of Bridge for QGIS. At the FOSS4G conference in Bucharest in August we were proud to present a demo of Bridge for QGIS. In October we presented our release candidate at the QGIS Centric Meeting that was held on October 25th 2019 in Chattanooga (Tennessee, USA) at Chattanooga State Technical Community College.
Bridge for QGIS will be using QGIS layer identification information to register a published dataset in an online catalog. You can publish layers using GeoServer or MapServer; more options are being planned. Bridge for QGIS will have a great cartography support that adapts desktop styling to a wide range of formats. A new feature in the Bridge for QGIS (Bridge 4) are Mapbox vector tiles. Open Source Python Libraries are used to make it all happen.
Bridge for QGIS download
We expect to present the official version of Bridge 4 (for QGIS) in the first quarter of 2020. You then can buy GeoCat Bridge for QGIS (Bridge 4) and receive support or download the open source plug-in directly. The experimental plugin can already be downloaded at the QGIS.org-website or installed directly from the QGIS plug-in window.
Bridge for ArcGIS Pro
In our roadmap of GeoCat Bridge 4 we have also included the development of GeoCat Bridge for ArcGIS Pro. We are still investigating whether or not to develop a Bridge 4 for ArcMap, as ESRI appears to have put its focus on Pro. If you’re interested in a Bridge 4 for ArcMap, please let us know. We will be running Bridge 3 and 4 in parallel.
Help us improve the GeoCat Bridge roadmap
We have set up a Bridge questionnaire to investigate which Bridge aspects users value and would like to see migrated or added to Bridge 4. We welcome you to fill out the questionnaire at https://forms.gle/31t8iv1xqoiMueQK9.
Contact
Getting curious? Want to know more about the features of this Bridge plug-in? Please contact Jody Garnett at jody.garnett@geocat.net.
