Time for QGIS AU to Vote for QGIS Grants

[Emma Hain]

Hi All

As your representative, I have been asked to vote on the eligible proposals for the QGIS Grant Program.

If you could give me your feedback on any that you are keen on, that would help with this process.

Here are the proposals:

Authentication System: allow Database (initially Postgres) storage for authentication DB

by @elpaso | €8,500.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#248

This proposal aims to abstract out the actual storage of the encrypted credentials allowing to optionally use a client/server DB as the authentication DB, Postgres being the primary target. The main goal is to be able to use a client/server authentication DB in QGIS Server.

The discussion touched on other options like LDAP and services like Bitwarden or LastPass. Overall the discussion showed wide agreement.

Use pre-commit to automate installation and management of all pre-commit hooks

by @elpaso | €5,500.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#265

This proposal aims to switch to https://pre-commit.com/ to manage our pre-commit hooks. This framework provides automated installation and configuration of the hooks, it has also a set of pre-defined hooks ready to use.

The discussion showed wide agreement.

Update older annotation items to new framework

by @nyalldawson | €8,000.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#269

This proposal aims to move the old annotation types "text" and "svg" over to the newer framework, in order to provide a more consistent and user friendly interface to QGIS users.

No issues were raised during the discussion.

PyQGIS linter warnings

by @troopa81 | €5,200.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#287

This proposal aims to smooth plugins migrations from QGIS 3 to QGIS 4 (with Qt 6 support) by providing a static linter able to detect QGIS deprecated classes and methods, Qt 5 deprecated classes and methods, and to actively inform plugin owners on plugins.qgis.org with current warnings.

No issues were raised during the discussion.

Authentication system revision (v1.1)

by @nyalldawson | €1,500.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#289

This proposal aims to perform the necessary deeper research for revising the authentication system (as discussed in #278)

The discussion suggested to also consider the related proposal qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#248.

Clean up point cloud index and improve its thread safety

by @wonder-sk | €3,000.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#290

This proposal aims to improve QgsPointCloudIndex and its derived classes to make sure that the code is robust and maintainable in the future. This includes thread safety, better interface to fetch hierarchies and less code duplication.

No issues were raised during the discussion.

Mitigate Abusive Tile Fetching on OpenStreetMap (OSM)

by @nirvn | €3,300.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#291

This proposal aims to enhance QGIS's handling of tile fetching on the OpenStreetMap (OSM) servers to mitigate abusive tile fetching practices. The key objective is to prevent excessive strain on OSM servers by implementing measures to reduce fetching of tiles during ‘normal’ usage of the OSM tile server as well as discourage mass downloading of tiles through QGIS desktop.

*The discussion revolved around potential optimization options and whether OSM could still do something server-side to reduce the load on their serevers. *

Implementing CI Qt6 Windows Builds through vcpkg

by @m-kuhn | €14,000.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#292

This proposal aims to establish a CI build process for QGIS on Windows using Qt6 and vcpkg to cover Windows platforms, where most QGIS users are coming from. This approach not only facilitates the identification of MSVC-specific issues at an earlier stage but also simplifies the maintenance of OSGeo4W.

The discussion touched on how this could help with the setup of a working development environment on Windows for the purpose of developing and debugging.

Fix access to remote data sources in WebAssembly builds

by @wonder-sk | €4,000.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#294

This proposal aims to fix WebAssembly (WASM) builds of QGIS to enable the use of projects with COG, vector and XYZ raster tiles, and WMS or WMST (which currently fail to load).

The discussion discussed the question if WASM builds are (going to be) a core part of the QGIS ecosystem, like QGIS Desktop, Server, Web Client, ...

Embedded end-user feedback

by @Guts | €6,500.00 | qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#295

This proposal aims to integrate a feedback form/widgets as a QGIS in-app tool in order to improve the way we gather end-user feedback, particularly for non-English-speaking users who may be hindered by the English-only Github interface.

The discussion focused on how sustainable this would be due to the dependency on the Github API and the already existing difficulties of triaging tickets.

Thank you!

Em

--

Emma Hain — Product Manager/Senior GIS Analyst
em...@north-road.com

North Road Cartography • Development • Spatial Analysis north-road.com

[John Bryant]

Thanks Emma! The ones most relevant to me are those relating to auth, annotations, and OSM tiles. I'm also quite excited about the potential for WebAssembly.

Cheers

John

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[Juan Fernando Berrío]

Thanks for checking with us Emma.  I wanted to catch up in the recent online session you organised but ended up getting busy - will try and join the next one.

The items that resonate with me are the one related to PyQGIS for Qt6 and the other one focussed on integrated feedback.

Cheers,

Juan

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[S Kolo]

Thanks Emma,

I’m generally supportive of the recommendations. 

I’m surprised there is no mention of rolling/in-place upgrades for QGIS as this is one area I actively use. 

Cheers,

Shaun

[Carlos Porras]

Hi Emma.

Thanks for this email.

The one most relevant to me is OSM tiles

Cheers,

Carlos

I live on Gadigal land lll

I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community

[Rick Williams]

Thanks for sharing Emma.

The ones I'd be most interested in seeing developed are the:

* Linter to assist migration to QGIS 4, 

* end user feedback tool, and 

* protecting the OSM servers from (accidental?) abuse.

The authentication ones I don't really understand as I (don't think I) use those aspects.

I also join in Shauns surprise in teh absence of projects to improve the upgrade experience.

[Emma Hain]

I’m surprised there is no mention of rolling/in-place upgrades for QGIS as this is one area I actively use.

Is this referring  to the OSGeo4W Shell?

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[Emma Hain]

Hi All

Thanks for all of your responses to the voting.

The method I have applied is:

• Community: applied a single count against the proposals you have supported
• Myself: applied a 1 to 5 count against proposals based on research.
  

Here is the current status. I will be voting tomorrow on behalf of the group - so there is still time to respond and put more votes against the proposals.

N.B. I will only be able to choose 6 proposals and there are 10 in total.

Proposal	By	Cost (EUD)	Link	For	Against	Notes	Discussion

Mitigate Abusive Tile Fetching on OpenStreetMap (OSM)

@nirvn	€3,300.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#291	8	0	Super important out of respect for OSM operations	OSM to also look at optimitsation of their servers as well

Implementing CI Qt6 Windows Builds through vcpkg

@m-kuhn	€14,000.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#292	6	0	Target audience: windows users	To assist in debugging and development for Windows users
PyQGIS linter warnings	@troopa81	€5,200.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#287	4	0	Target audience: plugin developers	No issues raised

Update older annotation items to new framework

@nyalldawson	€8,000.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#269	3	0		No issues raised

Clean up point cloud index and improve its thread safety

@wonder-sk	€3,000.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#290	3	0		No issues raised

Fix access to remote data sources in WebAssembly builds

@wonder-sk	€4,000.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#294	3	0	This is possibly something that will eventuate to a feature well used or a feature that may dissapear - so possibly a risk - but well worth the try	Would WASM builds be part of the core QGIS ecosystem
Embedded end-user feedback*	@Guts	€6,500.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#295	3	1	Need to see the discussion here. This is for non-english speaking users. The process would have nvolve users still hooking into GitHub but reporting via a function in QGIS. It also may push a lot of activity to GitHub and thus may raise their attention on the project. This could eventuate in a negative impact on QGIS Core operations. Additionally, there is already an issue with triaging the number of tickets received, and this would only add more burden to it.	Concerned about loading up tickets

Authentication System: allow Database (initially Postgres) storage for authentication DB

@elpaso	€8,500.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#248	2	0	Target audience: enterprise users	Agree

Use pre-commit to automate installation and management of all pre-commit hooks

@elpaso	€5,500.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#265	2	0		Agree
Authentication system revision (v1.1)	@nyalldawson	€1,500.00	qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#289	1	0		Also to consider a related proposal

*Note this is a highly contentious topic.

Thanks all

Cheers

Em