OPEN-SOURCE QGIS PLUGIN · ALPHA · AVAILABLE FOR TESTING
Give your vector maps another dimension in QGIS.
QCALVIEW makes perspective another way to read geographic data. Start with a schematic view, then calibrate the viewpoint against a photograph when you need to compare mapped information with a real view. Stay in QGIS until the task genuinely requires something else.
THE IDEA
“The map is not the territory.”
Alfred Korzybski - Science and Sanity (1933) Null-A echo - “The word is not the thing itself.” - A. E. van Vogt, The World of Null-A
Maps abstract, organise and measure geographic information. Photography records a situated view. You can attach photographs to points on a map, but the relationship usually stops there: the mapped data itself is not projected into the image. QCALVIEW adds the missing spatial link between mapped information, an observer and what can be seen from that position.
Geographic data already organised in QGIS.
Observer position, orientation and projection.
Terrain and mapped data read in the observer's field of view.
Calibrated visual background when correspondence with a real view matters.
Not every visual question deserves a full modelling pipeline. But a quick answer should not trap you in “close enough” either. QCALVIEW is designed so the same workflow can move from an indicative sketch to a carefully calibrated perspective as the level of evidence increases.
QGIS already manages coordinate systems, transformations and heterogeneous spatial layers, often on the fly. For many visual questions, exporting the project to another application means rebuilding capabilities that are already present in the GIS. QCALVIEW keeps the visual step connected to that source data for as long as it makes sense.
GIS → export → rebuild / convert → specialist software → specialist operator → visual answer
GIS → viewpoint → required level of control → visual answer → specialist software only if the next question requires it
CURRENT CAPABILITIES
ORIENT & CALIBRATE
PROJECT & INTERPRET
WORK & DECIDE
FROM OUTPUT TO CONVERSATION
A visualisation does not have to be a frozen deliverable prepared before the meeting. Share the QGIS session, work directly on the geographic data, and use QCALVIEW to keep the observer-based view in the discussion.
A DIFFERENT ROLE FOR VISUALISATION
For planning workshops, project reviews, landscape discussions, archaeological hypotheses, infrastructure coordination or public consultation, the people in the room can see how a geographic choice changes the view without leaving the GIS or waiting for a specialist to rebuild the scene elsewhere.
QCALVIEW turns perspective into part of the decision process, not only the final illustration of it.
EXAMPLES
The current examples still reflect QCALVIEW's origins in landscape and project visualisation. The underlying mechanism is deliberately generic: a viewpoint, geographic data, terrain, a projection and an optional photograph.
WHO IS IT FOR?
The common denominator is not an industry, but a question: what does this mapped information look like from this viewpoint?
Renewable energy is where QCALVIEW was forged - not where it stops.
Renewable energy & visual impact
Use terrain, visibility, GIS overlays and optional photography to support visual-impact assessment, early photomontage workflows, panorama checks, screening-hedge studies and project comparisons directly from QGIS.
Journalism & investigations
Put sites, boundaries, infrastructure or planned changes into perspective while keeping their geographic position traceable to the source map.
Archaeology & heritage
Project remains, monuments, routes, terrain or hypotheses into a present-day photograph, historical image or schematic field view.
Urban & territorial planning
Test footprints, alignments, volumes and redevelopment scenarios before moving to heavier modelling or presentation workflows.
Environment & landscape
Combine terrain, vegetation, visibility, mitigation measures and mapped projects to understand how spatial relationships translate into a view.
Infrastructure & engineering
Project mapped alignments, structures or construction hypotheses from selected viewpoints for early checks, coordination and explanation.
Fieldwork & geomatics
Use calibrated viewpoints, projected layers and monoplotting-oriented tools to support field interpretation and map ↔ view control.
Research & education
Turn coordinates and geometries into an observer-based representation for teaching, research and exploratory analysis.
Public communication
Create grounded views for meetings, consultation and decision-making, and keep them live enough to test alternatives during the discussion.
If the map tells you where , QCALVIEW helps you ask from where and how it appears .
That question exists in far more fields than visual-impact studies.
WHY QCALVIEW EXISTS
Perspective should be a way of interrogating geographic data - not automatically a separate production pipeline.
After years working between GIS, photography and visual simulation, I kept encountering the same gap: the map is excellent at describing where things are, but the moment the question becomes “what does this look like from here?” , the workflow often jumps to another application, another data model, or another specialist.
There was also a false choice I wanted to remove: either accept a quick representation that is merely “close enough”, or move immediately into a heavier specialist workflow. I wanted the same tool to support both exploration and control - start fast, then tighten the geometry when the question demands it.
I did not set out to build another 3D viewer. I wanted to make perspective a native way of reading geographic data : keep the data in QGIS, define the observer explicitly, project what matters, use photography when it helps, stay schematic when it does not, and escalate to specialist software only when the deliverable genuinely requires it.
That also changes when visualisation can happen. It does not have to arrive at the end as a finished image. In a meeting, the QGIS project can stay open, the hypothesis can be edited, and the perspective can become part of the conversation itself.
QCALVIEW is the result of turning that idea into a working, open-source tool - so the method can be used, tested and extended well beyond the field in which it was first developed.
QUICK ANSWERS
Direct answers to the questions people usually ask before installing or testing the plugin.
QCALVIEW is an open-source QGIS plugin that projects geographic data into an observer-based perspective. It can work as a schematic GIS view or use a calibrated photograph as the visual background.
QCALVIEW supports photo-overlay and visual-simulation workflows by placing mapped geometry, terrain and project elements into calibrated images. It can prepare and accelerate photomontage work, while specialist 3D or image-production software remains appropriate when a final deliverable requires it.
Yes. QCALVIEW was initially developed around renewable-energy and landscape workflows: wind turbines, photovoltaic and agrivoltaic layouts, visual-impact assessment, panoramic viewpoints, screening measures and visibility checks.
Yes. Photography is optional. A viewpoint, terrain and GIS data are enough to build a schematic perspective; a photograph can then be added when correspondence with the real view matters.
Yes for rendering. A DEM, DTM or DSM raster must be explicitly selected in QCALVIEW. Merely having a raster loaded in the QGIS project is not sufficient.
QCALVIEW ALPHA-40.20.4 is distributed through the official QGIS Plugin Repository as an experimental plugin for QGIS 3.44 and QGIS 4.x.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation covers calibration, terrain, projected layers, projection models, the viewer, export and practical workflows. Tutorials will expand as the public alpha matures.
Photo & viewpoint, calibration, terrain, projected layers, projections, viewer and export.
TUTORIALSPhoto calibration, wind panorama, screening hedge, solar sketch and occlusion checks.
VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS
See QCALVIEW in use.
Open the ArcTan° YouTube channel ↗
LATEST RELEASE
Available now from the official QGIS Plugin Repository. QCALVIEW remains deliberately Experimental / Alpha and is currently aimed first at experienced QGIS users who are comfortable checking project data, coordinate reference systems and projection parameters, and reporting reproducible issues.
TEST FROM QGIS
Open Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins...
In Settings, enable Show also experimental plugins if experimental plugins are hidden.
Open All and search for QCALVIEW.
Select QCALVIEW and click Install Plugin.
ALPHA-40.20.4 AT A GLANCE
BEFORE TESTING
A terrain raster is required for rendering. Before generating a preview or export, explicitly select a DEM / DTM / DSM in QCALVIEW's terrain settings; merely loading a raster in the QGIS project is not sufficient. Use a suitable projected metric CRS for the working area and verify that viewpoints, vector layers and terrain are correctly referenced.
When reporting a problem, include the QGIS and QCALVIEW versions, operating system, project CRS, relevant layer and terrain CRS, projection mode, and a short description or screenshot showing the expected and observed result.
EXPERIMENTAL MEANS EXPERIMENTAL
The pinhole / rectilinear workflow is currently the most mature. Panoramic behaviour, complex SVG rendering, live refresh and performance on heavy scenes are still being refined. Production outputs should be visually checked by the operator.
Read the current limitations ↗ROADMAP
The current architecture remains a QGIS/Python prototype. Priority goes to reliability and useful workflows before any heavy native or GPU rewrite.
NOW
ACTIVE
NEXT
Roadmap items are indicative and can evolve with testing, contributions and real-world use.
SUPPORT QCALVIEW
QCALVIEW is developed independently. Contributions support maintenance, testing, QGIS compatibility, documentation and roadmap work. They do not buy priority for a particular feature.
Run QCALVIEW on representative projects, document reproducible issues and help expose edge cases.
Send testing feedback ↗Code, documentation, test datasets, translations and workflow feedback can all help the project mature.
Project repository ↗Companies and organisations can support the project as a whole and discuss longer-term sponsorship with ArcTan°.
Discuss sponsorship with ArcTan° ↗
