How to update existing layers

Identify the layer and dataset configuration

Start by identifying the layer you want to update in QGreenland. For example, this might be Human activity/Research sites/Seismograph stations. To find the layer configuration in the qgreenland code, look in the associated subdirectory of qgreenland/config/layers/. For the Seismograph stations layer, this would be qgreenland/config/layers/Human activity/Research sites.

Note

Layer configuration is setup to mirror the layout of the Layers Panel in QGIS. To change the order of layers or layer groups, see the __settings__.py in the subdirectory in which you want to make a change. For more information, see Layers and layer groups config

From the layer configuration, it should be easy to identify the dataset configuration. Look for an import of a dataset at the top of the layer configuration file. For example, the import for Seismograph stations may look like:

from qgreenland.config.datasets.seismograph_stations import (
    seismograph_stations as dataset,
)

In this case, the dataset config can be found in qgreenland/config/datasets/seismograph_stations.py

Update dataset configuration

When a dataset is updated, it is usually necessary to update the dataset configuration to reflect the new version. Make sure to check the title, citation, and abstract for necessary updates.

If the location(s) of the source data has changed (e.g., the URL is different), update the assets list.

To learn more about dataset configuration, see Datasets config.

Try fetching the updated data

Once the datasaet configuration has been updated, you should try testing out the configuration by fetching the data.

First, cleanup the existing dataset. This can be accomplished with the cleanup subcommand of the CLI. The -f flag lets you specify what you want to cleanup by passing it a dataset ID or a pattern that matches it. Below, we cleanup any fetched data with seismograph_stations in the name.

./scripts/cli.sh cleanup -f "*seismograph_stations*"

Next, try fetching the data with the fetch subcommand, providing a similar pattern:

./scripts/cli.sh fetch --workers 1 "*seismograph_stations*"

Assuming the fetch is successful, you may want to manually check the fetched data. It can be found in the data/working-storage/fetch-datasets/ directory:

$ ls data/working-storage/fetch-datasets/seismograph_stations.only/
stations.kmz
$ ogrinfo -summary data/working-storage/fetch-datasets/seismograph_stations.only/stations.kmz
INFO: Open of `data/working-storage/fetch-datasets/seismograph_stations.only/stations.kmz'
      using driver `LIBKML' successful.
1: International Registry of Seismograph Stations

Update layer configuration

Once you have successfully fetched the updated data, it is time to update the layer configuration.

Check the title and description of the layer and update as needed.

Consider any relevant changes to the style (see How to contribute styles) for more info.

Finally, check the steps configuration and determine if any tweaks need to be made given the updated data. For example, if the updated dataset uses a new filename or file format, these steps may need to change. To learn more about layer steps, see Layer steps

Run QGreenland with the changes

After the dataset and layer configuration are updated, you can test the QGreenland processing pipline with the run subcommand.

Pre-run cleanup

Before a new run, cleanup intermediate/work-in-progress (WIP) data. Without this step, the code might report that the processing is already complete and nothing needs to be done.

Below, the first command cleans up release layers, WIP packages, and release packages. The second command cleans up WIP layers matching the given pattern, in this case *seismograph*.

./scripts/cli.sh cleanup -RL -WP -RP
./scripts/cli.sh cleanup -wl "*seismograph*"

Building the package with `run`

The --include flag can be used to limit the number of layers processed to speedup an otherwise long build. The -Z flag prevents the final zip step that zips the package up for distribution, also saving time for testing.

./scripts/cli.sh run -Z --include="*coastline*" --include "*earthquake*" --include "*seismograph*"

Note that in the example above, we include the coastline and earthquake layers in addition to the newly updated seismograph_stations for reference purposes.

Check the output

Assuming the run was successful, check the output to ensure that the updates have been correctly applied. The newly built package is in data/working-storage/wip-package/QGreenland. Open the data/working-storage/wip-package/QGreenland/qgreenland.qgz in QGIS and manually inspect the data.

Lock the config

After confirming that the new layer updates are successful, run the following command to update the config lock file:

inv config.export > qgreenland/config/cfg-lock.json

Update the CHANGELOG

Update the CHANGELOG.md, indicating what layers were updated. If needed, bump the version for a new release. See How to release a new version of QGreenland Core code for details!

Open a Pull Request

Finally, open a Pull Request (PR) on GitHub with the changes in a new branch that is named in a descriptive way.