Loading data from a spreadsheet

Spreadsheets are one of the most common methods used to collect and store simple geographic data. QGIS can work with text files called Comma Separated Value (CSV) files. Any spreadsheet can be converted to a CSV using the spreadsheet program. As long as the CSV data has a column representing x values, one column representing y values, and other columns representing data with the first row containing field names, QGIS can import it. Many organizations distribute geographic information as a CSV, so sooner or later, you will find yourself importing a CSV. Moreover, PyQGIS lets you do it programmatically. Note that a CSV can be delimited by any character as long as it is consistent. Also, the file extension of the CSV file doesn't matter as long as you specify the file type for QGIS.

Getting ready

We'll use a sample CSV file with point features representing points of interest in a region. You can download this sample from https://github.com/GeospatialPython/Learn...