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Kosmo Desktop Quickstart

Kosmo - Desktop is a user friendly, desktop GIS application which allows you to explore, edit and analyse spatial data from a variety of databases, vector and raster formats.

This Quick Start describes how to:

  • start the application
  • load layers from files, databases and OGC services
  • navigate through the map
  • apply your styling to the loaded layers
  • load an extension

Start Kosmo Desktop

In order to start the application, follow the next steps:

  1. From the start menu, select Geospatial ‣ Desktop GIS ‣ Kosmo

  2. The application will take a few seconds to start (a splash screen is shown while loading)

    ../../_images/kosmo_splash_screen1.png

  3. In the Welcome dialog, select the option Create a new project ‣ With a new view (1) and press the Ok button (2)

    ../../_images/kosmo_welcome_dialog1.png

  4. In the Spatial Reference System selection dialog, press the ... button

    ../../_images/kosmo_select_srs1.png

  5. Select the option EPSG in the SRS type combobox (1), insert the text 4326 in the text field and press the Search button (2)

  6. Select the SRS EPSG:4326 - WSG4 (3) and press the Ok button (4)

    ../../_images/kosmo_select_srs_epsg_43261.png

  7. Press the Ok button again to select the SRS loaded. The view will start with EPSG:4326 as the base projection

Tip

You can see which projection has been selected as base for a specific view in the view window title bar, right to the view name

Kosmo Desktop main window

The Kosmo Desktop main window has the following sections:

../../_images/kosmo_main_window1.jpg

  • Main menus

  • Main toolbar

  • Layer tree

    Tree that contains the categories and layers that have been loaded in the current view.

  • Map

  • Status bar

    Shows the application warning messages to the user.

  • Current cursor coordinates

Loading layers

Files

To start out, we’re going to load some of the sample data included on the OSGeo-Live DVD:

  1. Choose the option View > Load Dataset... or push the button with the green plus from the main toolbar

  2. In the Format combobox, select Shapefile (1)

  3. In the file chooser, select the file ne_10m_admin_0_countries.shp from the directory /home/user/data/natural_earth2 (2)

  4. Press the Ok button to load the selected shapefile (3)

    ../../_images/kosmo_select_shape_file1.png

  5. In the layer tree, press the visibility checkbox to make the layer visible, right clicking on the Working folder if needed

  6. Choose again the option View > Load Dataset... or push the button with the green plus from the main toolbar

  7. In the Format combobox, select Image file (1)

  8. In the file chooser, select the file HYP_50M_SR_W.tif from the directory /home/user/data/natural_earth2/ (2)

  9. Press the Ok button to load the selected image file (3)

    ../../_images/kosmo_select_raster_file1.png

  10. In the layer tree, press the visibility checkbox to make the layer visible

  11. You can see that the layer drawing order is from bottom to top in the layer tree: modify the layer order by dragging them in order to show them properly

    ../../_images/kosmo_load_file_example1.jpg

Note

The OSGeo-Live DVD contains some file data examples in the following directories:

  • /home/user/data (shapefiles and raster files)
  • /usr/local/share/OpenJUMP/sample_data (shapefiles)

You can try to load more examples from those directories. Remember to select the correct format from the Format combobox

Tip

It’s possible to add all the images from a directory as an unique layer by selecting the parent directory in the Load Dataset... dialog: Kosmo Desktop will load them as a mosaic.

Databases

We’re going to load a database table as an example:

  1. Choose the option View > Load Dataset... or push the button with the green plus from the main toolbar

  2. In the Format combobox, select Database (1)

  3. Fill the fields host, port, database name, user name and password with the values:

    • Host: localhost
    • Port: 5432
    • Database name: natural_earth2
    • User name: user
    • Password: user

  4. Press the Connect button to load the tables present at the natural_earth2 database (2)

  5. Select the checkbox corresponding to the table ne_10m_populated_places (3)

  6. Press the Ok button to load the selected database table (4)

    ../../_images/kosmo_database_connection1.png

  7. In the layer tree, press the visibility checkbox to make the layer visible

    ../../_images/kosmo_load_database_example1.jpg

OGC services

  1. Start the GeoServer WMS included in the OSGeo-Live DVD by selecting the option Geospatial ‣ Web Services ‣ GeoServer ‣ Start GeoServer (or from the desktop, go into Web Services folder and double-click the Start GeoServer icon)

  2. Press the Load SDI Service (IDE) button at the main toolbar to open the wizard

  3. In the Select SDI service type panel, select the option WMS Service (1) and press the Next button (2)

    ../../_images/kosmo_wms_11.png

  4. In the Select Uniform Resource Locator (URL), type the URL http://localhost:8082/geoserver/ows? in the corresponding text field (1) and press the Connect button (2)

  5. If the connection is successful, press the Next button to go to the next panel (3)

    ../../_images/kosmo_wms_21.png

  6. Select the layer North America Sample Imagery (1) and press the > button (2) to move it to the right list. Press Next button. (3)

    ../../_images/kosmo_wms_31.png

  7. Leave the default options loaded and press the Finish button (1) to start the layer loading

    ../../_images/kosmo_wms_41.png

  8. In the layer tree, press the visibility checkbox to make the layer visible

  9. Select the layer in the layer tree and press the Zoom To Layer button to center the map in the WMS layer view

  10. Reorder the layer tree by dragging the new layer and put it over the HYP_50M_SR_W raster layer

    ../../_images/kosmo_load_wms_results1.jpg

Note

Kosmo Desktop contains a set of lists of WMS servers by default, divided into locations (most of them are from Spain). If you’re connected to internet, you can use them as described in the example with the local server.

Map navigation tools

You can control where in the world is the map using the navigation tools present at the main toolbar:

  1. ZOOM Zoom In/Out
  • It’s the tool selected by default when you start your session
  • Use the mouse left button to zoom in a fixed ammount at the clicked map point
  • Use the mouse right button to zoom out a fixed amount at the clicked map point
  • Press the mouse left button, move the mouse, draw a rectangle and release the button if you want to zoom to that rectangle
  1. PAN Pan
  • Allows to move around the world without changing the scale
  • Press the mouse left button, move the mouse and release it in order to move the map to the desired location
  1. ZOOM_PREV Zoom Previous
  • Allows to zoom to the previous viewing envelope from the zoom history (if available)
  1. ZOOM_NEXT Zoom Next
  • Allows to zoom to the next viewing envelope from the zoom history (if available)
  1. ZOOM_FULL_EXTENT Zoom To Full Extent
  • Allows to change the current map envelope to include all the visible layers
  1. ZOOM_TO_LAYER Zoom To Layer
  • Allows to change the current map envelope to adjust to the selected layer
  1. ZOOM_TO_SELECTED_ITEMS Zoom To Selected Items
  • Allows to change the current map envelope to adjust to the selected features
  1. PAN_TO_CLICK Pan To Click
  • Centers the map in the clicked map point, without changing the current scale
  1. COORDINATE_LOCALIZATION Coordinate Localization
  • Centers the map in the given X - Y coordinates

Apart from those tools, it’s also available the possibility to zoom in/out by using the mouse wheel.

Note

If any tool/menu option is disabled, you can place the cursor over the button/option to see a tooltip where the reason is shown

Basic Styling

In this section we’re going to style a layer by range using the country population as styling attribute:

  1. Select the layer ne_10m_admin_0_countries in the layer tree

  2. Right click on it and select the option Simbology > Change Styles...

  3. Click on the tab Colour theming

  4. Activate the options Enable colour theming (1) and by range (2)

  5. Select pop_est as Attribute (3), 11 as Range count (4) and RYG (Color Brewer) as Color schema (5)

  6. Press the Ok button to apply the changes (6)

    ../../_images/kosmo_basic_style_classification1.png

  7. The layer will change its style to reflect the changes:

    ../../_images/kosmo_styled_layer_by_range1.jpg

Advanced Styling

In this section we’re going to style a layer with some rules and filters, based on an attribute. The example shows how to create two rules, one for capital populated places and other for the rest of them:

  1. Select the layer ne_10m_populated_places in the layer tree

  2. Right click on it and select the option Simbology > Advanced Style Editor...

  3. Select the feature type style ne_10m_populated_places (1) and press the + button (2) to add a new rule to it

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_feature_type1.png

  4. Select Point symbolizer as symbolizer type (1) and press the Ok button (2)

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_symbolizer1.png

  5. Select the new rule in the tree (1) and edit its properties: set capital_rule as Name (2), Capitals as Title (3),activate its filter (4) and edit it (5)

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_capital_rule1.png

  6. Select featurecla as Field (1), Equal to (=) as Operator (2) and press the ... button (3) to select an attribute value

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_filter1.png

  7. Select the Admin-0 capital value (1) and press the Ok button (2)

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_attr_value1.png

  8. Press the Add button (1) to add the condition to the filter and the Ok button (2) to set the filter to the rule

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_filter_21.png

  9. Select the capital rule point symbolizer in the tree (1) and edit its properties: set its Size to 8 (2), its Well Known Mark type as circle (3) and Color to light green (4)

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_capital_rule_symbolizer1.png

  10. Select the other rule in the tree (1) and edit its properties: set others_rule as Name (2), Others as Title (3), mark the Else filter checkbox (4) and set its maximum scale to 25,000,000 (5) (it’s necessary to press ENTER key after setting the value manually to set it)

    ../../_images/kosmo_advanced_style_others_rule1.png

  11. Press the Ok button to apply the changes

  12. The layer will change its style to reflect the changes:

    ../../_images/kosmo_styled_layer_by_filter1.jpg

  13. If you make enough zoom in to reach the given scale, both rules would be rendered:

    ../../_images/kosmo_styled_layer_by_filter_21.jpg

Note

When the map is at full layer scale only capitals are shown. If you zoom in close enough, all the populated places would be shown

Extensions

In this section we’re going to activate the Sextante toolbox extension:

  1. Choose the option File > Extension Manager... or push the button with the Ext label from the main toolbar

  2. Mark the Sextante extension checkbox (1) and press the Ok button (2)

    ../../_images/kosmo_extension_manager1.png

  3. A new Sextante button will be available at the right of the main toolbar

    ../../_images/kosmo_sextante_extension1.png

Tip

If the Mark as default option is selected, the extension would be loaded automatically on next application startup

Things to Try

Here are some additional challenges for you to try:

  1. Use the Advanced Style editor to create more complex styles
  2. Use the Query wizard to select those features that accomplish a given criteria
  3. Activate the layer editing mode and use the available tools to edit any of the vectorial layers
  4. Generate a set of topology rules for a layer and try to edit it
  5. Activate the rest of extensions that form part of the application and see the new tools that are present
  6. Configure the application options through the menu option File > Configuration...

What Next?

There is a set of manuals and video-tutorials available at http://www.opengis.es/index.php?lang=en