06-30, 14:00–14:30 (Europe/Tirane), Lumbardhi
R is well-known for its unsurpassed provision of well documented statistical functions and packages in the default installation. Less well-known is its excellent support for spatial data through packages such as sf, terra, and stars. A thriving ecosystem of diverse and often topic-specific packages build on these foundations, making R a powerful command-line GIS (Geographic Information System) for reproducible research. However, dedicated GIS software (e.g. QGIS) offers specific processing algorithms that are either not available in R, or may achieve a higher level of performance than their equivalents in R. This presentation describes how it is now possible to combine the strengths of R and QGIS through R packages that interface processing algorithms provided by QGIS. These packages (qgisprocess, qgis) allow users to create data processing pipelines that combine R and QGIS algorithms almost seamlessly. We discuss the current state of these R packages and demonstrate the usage of their most important functions by example. Finally, we shed light on future development directions and seek feedback from the community.
Scientific methodology at the Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussels, Belgium (INBO)