Raster Analysis

Raster Calculator

The Raster Calculator in the Raster menu allows you to perform calculations on the basis of existing raster pixel values (see figure_raster_10). The results are written to a new raster layer with a GDAL-supported format.

Figure Raster 10:

../../../_images/raster_calculator1.png

Raster Calculator

The Raster bands list contains all loaded raster layers that can be used. To add a raster to the raster calculator expression field, double click its name in the Fields list. You can then use the operators to construct calculation expressions, or you can just type them into the box.

In the Result layer section, you will need to define an output layer. You can then define the extent of the calculation area based on an input raster layer, or based on X,Y coordinates and on columns and rows, to set the resolution of the output layer. If the input layer has a different resolution, the values will be resampled with the nearest neighbor algorithm.

The Operators section contains all available operators. To add an operator to the raster calculator expression box, click the appropriate button. Mathematical calculations (+, -, *, ... ) and trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan, ... ) are available. Stay tuned for more operators to come!

With the checkbox Add result to project checkbox, the result layer will automatically be added to the legend area and can be visualized.

Examples

Convert elevation values from meters to feet

Creating an elevation raster in feet from a raster in meters, you need to use the conversion factor for meters to feet: 3.28. The expression is:

"elevation@1" * 3.28

Using a mask

If you want to mask out parts of a raster – say, for instance, because you are only interested in elevations above 0 meters – you can use the following expression to create a mask and apply the result to a raster in one step.

("elevation@1" >= 0) * "elevation@1"

In other words, for every cell greater than or equal to 0, set its value to 1. Otherwise set it to 0. This creates the mask on the fly.

If you want to classify a raster – say, for instance into two elevation classes, you can use the following expression to create a raster with two values 1 and 2 in one step.

("elevation@1" < 50) * 1 + ("elevation@1" >= 50) * 2

In other words, for every cell less than 50 set its value to 1. For every cell greater than or equal 50 set its value to 2.

Raster Alignment

This tool is able to take several rasters as input and to align them perfectly, that means:

  • reproject to the same CRS,
  • resample to the same cell size and offset in the grid,
  • clip to a region of interest,
  • rescale values when required.

All rasters will be saved in another files.

First, open the tools from Raster ‣ Align Raster... and click on the signPlus Add new raster button to choose one existing raster in QGIS. Select an output file to save the raster after the alignment, the resampling method and if the tools need to Rescale values according to the cell size. You can symbologyEdit Edit file settings and signMinus Remove an existing file from the list.

Then in the main Align raster window, you can choose one or more options:

  • Select the Reference Layer,
  • Transform into a new CRS,
  • Setup a different Cell size,
  • Setup a different Grid Offset,
  • Clip to Extent,
  • Output Size,
  • Add aligned raster to the map canvas.