This idea is about developing a plugin for QGIS that would allow users to upload, process and import orthophotos, DEMs and other assets directly from QGIS while using the WebODM API (http://docs.webodm.org).
+1 to this idea. We should look at QGIS 3 which is coming out very soon.
This might be a good opportunity: Home · qgis/QGIS Wiki · GitHub
+1M for this.
If I could do my flight planning, GCP creation/validation, processing, viewing (with QGIS’ new 3D capabilities), reviewing all within QGIS?
Absolute perfection.
Piero
Is there a doc that shows how to integrate WebODM with QGIS or this still pie in the sky?
Still needs someone to implement it.
It’s less pie in the sky, and more feasible with point clouds (and meshes?) making their way into QGIS. But, it would require a volunteer with a lot of time, or funding + a developer.
Point-clouds are going in with PDAL, and Lutra Consulting do have other web point-cloud (potree, entwine) formats listed as stretch-goals, which they should be tackling as they over-funded their drive for PDAL.
As for meshes, MDAL is mostly concerned with spatio-temporal mesh formats, though QGIS is beginning to see some rudimentary “object” (?) mesh format support like PLY via MDAL.
I would love beyond love to see this happen, but as Steven mentioned, this would likely be a big undertaking.
Well, in general it is a pretty big endeavor…
But all big things can be broken into manageable chunks!
I wonder if the core odm team could provide a starting point, that some more of us could hack on.
I for example, if there was a plugin that provided the auth starting point, I would love to add the possiblity to list all my projects and tasks, and add the ortho layer via xyz tiles.
I guess others who want point clouds or textured 3d could add other parts.
Any willingness out there?
There is a strong desire to see this happen, and I’ve reached out to the most likely party to help us implement this, but there is currently no time line for this, nor any confirmation that it will be happening in the near term.
So, trust us, we want this to be a thing, too ![]()
I would love to take this on as a plugin development concept. Has there been any traction on this ?
We’ve had some great conversations with some core developers, and I think we have a solid path forward. Just waiting on bandwidth on their part. I’m hoping to release something before Spring, but until we have a contract and timeline, that’s just a hope.
Great news. Already very happy with the XYZ Tiles functionality in QGIS to display the orthophoto (and DSM/DTM). But a (dedicated) plugin/integration would be very much appreciated.
Aeret, if you don’t mind, what is your workflow for getting your orthos displayed as xyz tiled map in qgis?
disregard, i figured it out…
could you share with us here what you figured out? i’m very new to ODM and QGIS, would love to know!
Yes, when I get in front of my computer today, ill send the steps I took.
The way I’ve integrated with QGIS is generating QGIS templates for the datasets, such as geo.txt and gcp_list.txt.
The easiest feature to improve integration would be generating QGIS’s qlr template format with relative references to the dataset and storing that at the root and using relative references.
The qlr format is a xml, and since ODM reproduces the same file name, it could simply be a static asset generated with the references. If you copy this into the root folder with geo.txt, gcp_list.txt and call it layer.qlr, you can drag it into QGIS and it’ll show you the locations.
Of course this isn’t the full service integration proposed, but there is a lot of low hanging fruit ways to better integrate with QGIS. I
Here’s a full QGIS template generator: GW View
Find a location in the map then click here:
So it’s pretty easy to create QGIS project templates in XML and generate projects.
But, I would think the best way to integrate with QGIS would be to advocate for accessing WebODM or Lightning ODM inside QGIS using QTWebEngine: Can not use QT WebEngine in QGIS plugin · Issue #59027 · qgis/QGIS · GitHub
Plugin development directly in python, while logical since ODM is mostly python, would inevitably be another implementation of all the same components. Rather, if we can get to WebODM inside QGIS, you could setup transfer objects between the two as suggested.
So anyway, I would recommend people comment on ensuring QTWebEngine is available inside QGIS to make greater availability. I’ve got a project just itching to integrate with QGIS as a progressive web app.
Another option would be to use python Chromium embedded framework GitHub - cztomczak/cefpython: Python bindings for the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF)
So rather than another implementation of all the same tools found in WebODM, you focus in being able to seamlessly transfer objects between the two.
this is kinda off topic from the original subject, but to get a tiles background into qgis or any other gis app that accepts online tiles (tms,wmts,xyz) you first need to share the map from your internet facing webodm.
you will need to know the project ID which can be found in administration>application>projects
and the task ID which can be found by going to your project and task from the dashboard, the task ID should be listed there.
you will need to plug those into this example:
https://“yourwebodm.example.com”/api/projects/“project ID”/tasks/“task ID”/orthophoto/tiles/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
add it as an xyz tile map in sw maps, qgis and others.

