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#MilkMachine

QGIS Python Plugin for creating KML (keyhole markup language) files from GPS data. The code and components developed to support the 250 Miles Crossing Philadelphia project http://www.250miles.net/. MilkMachine will accept raw gps data in .csv format and allows for creation of KML tours, placemarks, models, audio attachment, spatial smoothing/filtering, and time editing. Once editing is complete, files can be exported to .kml or .kmz. An intermediate shapefile (.shp) is produced that will store the coded attribute information. No cow's milk (or milk of any kind) is produced.

Using MilkMachine

Installation

• The plugin can be copy/pasted from /src/MilkMachine directly into the QGIS plugin directory, or installed from the QGIS Plugin Repository.
• "Install" the plugin using the QGIS Desktop plugin manager (Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins...). MilkMachine should show up in the "Installed" tab. Make sure that it is checked. See http://docs.qgis.org/1.8/en/docs/user_manual/plugins/plugins.html for full documentation.

Install Directories (don't worry about this if you install from the Repository)

• Windows: C:\Users<username>.qgis2\python\plugins
• Mac: ~.qgis2\python\plugins
• Ubuntu Linux: \user.qgis2\python\plugins

Import a .csv file

All raw .csv GPS files need to have these 5 fields; "date", "time", "x", "y", "altitude"

• date: Date of the location. Can be in these formats; MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY/MM/DD
• time: Time of the location. Must be HH:MM:SS, or HH:MM:SS.mmmmmm. mmmmmm is microseconds. See the Python datetime library for full spec (https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html)
• x: Longitude. numeric, geographic coordinates (WGS84)
• y: Latitude. numeric, geographic coordinates (WGS84)
• altitude: Elevation in reference to sea level (could also be to "sea floor"). numeric, meters preferred.

1. Click the "Import GPS" button (see image above) and browse to a raw gps file in .csv format
2. Once the file is loaded, choose a date format and click the "Draw Track" button.
3. The file will draw a point layer on the QGIS map canvas. An ESRI shapefile (.shp) will be created in the source directory for your .csv file. This shapefile will be edited to produce the .kml file

Dependencies

• QGIS 2.4, 2.6, 2.8
• Python gpxpy, mutagen, simplekml packages are all distributed with MilkMachine to avoid user installation.
• Python SciPy may need to be installed manually. See http://www.scipy.org/install.html for platform specific instructions. Windows OSGeo4W QGIS installer ships with SciPy by default.

Developing using Docker

Docker can be used to create an isolated development environment, especially on macOS where installing QGIS can be tricky. Docker for Mac is recommended for macOS users.

The Docker settings are specified in the Dockerfile.

Creating a Docker container

From the root directory of this repository, you can create a container with all the necessary QGIS and Python dependencies:

docker build -t milkmachine .

Using a Docker container

From your normal command line, after building the container, you can launch the container like so:

docker run -it -v ${PWD}:/milkmachine -w /milkmachine milkmachine bash

This will give you a bash environment with all the relevant Python modules available where you can run commands, such as tests:

mmdev@4d82a4c3a694:/milkmachine$ cd src/MilkMachine/
mmdev@4d82a4c3a694:/milkmachine/src/MilkMachine$ python -m unittest discover

Issues

• QGIS 2.8 & 2.12-dev testing is ongoing
• MilkMachine will be added to the QGIS Plugin Repository soon
• Help pages will be updated here and at a future project page. Help, is provided for each input in MilkMachine by hovering over the input.
• Please submit comments, bugs, etc. on the issues page https://github.com/EdFarrell/MilkMachine/issues

Credits

Funding and/or Resources can from these sources;

• University City Science Center
• Wexford Science + Technology
• Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority
• Drexel University