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At OPENGIS.ch, we create open-source software.
We are contributors, maintainers, and in the case of QField, the team that builds it.

That comes with a responsibility we take seriously: giving back.

“Give back” is not a slogan. It is our first core value, and the very reason the sustainability initiative exists.

Open-source is a garden. If you eat from it, water it, and keep seeding.

The Importance of seeding opening keynote, FOSS4G 2023

What is the #sustainQGIS initiative?

Open-source software has a well-known problem: the work that keeps it healthy is largely invisible. Bug fixes, code reviews, refactoring, test coverage, onboarding new contributors: none of these appear in a feature list, but without them, the software eventually degrades. Proprietary projects can budget for this work directly. Open-source projects mostly rely on whoever finds the time.
We wanted to change that, at least in our corner of the ecosystem.

The model is simple. For every support contract we sign that exceeds 10 days, we donate a portion of those days to the initiative. Any unused contract hours at year-end also flow in. That pool of time gets spent on exactly those invisible tasks: triaging and fixing bugs that affect stability, reviewing pull requests so good contributions actually land in the codebase, and doing the unglamorous maintenance work that keeps QGIS’s core solid.

Why we do it

We built a successful company around QGIS and QField. We write code (custom features, plugins, processing algorithms, entire applications) on top of these platforms every day. When a client needs something that cannot be done out of the box, we build it. And we build it inside the project whenever that makes sense, not in a private fork that nobody else benefits from.

Pushing changes upstream instead of maintaining private forks, sponsoring the QGIS project financially, and donating hours are all expressions of the same logic: the ecosystem is a shared asset, and shared assets need shared investment.

I chair the QGIS.org foundation, so I see directly how much the project depends on companies like ours showing up. A bug that slips through costs every QGIS user time. A code review that never happens means a useful feature sits in limbo for months. And a small group of core maintainers carrying the full load eventually burns out. These are not abstract problems. They affect users and the community on a daily basis.

What this means when you work with us?

When you sign a support contract with OPENGIS.ch, you are not just buying expert help with QGIS and QField. A slice of that contract goes back into the project itself. Your investment in solving your own GIS challenges also helps keep the platform reliable for everyone.

We think that is a good deal. It is the way we want to do business.

If you want to know more about the initiative or are ready to make a difference, get a support contract.

Open-source is a garden.
If you eat from it, water it, and keep seeding.

Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

QField’s first release of the year comes packed with new features as well as a bundle of improvements and polishing. Let’s jump right into it.

Main highlights

3D

This new version of QField comes with a shiny 3D map view, giving users the ability to render their map content on top of a three-dimensional terrain.

Users can rotate the terrain geometry to get a better understanding of elevation profiles, while also adjusting the plane’s extent by panning and zooming with drag and pinch gestures. When the GNSS positioning service is enabled, the user’s current position, as well as ongoing tracking sessions, will be overlaid on top of the 3D terrain geometry.

Watch Video

By default, QField relies on Mapzen Global Terrain tiles to determine terrain elevation. As its name indicates, this is a 30-meter digital elevation model covering the globe and hosted online, which allows QField to render 3D views without any user configuration. But it does not stop there. QField supports additional elevation sources, such as disk-based GeoTIFFs, to work in offline areas. This can be configured when setting up a project by changing the terrain type in QGIS.

COGO operations

Moving on to the next major functionality introduced in this new version: a COGO (Coordinate Geometry) framework to support fieldwork through a set of parameter-driven operations to generate vertices. This has been one of the most requested features by professional land surveyors, so we couldn’t be more excited to deliver it and hear back from our community.

QField 4.1 ships with three COGO tools:

• The XYZ parameters operation generates vertices based on a manually entered pair of X and Y coordinates as well as an optional Z value;
• The distance/angle from point operation generates vertices based on distance and angle values from a given point; and
• The circles’ intersection operation generates vertices at the intersection of two circles, each defined by a point and a radius.

Leveraging QField’s capabilities, a COGO operation’s point parameter can be defined in multiple ways: users can enter values manually or automatically fill in the parameter using either the current GNSS position, the geometry of a pre-existing feature within a point layer, or the coordinate cursor’s location. The latter is super useful when coupled with project snapping.

There’s more

Beyond these two flagship features, this new version contains tons of improvements.

We’re happy to report that the background tracking functionality introduced for Android last year is now available on iOS. Users can now save battery by locking their phone while QField continues to track positions. Upon reopening QField, the collected positions will be written into your project. No Apple will be left behind.

The feature form continued to receive improvements during this development cycle. Starting with this version, Remember Last Value pins are hidden by default. Moving away from an always-shown interface, remember last value pin visibility can now be configured per field. Using the latest QGIS (4.0 and above), users can configure the presence of the pin and whether remembrance should be active by default in the vector layer properties’ attribute form panel.

Position tracking has received a lot of attention during this development cycle focused on optimizations. Tracking is now friendlier to your device battery while user interface responsiveness has been improved when tracking sessions are ongoing. We’ve also spent some time making Bluetooth connections to external GNSS devices even more reliable. If this was an issue for you in the past, give this version a try again.

Finally, something to please our advanced users: QField now offers the ability to tunnel network traffic through a proxy that can be enabled and configured in the settings panel.

‘Barents Sea’ release name

The Barents Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean bordered by Norway and Russia, is one of the most ecologically and geopolitically significant water bodies on the planet. Home to some of the world’s largest cod and haddock fisheries, it sustains both marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of coastal communities across the high north. Its waters are a barometer for our changing climate: the Barents Sea is the fastest-warming part of the Arctic, making it a critical area of scientific observation and environmental monitoring. The Nansen Legacy project has been tracking these changes closely (factsheet ).

At OPENGIS.ch, we see the Barents Sea as a powerful symbol of why field data collection matters. Understanding and protecting remote, extreme environments like the Arctic requires tools that are reliable, offline-capable, and built for real-world conditions. That is precisely what QField is designed to deliver.

With QField 4.1 ‘Barents Sea’, we continue building on that mission, bringing new capabilities to field workers, researchers, and environmental stewards wherever their work takes them.

Happy field mapping!

We’re genuinely excited to co-organise the upcoming QGIS User Conference together with QGIS User Group Switzerland, and to do so in Laax, right here in the Swiss Alps.

Laax is home to OPENGIS.ch and the place where QField was born. It is a setting that has shaped how we work, how we collaborate, and how we think about building open-source tools that are meant to be used in the real world.

Bringing the global QGIS community together in such a place feels just right. People and ideas come together around open source, with space to exchange, reflect, and collaborate, in an environment that mirrors values that are deeply rooted in our DNA and our close connection to nature.

• Yes, the venue is reached by cable car
• Yes, it comes with breathtaking views
• And yes, there will be plenty of opportunities to hike, bike, fly, or simply enjoy great conversations

The mountains will not just be a backdrop. They will be part of the conference experience.

As Marco, our CEO and Chair of QGIS.org, puts it:

“I’ve never been more excited about a QGIS conference location announcement. Welcoming the community to my hometown in the Swiss Alps feels very special. This is where OPENGIS.ch is based and where QField was born, and it is a perfect place for meaningful exchanges and shared experiences.”

We’re very much looking forward to organising this conference and to welcoming the QGIS community to Laax for what we hope will be a memorable and inspiring QGIS User Conference.

Updates and details can be found at conference.qgis.org