It was such a pleasure to be part of the QGIS User Conference 2025 in Norrköping! The event was extremely well organised — a big thank you to the amazing local team for pulling it all together so smoothly. Personally, it felt special to be back in Sweden, almost 20 years after my Uppsala university days. I truly enjoyed giving the opening keynote and sharing the latest from the QGIS project — and of course, showcasing all the QField greatness we’ve been working so hard on

Talks & Presentations

QGIS.org updates

As Chair of the QGIS.org association, I had the opportunity to share recent updates from the QGIS community. I spoke about ongoing development efforts, community growth, funding initiatives, and collaborations that help keep the project moving forward.
The focus was on the people who make QGIS possible — contributors, sponsors, local user groups, and everyday users — and how their involvement continues to shape the project’s direction and ensure its long-term sustainability.

Slides here (unfortunately keynotes and workshops were not recorded)

Extending QFieldCloud – Ideas and Practical Examples

In this talk, Michael, one of our Full stack GeoNinja and Web Cartography teacher, explained how QFieldCloud can be extended by integrating additional Django apps. This allowed, for example, the generation of QField projects, reacting to events from fieldwork, adding new websites and APIs, and executing entire QGIS models as QFieldCloud jobs.

After a technical introduction, various practical examples were explored. It was shown how OpenStreetMap data can be fully automated to download offline-capable QField projects. Attendees got inspired by how an own WebGIS is brought to life in QFieldCloud using OpenLayers. Furthermore, he demonstrated how remote sensing data can be downloaded, analysed in a QGIS pipeline, and the results made available in QField projects. Finally, the discussion focused on how these capabilities can be optimally used in combination with QField plugins.

SIGNALO: An Open-Source Solution for Mapping Road Signs in QGIS 

Presented by Denis, our Industry Solution Team Lead, SIGNALO is a QGIS-based solution for mapping road signs, powered by a PostGIS database. It addresses the challenge of representing vertical data on maps while ensuring compliance with Swiss norms, yet remains highly customizable for use at local, regional, or national levels. Moreover, the flexible design allows for easy adaptation to other countries.

In this talk, Denis explored both the technical foundations of the project and the organizational strategies that enable its open-source development.

1.5 Million Reasons to Use QField

In this talk, I shared our vision for the future of QField — the world’s most popular open-source mobile GIS solution. With over 1.4 million downloads and 500,000 active users, QField is making a real difference for fieldwork around the globe.
I spoke about where we’re headed next, what new features are coming, and how we at OPENGIS.ch are working to empower professionals across all sectors with powerful, flexible, and open tools for mobile geospatial workflows.

Standardizing Groundwater Data Collection with QField

We were excited to see Alexandra Nozik from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) present her work on a QField project designed to standardize groundwater data collection in remote tropical regions. The setup uses QGIS layers, predefined parameters, and metadata standards to ensure high-quality, consistent field data. Integrated with QFieldCloud, the workflow improves data accuracy, reduces data loss, and enables real-time collaboration. The project will be published on GitHub as a ready-to-use package, supporting reliable and comparable groundwater data collection across the scientific community.

QField and QFieldCloud – seamless fieldwork for QGIS 

In this workshop, Zsanett, QField Product Manager, went through the complete fieldwork process: setting up a QGIS project, publishing the project via QFieldCloud, collecting data via the QField mobile app and synchronising the field data back to your main dataset in the office. QField works on top of QGIS and allows users to set up maps and forms in QGIS on their workstation and deploy them in the field. QField uses QGIS’s data providers (OGR, GDAL, PostGIS and others) and supports most common file formats. QField combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology that allows intuitive viewing and editing of data. QField’s map rendering is supported by the QGIS rendering engine, so the results are identical and the full range of styling options available on the desktop is available. Editing forms in QField respect the QGIS configuration and are optimised for touch interaction. QFieldCloud makes field collaboration much easier. Participants learned about configuring users with different rights, collecting offline and online data, and synchronizing field data and QGIS project data.

Our first international QField Day

On June 4th, the first international QField Day took place in Norrköping, right after the QGIS User Conference. This free half-day event was dedicated to QField, QFieldCloud, and the mobile GIS community, bringing together users, contributors, and developers for an afternoon of field-tested workflows, live demos, community stories, and open discussions. It was a great opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, and explore the future of mobile geospatial tools in the open-source ecosystem.
Definitely not our last one.

Supporting Open Source

We were proud to support QGIS UC25 in Norrköping, Sweden, as Platinum Sponsors — reaffirming our commitment to the open-source geospatial community and the continued growth of the QGIS ecosystem.

Looking Ahead

We’re already looking forward to the next gathering — QGIS UC26 will take place in Switzerland !

After the conference, I joined the contributor meeting along with four QGIS developers from OPENGIS.ch. It was a fantastic chance to collaborate in person, help shape the future of QGIS, and reconnect with old friends from the community.

As long time sponsors of FOSSGIS, we stepped up the game this year and became Platinum Sponsors for FOSSGIS 2025. We are proud to be part of a thriving open-source GIS community and to contribute to such a great conference. Here’s a recap of everything we were involved in:

Talks & Presentations

QField: New Strategy and Application Potential
Berit and Marco presented how QField, with over 1 million downloads and 350,000 active users, is now recognized as Digital Public Good aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Marco also shared the vision and mission behind QField’s development — highlighting our commitment to empowering field teams across the globe with open, user-friendly tools for data collection.
Real-world stories illustrated how QField helps bridge data gaps to support informed, sustainable decision-making.
View talk

QField in Practice: Fieldwork Made Easy
Berit and Michael led an interactive workshop demonstrating how to develop a QField project from scratch. The goal was for each participant to create and sync their own field study project using QFieldCloud, focused on collecting data on flowering plants in the picturesque “Schlussgarten.”
View session

When Web Meets Desktop
Matthias demonstrated how Django can be used to build consumable geodata layers via OGC API – Features endpoints. His talk covered how to use Python and Django ORM to elegantly define data models and business logic, offering an alternative to complex database logic.
View talk

Extending QFieldCloud – Ideas and Practical Examples
Michael showed how QFieldCloud can be extended with Django apps, sharing practical implementations such as automated project generation and integration of remote sensing workflows.
View talk

QField Plugins – Examples and Possibilities
In a lightning talk, Michael introduced useful QField plugins, explained how to install and use them, and explored how they can enhance your mobile GIS workflows.
View talk

Hands-on qgis-js: Building Interactive QGIS-Based Web Maps
In this practical workshop, Michael guided participants through using qgis-js, an exciting new project that brings QGIS functionality directly into the browser.
View session

QGIS AMA Expert Session
Matthias and Marco hosted a live Q&A session where attendees could ask everything about QGIS development, best practices, organisation and real-world applications.

At the Booth

Our QField booth was buzzing with activity all week – from plugin demos and project showcases to deep dives into QFieldCloud and field mapping workflows. We had great conversations, received valuable feedback, and met many enthusiastic users.

Supporting Open Source

We were proud to be Platinum Sponsors of FOSSGIS 2025. Supporting open-source events like this is essential for fostering innovation, collaboration, and community-driven growth in the GIS world.

Looking Ahead

Thank you to the organisers, speakers, and everyone who joined us in Münster. We left the event full of ideas, motivation, and appreciation for this community – and we’re already looking forward to the next FOSSGIS!

#QField #QFieldCloud #FOSSGIS2025 #OpenSourceGIS #QGIS #SupportOpenSource