Generating SLD styles with QGIS¶

Exporting vector symbology¶

This is a step by step guide to style a GeoServer demo layer, sfdem.

1. Open QGIS (minimum version 3.0)

2. Load the states.shp dataset from the GeoServer data directory, <GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR>/data/shapefiles/states.shp

3. Double click the layer to open the Properties dialog and switch to the Symbology page.

4. Choose a Graduated rendering, on the PERSONS column, and click on Classify button to generate 1.5 standard deviations, select the spectral color ramp, switch mode to Quantile and finally and click on the “Classify button to generate a 5 classes map, as shown in figure.

   

   QGIS vector styling¶

5. Switch to the Labels page, choose Single labels`, label with the STATE NAME attribute and choose your preferred text rendering options, as shown in figure

   

   QGIS labelling¶

6. The layer renders as follows:

   

   QGIS raster styling¶

7. Go back At the Properties dialog, from the bottom of the Styles page, choose Style ‣ Save Style.

   

   Export using Save As…¶

8. Choose export in the SLD format, placing the file in the desired location.

   

   Choosing export format…¶

9. Go in GeoServer, create a new style, use the Upload a new style dialog to choose the exported file, and click on upload link.

   

   Uploading style in GeoServer…¶

10. Click on guilabel:Apply.

11. Change to the Layer preview tab, click on the Preview on Layer link to choose topp:states to verify proper rendering.

    

    Previewing style in GeoServer…¶

12. Eventually switch to the Publishing tab, search for states, and select Default or Associated checkbox to publish the layer to use the new style permanently.

    

    Associating style in GeoServer…¶

Exporting raster symbology¶

The following are a couple of examples on how to export raster layers’ symbology in QGIS and how to use the resulting SLD to style layers in GeoServer.

This is a step by step guide to style a GeoServer demo layer, sfdem.

1. Open QGIS (minimum version 3.4.5)

2. Load the sfdem.tif raster from the GeoServer data directory, <GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR>/data/sf/sfdem.tif

3. Double click the layer to open the Properties dialog and switch to the Symbology page.

4. Choose a Singleband pseudocolor rendering, Generate Min / Max Value Settings using Mean +/- standard deviation with using 1.5 standard deviations. Generate a 5 classes Linear interpolated map, as shown in figure.

   

   QGIS raster styling¶

5. The layer renders as follows:

   

   QGIS raster styling¶

6. Return to the layer’s Properties dialog Symbology page, at the bottom of the page choose Style ‣ Save Style.

   

   Export using Save As…¶

7. Choose export in the SLD format, placing the file in the desired location

   

   Choosing export format…¶

8. Go in GeoServer, create a new style, use the Upload a new style dialog to choose the exported file, and click on upload link.

   

   Uploading style in GeoServer…¶

9. Click on guilabel:Apply then change to the Layer preview tab. Click on the Preview on Layer link to choose sfdem to verify proper rendering.

   

   Previewing style in GeoServer…¶

10. Finally switch to the Publishing tab, search for sfdem layer, and select Default or Associated checkbox to publish sfdem with the new style.

    

    Associating style in GeoServer…¶

The next example shows how to style an aerial image instead.

1. Download an aerial image (for example from USGS Landsat image archives) if you do not already have one. Give it a name (aerial in this example) and save it as GeoTIFF

   

   aerial.tiff¶

2. Open GeoServer, create a new Store (see Add a Store), add a GeoTIFF Raster Data Source to the Store and connect it to your aerial.tif file

3. In GeoServer, create a new Layer (see Add a Layer) choosing the Store you have created in the previous step

4. Open QGIS (minimum version 3.4.5)

5. Load the aerial.tif raster

6. Double click the layer to open the Properties dialog and switch to the Symbology page

7. Choose a Multiband color rendering, set the bands (Red band == Band 1 (red), Green band == Band 2 (Green), Blue band == Band 3 (Blue)), generate Min / Max Value Settings using 5,0 - 95,0 % range of Cumulative count cut and select Stretch to MinMax as Contrast enhancement option, as shown in the picture below

   

   QGIS layer properties - Symbology¶

8. The layer renders as follows:

   

   QGIS layer rendering¶

9. Save the Style as SLD

10. Go in GeoServer, use the generated SLD to create a new style, choose the aerial layer through the Preview on Layer link and verify if the layer is properly rendered (see the previous example for further details)

    

    GeoServer layer rendering¶

11. Finally Publish the aerial layer with the new style as described in the previous example.