Convert a Land Cover Classification from Raster to Vector in QGIS

In my previous tutorial I have described the steps for a land cover classification using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin for QGIS. The classification result is a raster file; however, certain spatial analyses require the vector format.

This post is about the conversion of a land cover classification from raster to vector format (that is a shapefile) using QGIS. In addition, I will describe some useful functions for the refinement of the output file.

GIS and Remote Sensing Definitions

This post provides several basic definitions about GIS and remote sensing, as a quick reference for future tutorials. For further information there are several free online sources, such as Landsat 7 Science Data User's Handbook or Wikipedia.

Open Source Software for GIS and Image Processing

There are several open source programs available for GIS analysis and image processing, that are very good alternatives to commercial software.

Concentrating on cross-platform software, I will try to summarize GIS and image processing programs, highlighting the main features thereof (in the following screenshots, the showed image is a Landsat 8, available from the U.S. Geological Survey).

Welcome to "From GIS to Remote Sensing"

As the name suggests, the main topics of this blog are Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, and their relationship.

I am Luca Congedo, and I work with GIS and remote sensing as an environmental engineer and researcher.

I have a passion for information technology (IT).

In particular, I like the open source philosophy, and therefore I will describe mainly open source software in this blog.

I am the author of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin, a free plugin for QGIS that allows for the semi-automatic supervised classification of remote sensing images.

This plugin has several tools to expedite the creation of Regions Of Interest (ROIs) and the process of land cover classification.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin

I will post here the latest news about the plugin development.

Also, I will post several tutorials about the use of this plugin, and the functions thereof.

More information and instructions about this plugin are at this page.

I hope this blog might be valuable or interesting, also for people who are new to GIS and remote sensing.

For this purpose, I will describe the main topics with examples, and step by step guides.

Beside the plugin, this blog will provide several tips about complementary software (such as Linux or Python Programming Language) that will be useful for our journey from GIS to remote sensing.