[R-sig-Geo] Introducing: an R package for calling functions within a running instance of QGIS (ALPHA)

[Kevin Stadler]

Hello,

as part of my Google Summer of Code project I am currently developing
a QGIS plugin that allows controlling a running QGIS instance through
a HTTP interface -- and an R package making use of this 'Network API'
along with it.

This package is quite different from the existing RQGIS in that it
connects to a running instance of QGIS, meaning that programmatic
control from within R + user interaction can be combined (the QGIS
instance being controlled does not even have to run on the same
machine).

Both components (QGIS plugin and R package) are still deep in alpha
stages, however for those interested there is now sufficient
documentation to give testing a shot, and I would welcome all feedback
and suggestions. This simple example tutorial vignette should give you
an idea of how the package works:
http://qgisapi.gitlab.io/rqgisapi/articles/tutorial.html

Instructions for installing the two components can be found here:
https://gitlab.com/qgisapi/networkapi#testing
and here:
http://qgisapi.gitlab.io/rqgisapi/#installation


I will be expanding the package as well developing example use cases
in the form of Rmarkdown and JuPyteR notebooks until the end of the
summer, so I'd be happy to receive requests for QGIS functionality
that you'd like to see exposed to R (access to processing functions in
particular is not implemented at the moment). If there is more
interest I'd be happy to keep posting regular updates about new
features to this list too.

Best!
Kevin