In this year Google Summer of Code (GSoC), there is a project involving QGIS 3D. Ismail Sunni as the student with Martin Dobias and Peter Petrik as the mentors have implemented 3D On-Screen Navigation, 3D Measurement Tool and 3D Rendering Point Feature as A Billboard.

You can also learn more about this GSoC project here.

3D On-Screen Navigation

Previously, user could already navigate the 3D world by using mouse and keyboard. Unfortunately, for a new user it is not easy to start using them. 3D On-Screen Navigation will help navigating the 3D world. There are buttons to do zoom in/out, tilt up/down, pan up/down/left/right, and rotate the 3D map view. This feature can be activated from the 3D map view toolbar. See how to use it in this video:

3D Measurement Tool

Now you can measure distance in 3D map view with considering the z-value. This tool is available in the 3D map view toolbar. It has the same UI as in 2D measurement tool with the same configuration (rubber band color, unit, decimal place, and keeping the base unit). It also has the same behavior (left-click to add a new point, middle-click to delete the last point, and right-click to restart the measurement). Now you can measure the distance between two building’s top or length of a river in a mountain. See the 3D measurement tool in action:

3D Point Feature Rendering As Billboards

A new kind of rendering style has been added for point layers. It allows you to show the point with QGIS symbol (e.g. marker, SVG, etc) that always face to the user and always has the same size. You can see sample usage:

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