QGIS – Create Spatial Index

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Marketing
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By David Crowther

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Question:

How do you add a Spatial Index to my GIS file in QGIS?

Answer:

The Create Spatial Index Tool within QGIS enables you to create spatial indexes very quickly for your GIS Layers. A spatial index can be very important on a GIS layer, especially for large datasets, as they will allow queries to run a lot quicker and speed up map rendering.

In QGIS I have an input point layer of Lower Super Output Areas – approximately 30,000 records in total!

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If we view the Shapefile in File Explorer, we can see there are 5 files that make up the GIS Layer…. we are missing a Spatial Index file!

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From the Processing menu choose > Toolbox > and open the Vector General section.

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Choose the Create Spatial Index menu option.

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The Create Spatial Index Tool will open.

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We will use the following settings:

  • In the Input Layer choose the LSOA Layer.

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If you now Run the Create Spatial Index Tool, the log file shows that a Spatial Index has been generated.

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If we view the GIS Layer in File Explorer, there is an additional file type of QIX – which is the Spatial Index for the layer.

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