Last week I was in Kyiv applying for a German visa. It turned out that the process is not as complex and scary as it is said over the internet.
First, I checked the information published on the German embassy website and found out that:
application can be made directly via the embassy in Kyiv
it is also possible to apply via one of the visa centers (in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Donetsk)
What is important is that in the case of an application via the visa center, documents can be submitted either in person or with the help of an authorized representative, while applying via the embassy is only possible in person. I chose the second option — applying through the visa center. Firstly, I have to travel (to Kyiv or another city) anyway. Secondly, the number of available time slots at the embassy is much lower than at the visa center. Thirdly, application processing will be faster in the visa center. And lastly, when applying through the visa center, you can order delivery of the passport by courier service. So I checked train and bus schedules and chose the visa center in Kyiv: it should be more or less comfortable timing, and there is no need to stay overnight.
Next, determine the purpose of the trip and download a list of required documents, a visa application form, and, in the case of applying through the visa center, a consent for personal data processing. Then collect all the required certificates and other documents. Luckily, a notarized translation to German is not needed to be more precise:
Translation of Ukrainian documents is optional and not subject to notarization.
At least, this is the response I received to my question.
The sample of the visa application form is in German, but it can be filled out in Ukrainian, except for the name, surname, and place of birth. Although I filled it out in German. If you have to contact your bank to get a statement of account, make sure that the stamp is present not only on the certificate but also in the statement itself.
That’s pretty much all the preparation.
I arrived in Kyiv and spent some time finding the building of the visa center: formally, the visa center is located at Frunze street, 60. But to find it, one needs to turn to Zavodska street first and walk about 100 meters. Actually, under number 60, there is not only the German visa center but about 10 of them. There are Canada, Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, all Scandinavian countries… Neat houses surrounded by a common fence.
The visa center’s website contains information about security measures: electronic devices (including mobile phones) are not allowed, bags and backpacks are not allowed, and so on. In fact, it’s not all that bad. You can bring your phone, but the security guard will ask you to turn it off. As for backpacks and bags, there are some luggage storage facilities. But I don’t know if it’s like that in all centers.
The documents were accepted quickly: I had an appointment for 9 a. m., but was already free at that time. This is despite the fact that I was 19th in line.
Actually, why am I talking about it. I just received a package with my passport, and there is a new visa in it.
I have finished translating the PyQGIS Developer Cookbook into Ukrainian. It will be available on the QGIS documentation portal soon.
Comments and constructive criticism are welcome. Or even better, create an account and edit directly in Transifex
(although I personally don’t like it much and translate locally: git + Qt Linguist are the best).
The 11th QGIS developers meeting, held in Vienna (Austria), has finished. This time, the hackfest took place under the umbrella of a larger developer meeting — OSGeo Code Sprint 2014.
The activity of the participants was at a traditionally high level, and there is no sense or possibility to describe everything. Among the most notable things from an end-user prospective are:
bug hunting in Processing (Anita Graser and myself)
updated plugins repository (Alessandro Pasotti)
Paolo Cavallini was busy with checking and approving piles of submitted plugins
updated user manual (Larissa Junek and Otto Dassau)
There were also discussions about:
procedures for creating regional QGIS user groups
another stage of refactoring (this time it was about the layer tree or ToC, Table of Contents)
user interface improvements
translation process for documentation and user interface (Transifex vs. Qt Linguist/GitHub)
integration of the MetaSearch plugin into the core
At last! QGIS has finally got support for multithreaded rendering, the corresponding changes were merged into master by Martin Dobias just an hour ago. This is basically a revival of the 2010 GSoC project “QGIS on steroids” (successfully completed, but never merged into master), taking into account the latest changes to the QGIS codebase.
By default, multithreaded rendering is disabled, one can enable it in the QGIS settings “Settings → Options → Rendering → Render layers in parallel using all available CPU cores”. It is also possible to set canvas refresh interval during rendering (0 means real-time updates).
The work was done with the financial support from Lutra Consulting and Swiss QGIS User group.
As previously announced, QGIS has moved to a fixed 4-month release cycle. And now the first release on the new schedule has taken place.
This release focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements. Much effort has been put into developing and improving the Print Composer, making it even easier to create printed maps.
The full changelog can be found here. A visual changelog is also available. The most interesting and important changes are listed below:
support for pasting WKT from the clipboard as a new feature in the existing vector layer or as a new memory layer
UI improvements in the expression builder widget. It is now possible to resize various areas, advanced users can hide operator buttons to free up some screen space
The 10th QGIS developer meeting in Brighton (UK) has come to an end. This meeting was the most attended ever. This can be explained by the growing popularity of QGIS and the fact that the hackfest was held just before the FOSS4G conference.
The first day was almost unremarkable, with participants gradually arriving at the University of Sussex, newcomers getting to know each other — in short, an ordinary day before the hackfest itself. Among the notable changes to the code during the day:
copy/paste support for rendering rules
ELSE branch support in rule-based renderer
improvements in the print composer menus
Meanwhile, at Gatwick Airport, Victor Olaya is starting a complete refactoring of the Processing framework…
The QGIS developers are not superstitious people, and Friday the 13th did not affect their work in any way. The list of commits is impressive:
the Plugin Manager got the ability to optionally hide deprecated plugins, as well as highlight them in the plugin list
implemented visualisation of topological information in GRASS layers
Processing framework got a new, more convenient, configuration dialogue
10 new algorithms were added to Processing
and others improvements and bug fixes
There were also several discussions, starting with Richard talking about the new website. This was followed by discussions about refactoring the vector API, support for attribute domains, the possibility of using QML (especially in QGIS Android), the architecture and further development of the Processing framework.
On Saturday, Victor pushed to master the first set of refactoring commits
It’s starting to get fun… now nothing works :-)
Despite the refactoring, the framework continues to grow in functionality: 5 new algorithms have been added, and a few old ones have been improved. The Python console gets support for custom colour schemes (aesthetes will be pleased). There were also several discussions: a unified configuration dialogue, 3D support (Globe plugin, PostGIS, etc.), plugin manager and repository, further development of the WMS client, QGIS Server, QGIS WebClient.
Sunday, the penultimate full day of the hackfest. Another series of discussions, this time on documentation, the abstraction layer for databases, and attribute/geometry indexing. Quite a few commits were also made:
new script editor for Processing
reduced number of data conversions when running SAGA algorithms in QGIS
obsolete settings and related code were removed from Processing
added the ability to save models created in the Graphical Modeler as an image
expressions support in “Graduated” and “Unique values” symbology
More than a year has passed since the release of QGIS 1.8.0. And now, after many months of waiting and several postponements of the release date, QGIS 2.0 “Dufour” is officially announced. This release can be seen as the beginning of a new phase in the life of the project.
So the project is now officially called QGIS. The word “Quantum” in the name never had much meaning, and having two names (Quantum GIS and QGIS) sometimes caused unnecessary confusion. Also, using a shorter and more generic name allows for consistent naming of all components: QGIS Desktop, QGIS Server, QGIS Browser, etc.
Along with the release of version 2.0, the official website has undergone a major overhaul. We hope that the new design will be more convenient and functional, making it easier to find the information you need.
Long-awaited news for Windows users - QGIS is now available in a 64-bit version (both as a standalone installer and via OSGeo4W). Note that *NIX and MacOS users have long been able to use 64-bit packages.
The full list of changes in this release is quite impressive, you can check it out here. The so-called visual changelog is also available. In this post I will only list the most interesting and/or noticeable changes, but there are quite a few of them.
We have made a lot of changes to the QGIS GUI to make it cleaner and easier to use:
the icon theme has been updated to use the “GIS” theme, which is more consistent and professional
the layout of the various dialogues has been standardised with extensive use of vertical tabs and collapsible group boxes
to replace annoying modal message boxes, we have implemented a new non-blocking pop-up notification system with a corresponding API for plugin developers
QGIS 2.0 adds support for even more data sources and many data handling improvements, including:
added Oracle Spatial data provider
new OpenStreetMap data provider that works in read-only mode and uses the Overpass API to load data, downloaded data is stored in the SpatiaLite database
complete overhaul of the raster data provider subsystem. We moved to a “raster pipes” architecture — chains of independent operations (data reading, reprojection, resampling, rendering filters, etc.) that can be combined. One of the results is the ability to export open images in any supported format, while changing image resolution, cropping and reprojecting. In addition, it is now possible to save the raster as it is rendered in the GIS, e.g., if a colour palette has been applied to a singleband raster, it can be saved as a georeferenced RGB raster
Among other changes:
Heatmap plugin optimisations and improvements
SEXTANTE integrated into QGIS as a core plugin and renamed to Processing
unified Plugin Manager that allows you to download, install and manage plug-ins in a single window
new Python console with syntax highlighting, autocompletion, customisable fonts and other improvements
support for custom expression functions
support for project macros
new Python API. QGIS has been migrated to use SIP API v2, Qt types are automatically converted to the corresponding Python types
improved layer tree
many symbology and labelling enhancements: support for blending modes, mode data-defined properties, colour ramp support, etc.
I have been going to Khortytsia a lot lately. I get there on my own - it’s not as far and as long as it looks at first glance, and it keeps me in shape. As the new bridge is still under construction, I have to walk across the old one. However, the junction in front of the bridges has been partially built, and, in some places, even paved with asphalt. But there are no more crosswalks. Neither old nor new. And the only way to get to the Preobrazhensky Bridge is by breaking the traffic rules: crossing a four-lane road at any point.
Of course, you can still take the right side of Tyulenina Street (if you’re facing the island), but there is a pipe that takes up almost the entire footpath on a bridge. So you have to walk very close to it, stepping over the supports every 2–3 metres. I did it twice: trust me, you don’t want to walk on that side.
Another problem is narrow pavements and cyclists. I have nothing against the former or the latter. But when they are combined… In the whole time, I have seen only 2 (two!!!) cyclists obeying the traffic rules, even though they ride in droves in this area. And here you are walking on the pavement (the pavement, I remind you, is narrow, two people can pass each other, but not walk side by side), you don’t cause any trouble, and there it is… a cyclist on a boneshaker is coming towards you or overtaking you from behind. I don’t mind and step back from the pavement in the thicket and let him pass, I’m not a very important person after all. But WTF… is it fear of the road or something else?
Lately, I have been having to carry my laptop around a lot. And although I’m not that weak, carrying around all those kilos (the laptop itself + all the accessories) is a bit of a hassle, and I was starting to feel a lack of performance. I wanted something new, more compact, lighter, and preferably with a long-lasting battery.
I looked at ThinkPads and Dell’s Vostro range and ended up with the Lenovo ThinkPad x230. I am very happy with the laptop, it is exactly what I wanted: small, light, comfortable, and powerful. I quickly got used to the new island-style keyboard, although I sometimes hit Delete, which is now in the top right-hand corner, instead of Home or End. In the future, I will probably replace the current “classic” hard drive with an SSD and increase the memory.
Went to the Catholic cathedral on Friday for an organ recital (actually a duet — organ and cello). They played Bach, Paganini, Masne, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. I liked it, and besides, I had never heard the organ live before. The cathedral was surprisingly full: both the main pews and the side chairs were occupied.