Conefor for Processing
Conefor for Processing integrates the Conefor tool into the QGIS Processing framework, allowing users to easily quantify the importance of habitat patches for maintaining or improving landscape connectivity.
Conefor (previously known as Conefor Sensinode) was developed as a tool for spatial ecology analyses and for decision-making support in conservation planning, through the identification and prioritization of critical sites (patches and links) for habitat and landscape connectivity.
Installation
The plugin is available via my repository.
Prerequisites
Conefor for Processing requires the conefor command-line tool to be installed on your system. These binaries should be accessible via your system’s PATH environment variable or their location should be configured in the plugin settings.
Binaries for all major operating systems can be downloaded from the Conefor homepage.
To install it, please follow these steps (for more details, see the QGIS User Guide):
- Start QGIS.
- Go to Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins….
- Go to the Settings tab and click Add… to add a new repository.
- Enter repository name, e.g. “Alex Bruy’s plugins”.
- Enter the repository URL https://plugins.bruy.me/plugins.xml.
- Click OK to close the Repository details dialog.
- Go to the All tab.
- Search for Conefor for Processing, select the plugin in the list and click Install Plugin.
Usage
Once installed and enabled, Conefor for Processing is registered as a Processing provider and its algorithms are added to the Processing toolbox under the “Conefor” group.
You may need to configure the provider before using its tools. Open QGIS options from the menu “Settings → Options” and go to the “Processing” tab. Expand the “Providers” group and find “Conefor” sub-group. Here you will find all settings related to the Conefor provider.
It is necessary to tell the plugin where to find the Conefor command-line executable. If this setting is left blank, the plugin will assume that the tool is already added to the system’s PATH environment variable and is accessible by name. When done, save settings by pressing OK.
The plugin provides three algorithms divided into preparation utilities and the tool to run actual analysis:
- Create node file: Generates a nodes file mapping patch/node IDs to their respective attributes (such as patch area or habitat quality score).
- Create connection file: Generates network connection matrix by calculating distances between all pairs of nodes within a layer.
- Calculate index: Runs analysis to quantify landscape and patch-scale connectivity indices.
The algorithms can be used as any other Processing algorithm: in standalone mode, as a batch process, as part of models and scripts, or using the qgis_process command line tool. Please refer to the QGIS User Guide to learn how to use Processing tools.
For more information on the underlying connectivity metrics, parameters, and analysis principles, please refer to the official Conefor User Guide.
Reporting bugs
Please report bugs and submit feature requests via bugtracker.
