Visualizing data in 3D with WebGL

QGIS displays data in a two-dimensions even if the data is three-dimensional. However, most modern browsers can display 3D data using the WebGL standard. In this recipe, we'll use the Qgis2threejs plugin to display QGIS data in 3D in a browser.

Getting ready

You will need to download some raster elevation data in the zipped directory and place it in your qgis_data directory from the following:

https://geospatialpython.googlecode.com/svn/saveqml.zip

You will also need to install the Qgis2threejs plugin using the QGIS Plugin Manager.

How to do it...

We will set up a color ramp for a DEM draped over a hillshade image and use the plugin to create a WebGL page in order to display the data. To do this, we need to perform the following steps:

1. First, we will need to import the relevant libraries and the Qgis2threejs plugin:

   from PyQt4.QtCore import *
   from PyQt4.QtGui import *
   import Qgis2threejs as q23js
   

2. Next, we'll disable QGIS automatic reprojection to keep...