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 following zipped directory and place it in your qgis_data directory:

https://github.com/GeospatialPython/Learn/raw/master/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 to display the data:

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

           from PyQt4.QtCore import QSize 
           from qgis.core import QgsCoordinateReferenceSystem,
                                 QgsCoordinateTransform, QgsPoint 
           from Qgis2threejs.api import Exporter 
   

2. Next...