After a somewhat shaky first version, Geotribu is pleased to announce some fairly significant and impactful changes to QChat, the chat system integrated into QGIS.
The new version of QChat is a bit like when Com Truise gets on a motorbike: it really gets the blood pumping!
Mid-June, the French-speaking QGIS Users Meeting was held in Avignon, Southern France - a city often described as "the City of the Popes", thanks to the Popes' Palace, the city's number one attraction. Not far from the non-terminated bridge, which has inspired some happy songs around the world as well as the 2025 edition banner :
Since the last Geotribu article about deploying QGIS Server dates back to 2010, the release of an official QGIS Server Docker image last year is a great opportunity to catch up!
As a quick reminder, QGIS Server is an open-source web mapping server solution—similar to GeoServer or MapServer—that allows you to serve maps and geospatial data on the web. It relies on OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards to provide interoperable services. QGIS Desktop offers a graphical interface for users to create and edit their maps.
The official QGIS Server documentation explains in detail how to install QGIS Server natively, i.e. directly from your platform or distribution’s package repositories. After the official QGIS Server image was released last year, Anita Graser shared a great post about its usage. However, comprehensive resources on containerized deployment remain limited. That’s why in this article, we’ll take a look at how and why using the official QGIS Server Docker image makes deployment much easier.
QGIS.бг is an informal organization that brings together the Bulgarian FOSS geo enthusiasts. In the landscape dominated by proprietary software, the QGIS.bg is providing learning materials at beginner and advanced level, in Bulgarian language, for free to anyone who wants to know more about open source GIS and technologies.
In October we introduced "QChat", the plugin for chatting with other QGIS users, directly inside QGIS.
Since then, we have been working on some evolutions, and new geo oriented features are now available.
Before we start talking about GIS and technical aspects, let's talk about the Vendée Globe.
It is a solo sailing race, non-stop and without assistance, around the world. It has been held every 4 years since 1989. The start is in Les Sables d'Olonne. The course consists of going down the Atlantic, then passing successively under Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, under Australia and Cape Leeuwin and finally under South America and Cape Horn, to return to Vendée as quickly as possible. The record was set by Armel Le Cléac'h during the 2016-2017 edition with a journey of 74 days 3 hours and 35 minutes.
We're excited to announce the release of a new feature integrated into our QTribu plugin for QGIS: QChat! This new addition allows you to collaborate in real time with your team or other GIS fellows directly from QGIS.
We're in 2024 (unless you're reading this in 2025, or 2026, or... well, you get the idea), and let's be honest, Teams or IRC have their cons. Plus, you can't even use the hashtag #GISchat there, you can't meet fellow GIS enthusiasts and you definitely can't win Geotribu stickers 
... Honestly, it's time for something new.
Introducing a new way to chat directly in QGIS: QChat, a feature that lets you communicate with your peers within the best desktop GIS software around. The question is: why? And the answer: why not?