Vector and raster analysis with Processing

The most comprehensive set of spatial analysis tools is accessible via the Processing plugin, which we can enable in the Plugin Manager. When this plugin is enabled, we find a Processing menu, where we can activate the Toolbox, as shown in the following screenshot. In the toolbox, it is easy to find spatial analysis tools by their name thanks to the dynamic Search box at the top. This makes finding tools in the toolbox easier than in the Vector or Raster menu. Another advantage of getting accustomed to the Processing tools is that they can be automated in Python and in geoprocessing models.

In the following sections, we will cover a selection of the available geoprocessing tools and see how we can use the modeler to automate our tasks.

Finding nearest neighbors

Finding nearest neighbors, for example, the airport nearest to a populated place, is a common task in geoprocessing. To find the nearest neighbor and create connections between input features...