Open Fibre Data Standard (OFDS) QGIS Plugin

A QGIS plugin for creating, editing and interacting with OFDS data.

Requirements

QGIS 3.40 or higher. This was released in October 2024 and is currently (November 2025) the Long Term Version (LTS) release of QGIS.

Installation

This guide assumes you are familiar with QGIS.

Steps

1. Download the Plugin

   • Click the green Code button of this repository
   • Download the latest .zip file (e.g., ofds-qgis-plugin-v1.0.zip)

2. Open QGIS

   • Start your QGIS application.

3. Open the Plugin Manager

   • From the main menu bar, click on Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins....

4. Install from ZIP

   • In the Plugins window, click on the Install from ZIP tab on the left-hand side.
   • Click the ... button next to the "ZIP file" field.
   • Navigate to the .zip file you downloaded in Step 1 and select it.
   • Click the Install Plugin button.

5. Enable the Plugin

   • After installation, you should see a message saying "Plugin installed successfully."
   • Go to the Installed tab and ensure the checkbox next to Open Fibre is ticked.
   • Close the Plugins window.

Usage

Once installed you will see the OFDS buttons in the top right, with placeholder icons

1. Initial Project Setup

1. Create a new QGIS project.
2. Add a base map for context. You can drag the OpenStreetMap layer from the XYZ Tiles section in the Browser panel onto your map.
3. Add OFDS Layers: Click the "Add Layers" button on the plugin toolbar. This will add the necessary empty layers (Nodes, Spans, etc.) to your project, structured for the OFDS standard.

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2. How to Use the Plugin

You have two main workflows: creating a new dataset from scratch or editing an existing one.

Workflow A: Create a New OFDS Dataset from Scratch

1. Add Features:
   • Select a layer in the Layers panel ( "Nodes" or "Spans").
   • Click the Toggle Editing (pencil) icon in the QGIS toolbar.
   • Use the Add Feature tool to draw your new points or lines on the map.
2. Edit Attributes: When you finish drawing a feature, a form will pop up. Fill in the details. The plugin provides helpful dropdown menus with pre-defined codelist values for fields like:
   • Status
   • Node type
   • Access point
   • Power
   • Technologies, etc.
3. Save Edits: When finished, click the Toggle Editing (pencil) icon again and save your changes.

Workflow B: Edit an Existing OFDS Dataset

1. Import Data: Click the "Import" button on the plugin toolbar.
2. Select an existing OFDS .json file from your computer.
3. The plugin will load all the data from that file into the correct layers.
4. Edit Features: Use the standard QGIS tools to modify the data as needed.

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3. Validate and Export Your Data

This is the final step for both workflows.

1. Validate: Before exporting, click the "Validate" button. This runs a check on your data and produces a report to help you find inconsistencies (e.g., a span that isn't connected to a node at both ends). The report is WIP.
2. Export: Once your data is valid and complete, click the "Export" button. You can then save all your data as a new, OFDS-compliant .json file.