Working with Raster Data - Desktop GIS: Mapping the Planet with Open Source Tools - page 57

Figure 4.1: Montana topographic map in QGIS
The QGIS toolbar contains a button for loading rasters (it's right next
to the Vector button), or you can choose Add a Raster Layer from the
Layer menu. Rasters in QGIS are loaded using the standard file dialog
box—of course this will vary in appearance depending on your oper-
ating system. To select a TIFF, we need to make sure the filter is set
properly. The QGIS raster dialog box has filters for a number of data
types, including GeoTIFF, ERDAS Imagine, and USGS Digital Eleva-
tion Models. To get started, just make sure the GeoTIFF is selected in
the Files of Type drop-down box, and navigate to the location of the
TIFF file. Select it and click the Open button. QGIS opens and displays
the image at full extent. In Figure 4.1 , we have loaded the raster and
zoomed to the northeast corner of the Montana DRG.
The first thing you're likely to notice is that the raster has a bunch
of text annotations around the border. We call this the collar, and
although it has good information, it's a bit distracting when we're work-
ing with our data. This becomes readily apparent when you download
the DRG adjacent to it and want to display them in a seamless fashion.