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Profiles & Cross-Sections | QGIS DTM Plugin | SinoCloud

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Profiles, Cross-Sections and Municipalities — Elevation Profiles and Cross-Sections for QGIS

Elevation profiles, cross-sections with cut/fill volumes, TINITALY/HR-DTM-5m DTM download, ISTAT municipality search and before/after comparison: all in a single free, open source QGIS plugin.

Profiles, Cross-Sections and Municipalities is the QGIS plugin designed for anyone working daily with surveying, earthworks and technical cartography: draw an axis on the map and instantly get the elevation profile (with a live "ProfiloExpress" preview while drawing) and the real cross-sections with automatic calculation of areas and cut/fill volumes.

There's no need to look for a DTM elsewhere: the plugin automatically downloads and clips the official TINITALY 1.1 (INGV, 10 m) or HR-DTM-5m (Zenodo/CNR, 5 m) tiles on the drawn area — even set automatically by searching an Italian municipality in the official ISTAT archive, with no dependency on OpenStreetMap or Nominatim. It also includes a before/after works comparison between GeoPackages or between DTMs, with a difference raster and excavation/fill volumes.

Screenshots

The Plugin in a Real Project in Mandatoriccio (CS)

A real end-to-end case: municipality search, TINITALY DTM download, profile and cross-section calculation, print layout and PDF export.

Search for the municipality of Mandatoriccio in the official ISTAT archive from the QGIS plugin
Municipality search via the official ISTAT archive: no dependency on OpenStreetMap/Nominatim.
TINITALY 1.1 DTM downloaded and clipped to the boundary of the municipality of Mandatoriccio in QGIS
TINITALY 1.1 DTM (10 m) automatically downloaded and clipped to the municipal boundary.
Elevation profile chart calculated by the Profiles, Cross-Sections and Municipalities QGIS plugin
Calculated elevation profile: 11.7 km, real elevations from the DTM, interactive chart in the Results tab.
Cross-sections and cut/fill volumes calculated by the QGIS plugin
Cross-sections along the axis, with areas and cut/fill volumes in a table.
QGIS print layout generated by the plugin with map, legend, charts and tables
QGIS print layout generated automatically: map with DTM, legend, grid, scale and charts.
Cartographic PDF export of the cross-sections generated by the QGIS plugin
The final cartographic PDF: DTM background, axis, cross-sections, attribute tables and thumbnail charts.

Main Features

Elevation profile + ProfiloExpress

Draw the axis on the map and get the complete elevation profile, with a live preview that updates in real time while you draw.

Cross-sections and cut/fill volumes

Real cross-sections at regular intervals, with calculation of cut/fill areas and volumes relative to a design elevation or slope.

TINITALY / HR-DTM-5m DTM download

Download and clip the official TINITALY 1.1 (INGV, 10 m) or HR-DTM-5m (Zenodo/CNR, 5 m) tiles onto the drawn area, with progress/ETA and license citation.

Municipality search via ISTAT

Search for an Italian municipality and load its official administrative boundary directly from the ISTAT archive, cached locally after the first download.

Before/after works comparison

Compare GeoPackages generated by the plugin or two DTMs (difference raster) to calculate excavation/fill volumes between two surveys.

Complete exports

PNG, cartographic PDF with print layout, CSV with data tables, vector GeoPackage and DXF for technical drawings.

How It Works

01

Search the municipality

Search for an Italian municipality in the Municipalities tab (official ISTAT archive) and load its administrative boundary.

02

Download the DTM

Use the boundary as the clipping area and download the TINITALY 1.1 or HR-DTM-5m DTM directly in QGIS.

03

Draw the profile and cross-sections

Draw the axis on the map: the elevation profile and cross-sections with volumes are calculated automatically.

04

Export the results

Generate the print layout and export PDF, CSV, GeoPackage and DXF ready for the technical report.

AEO / FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Profiles, Cross-Sections and Municipalities

What is the "Profiles, Cross-Sections and Municipalities" plugin for QGIS?
It's a free, open source QGIS plugin that calculates elevation profiles and cross-sections with cut/fill volumes, downloads official DTMs (TINITALY 1.1 and HR-DTM-5m), searches Italian municipalities via the official ISTAT archive and compares the before/after state of works, with PNG, PDF, CSV, GeoPackage and DXF export.
How do I download the TINITALY DTM with the plugin?
In the "Raster Download" tab you draw the area of interest (or set it automatically from the boundary of a municipality searched in the Municipalities tab), and the plugin automatically downloads and clips the official TINITALY 1.1 tiles from INGV (10 m resolution), with a progress bar and source/license attribution.
How are cross-sections and cut/fill volumes calculated?
You draw the axis on the map (or reuse an existing line layer): the plugin generates cross-sections at regular intervals, calculates cut and fill areas relative to a design elevation or slope, and reports the total volumes, with charts and tables in the Results tab.
Is the plugin compatible with QGIS 4 and Qt6?
Yes. The plugin supports QGIS from version 3.16 up to 4.99, with all Qt/QGIS enums fully scoped and verified on a real QGIS 4.2/Qt 6.10 environment.
How do I export profiles, cross-sections and tables?
From the Results tab you can export charts as PNG, complete cartographic layouts as PDF (map with DTM background, legend, grid, scale and title block), data tables as CSV, vector layers as GeoPackage and technical drawings as DXF.
Where can I download the plugin and find the source code?
The plugin installs directly from the official plugins.qgis.org repository by searching "Profili, Sezioni e Comuni" in the QGIS Plugin Manager. The source code is public on GitHub, at github.com/sag1687/profili.
Is the plugin really free and open source?
Yes, it's distributed under the GPL-2.0 license, free for both personal and professional use, with public, inspectable source code on GitHub.

Try Profiles, Cross-Sections and Municipalities

Open source plugin (GPL-2.0), installable directly from the official QGIS plugin repository.

Install from QGIS Plugin Repository Source code on GitHub
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