1. Introduction

In this tutorial, you'll work on a practical example of an automation work flow in QGIS using PyQGIS. We'll work on an example script where we create a Stage Volume Curve using PyQGIS.

A Stage Volume Curve or Stage Storage Curve can be used to read which volume of a lake or a pit belongs to a certain water level. It's much easier to measure the water level than the volume, so once the curve is created the volume can be determined in an easy way.

In this tutorial we'll create a Stage Volume Curve for an open pit Lignite mine, but the method is the same for lakes.

After this tutorial you'll be able to

  • calculate the volume below a specific elevation in a DTM
  • use QGIS Processing Tools with PyQGIS in QGIS

Data for this tutorial can be downloaded from this GitHub repository (same as the previous tutorial).

The data included in this tutorial comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission: SRTM 1-Arc Second. If you want to apply the tutorial to other areas you can download the data using the OpenTopography DEM Downloader Plugin. this video covers the procedure: