BDC Loader is a QGIS plugin for the Brazil Data Cube (BDC) of INPE. It searches the BDC STAC catalog and adds the image of each date to QGIS as a layer read straight from the Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs, so no scene is downloaded.
It also mosaics and clips the images to your area, steps through the dates on a timeline, and draws the time series of points next to the images.
(A) timeline toolbar, (B) image of the selected date, (C) time series chart, (D) time series panel.
- Open the latest release and download
bdc_loader_plugin_v<version>.zip. Do not download Source code (zip): QGIS cannot install it. - In QGIS, open Plugins → Manage and Install Plugins… → Install from ZIP, select the file and click Install Plugin. Answer Yes if QGIS asks about plugins from outside the official repository.
- Open the plugin from the toolbar button or from Raster → BDC Loader → BDC Loader.
The plugin needs QGIS 3.22 or newer (QGIS 4 included) and an Internet connection to the BDC. Nothing else has to be installed: the STAC client ships inside the plugin, and GDAL, numpy and requests come with QGIS. The time series chart uses matplotlib; when QGIS has none, the chart area shows the command for your system's package manager and a button that installs a compatible version for the plugin only.
- Collection: pick a cube or collection, such as Sentinel-2 Cube 16D (S2-16D-2). The period and band lists follow the collection.
- Period: drag the slider or type the dates.
- Area: draw a box on the map (Extent → Draw on Canvas), type or click BDC tiles (Tiles), or open a polygon file (Vector File). In Crop mode each date is clipped to the area.
- Bands: choose three bands for the color composite, or a preset.
- Search STAC lists the dates found, with a preview and the cloud cover of each.
- Load layers adds the checked dates to QGIS. Only the blocks QGIS draws are read from the BDC; no scene is downloaded. Download selected saves them as GeoTIFF instead, in BDC Albers, WGS 84 or the project CRS.
- Time Series opens the time series panel.
- Timeline Panel opens the timeline toolbar, which steps through the loaded dates with ◀ Prev and Next ▶ or with Alt+Left and Alt+Right (the keys can be changed in its settings).
Export Code saves the search as JSON or YAML, or writes it as Python, cURL or R code for the sits and rstac packages; Import Query reads a saved search back.
In the time series panel, choose the collection, the period and the bands, click the point button and then a place on the map (or several places in Multi mode), and click Extract. Series come from WTSS when the BDC serves the collection there, and are read from the COGs otherwise.
In RGB mode each marker takes the color of the point in the composite of its date, so a cloud, a shadow or a clearing stands out in the series. A double click on a marker opens the image of that date on the map. The series are exported as CSV or GeoPackage.
- Offline mode: without a connection to the BDC, Search STAC lists and loads the images already downloaded on this computer.
- Interface in English and Brazilian Portuguese, switched by the flags in the header.
- Tour walks through a complete case with the plugin's own buttons.
- BDC Proj sets the project to SIRGAS 2000 / Brazil Albers (EPSG:10857).
- Docs lists the BDC services and their documentation.
| Service | Address |
|---|---|
| STAC API | https://data.inpe.br/bdc/stac/v1/ |
| WTSS | https://data.inpe.br/bdc/wtss/v4/ |
| STAC Browser | https://data.inpe.br/stac/browser/ |
| BDC data cubes | https://data.inpe.br/dados/cubos-de-dados/ |
| BDC documentation | https://brazil-data-cube.github.io/ |
- Only the BDC STAC catalog is supported; other STAC servers cannot be configured.
- Images are read over the network, so loading and drawing depend on the connection to the BDC.
- Time series extraction needs the connection; offline mode covers search and loading only.
git clone https://github.com/BaggioCastro/bdc-loader.git
cd bdc-loader
pip install pytest ruff
python -m pytest # unit suite; QGIS, Qt and GDAL are mocked
ruff check . && ruff format --check .To run the plugin from the clone, copy or link bdc_loader_plugin/ into the QGIS plugins folder
(<profile>/python/plugins/, opened from Settings → User Profiles → Open Active Profile Folder) and
restart QGIS.
python package_plugin.py writes bdc_loader_plugin_v<version>.zip with only the files QGIS needs, and
python check_package.py <zip> checks it against the rules of the QGIS plugin repository. The CI runs the
unit suite on Python 3.9, 3.10 and 3.13, starts the plugin in QGIS 3.22 and in QGIS 4 on Linux, Windows and
macOS, and checks the ZIP with Bandit and detect-secrets, as the QGIS plugin repository does on upload. To
release, set the version with python bump_version.py <version>, add its section to
docs/CHANGELOG.md and push the tag v<version>: the release workflow builds the ZIP and
publishes it on the release page.
docs/CONTRIBUTING.md has the code conventions and docs/THREADING.md the threading model.
Baggio Luiz de Castro e Silva, National Institute for Space Research (INPE), São José dos Campos, Brazil. [email protected]
BDC Loader is not an official product of the Brazil Data Cube project.
GNU General Public License v3.0, see LICENSE. The bundled pystac 1.3.0 and pystac-client 0.3.2 are under the Apache License 2.0; their notices are in bdc_loader_plugin/lib/README.md.