OpenLayers : A great plug-in to display Google Maps (and others) in QGis

I just found a plug-in extension for QGis that would allow me to  add a number of image services to your map canvas :

Installing the Plugin

The OpenLayers plugin is installed like all other Python plugins. From the the Plugins menu in QGIS, choose Fetch Python Plugins. This brings up the plugin installer. To find the plugin, enter openlayers in the Filter box, then select OpenLayers Plugin from the list. Once it’s highlighted, click the Install plugin button. This will download the plugin from the repository, install it, and load it into QGIS.

 
Using the Plugin

The OpenLayers Plugin uses your view extent to fetch the data from the service you choose. For this reason you should load at least one of your own layers first. Since each of the services are expecting a request in latitude/longitude your layer either has to be geographic or you must enable on the fly projection.

To add one of the services you have two choices; you can pick the service from the Plugins->OpenLayers plugin menu or you can use the OpenLayers Overview. The Overview opens a new panel that allows you to choose a service from a drop-down list. Click the Enable map checkbox to enable the drop-down list and preview the service you want to add. If you are happy with what you see, you can add it to the map by clicking the Add map button.

Download :http://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/openlayers_plugin/

KML to Shape

The KML2Shape  tool is a superb and easy tool to convert KML file to a shape created bu Zonum solution

All we need to do is just create the KML or KMZ file on GoogleEarth then simply go to the Zonum’s web. Click New  then upload your KML/KMZ file using Upload KML/KMZ button. Wait until the dialogue box closed then click on Process KML. It will result just like below inside the box:

Entities found:

# Points: 0
# Paths: 1
# Inner Polygons: 0
# Outer Polygons: 0

Make sure you choose the appropriate Shapes to export. Then just simply click on Export SHP button. A new window will appear, click on Download, it is gonna download a zip file. Extract the file. You’ll find 4 files.

Website : KML2shape