I am unable to make Whitebox work properly. In qGIS version 3.38, I have installed the plugin, downloaded the exe file , pointed to the whitebox_tools.exe file from the 'Providers' setting, and then see all the tool selections in the Processing toolbox. When I actually try to run a tool , however, I get the following error: " Process "whitebox_tools" failed to start. Either "whitebox_tools" is missing, or you may have insufficient permissions to run the program." It appears others have had this problem in the past six months. What is the solution?
Hello, this is a permission based issue on your local machine. You need to provide WhiteboxTools permission to run. Its possible you are not an admin on your machine or have an anti-virus software that is blocking WhiteboxTools from running.
Hi! The binary doesn't appear selectable when going to the folder... I tryied running it outside qgis before trying to add it but still doesn't work. I tryied giving it permissions on the disk but It didin't work either... any suggestions?
Ok, I managed to solve it by typing the file name "whitebox_tools" in the selection box and it did recognize the environment variable. Maybe is a problem with Windows not showing any files.
I followed the instructions in this video exactly but when I try to produce a slope file, it doesn't work. When I use QGIS itself to produce a slope raster, that works, so I know it must be something with WhiteboxTools. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for sharing. I is working as is should on Windows. I would point out that it can't use slope analysis on the virtual raster or merged raster. I found to export the merged raster and then importing it back. Then running whitebox on the imported raster works great.
For the ones who don't have a [QGIS]-tab: you can find the [processing]-menu at the tab [settings] -> [options] -> [processing]. This was the case for me using Windows 10 and QGIS 3.32 Lima
Can't get whitebox to work in qGis 3.32. Installed whitebox. Have the .exe file. Windows 10. Under preferences/providers it does not save the location for the .exe When trying to execute a tool in QGIs get error message that exe either not available or not permission however I am logged in as an administrator
@@Yurikyurik I have the same problem and i d'ont find any solution. Do you have an idae ? I gate this error message : thread 'main' panicked at 'index out of bounds: the len is 0 but the index is 0', whitebox-common\src\algorithms\convex_hull.rs:82:7 note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace Process returned error code 101
I followed along with sample data and everything. worked like a charm. Curious what I am doing. wrong when I swap in a different tif but: TypeError: argument 'raster': 'float' object cannot be converted to ‘Raster' The progress bar runs but I am unable to save the new raster:
This is also so amazing !!! Thanks for the great tutorial! - quick question, is there any way to use prehistoric dates? a few thousand BCE/BC ? years cal
Good morning, Thanks for this video! I have a question regarding tools related to convex surfaces at the surface of a raster. We scanned a ski slope last summer at a ski resort with a Lidar and a drone and my team and I would like to know if with one of the tools from WhiteboxGeospatial, it would be possible to detect convex surfaces (potentially extended over several meters) in order to "remove" them from the raster by replacing them with planar surfaces that follow the slope of the ski slope? The goal is to make the raster as smooth as possible! Thanks in advance for your answer !
Thank you so much for this wonderful tutorial, sir. It will be very helpful for our research papers. Could you please tell me how you created your training datasets?
Well, I just tried the same operation using two .tif and it has worked. I believe there's an issue with the algorithm used which is not capable of processing rasters saved in .gpkg files, or it is something wrong that makes the algorithm not capable of getting the raster saved in a .gpkg file.
Would these tools be suitable for Ifsar derived DEMs that have not been cleaned sufficiently for generating the flowlines? The main problem being vegetation noise causing a mole hill along a stream where there should be a channel as the vegetation straddles the small channels and the resolution of 5m fills in the small gap between each bank. My limited experience is that without the source Ifsar data to refilter out the noise and utilize better data points those being nearer or on the surface this tool will reduce the magnitude of the noise but there will still be a mole hill where there should be a channel.
I wanted to grab the data to follow along. Based on the extents shown in the video I was able to find this area in the OpenTopography McMurdo Dry Valleys pages. I used the CyberDuck app and grabbed the zipped MDV_2014_TileIndex that holds shapefiles. Putting the extent and correct EPSG in QGIS using the "Create Layer From Extent" QGIS Vector Geometry processing tool and then applying the shape files from the ZIP above, I determined that I needed to grab the BEACON folder, specifically files "ot_BEACON_000275.laz" to the last file.
Hi John, Another fascinating tool and excellent demonstration of its application. I have two quick questions. First, how would you expect this tool to handle a complex deltaic environment with many bifurcating branches? I saw a few examples of centerlines splitting around large islands as you scrolled through the image, but are there any limitations you've seen on how the tool handles bifurcations? Second, the Whitebox Runner appears to have had quite a facelift! I particularly appreciate how recently used tools are 'pinned' to a dashboard, if that's the right way to put it. Where or when might the new and improved runner be released? Does this GUI still use Tkinter? Thanks!
Hi Nigel, First, while I haven't applied the tool to a river delta, I suspect that it would handle the distributary system quite well. As you saw in this video, it can handle bifurcations without issue. There's nothing in the algorithm to prevent it from handling these types of systems. As for the WbRunner, you're right, it is the new v2.0 Whitebox Runner that I'm using in this video. It's available on the development branch of the Whitebox Github repository now, but will be released to the public with the next open-core version, which will likely be early in the new year. If you can't wait to start using it, you can just download the source code from Github, cd to the whitebox_tools directory, and use the new Python build script (build.py). It'll compile each of the components of Whitebox, including the WbRunner, and place them correctly into a WBT subfolder (i.e. whitebox_tools/WBT). It's no longer a Python/Tk application. Instead, it's pure Rust and it's pretty amazing to work with. Yes, the recently used tools and most used tools are great. The tool search is also pretty fun and I find myself using these features all the time now. The settings tab is also pretty wonderful and it's by far the easiest way to install and register an extension license now. I can't wait to release the new Runner. I have some big plans for further development of it too! And of course, the best thing about the Runner is that it's always up to date with any updates in the WhiteboxTools open core or extensions. Just download the latest version of WhiteboxTools and those updates will be immediately seen the next time you relaunch the WbRunner...no need to wait for that particular frontend to be updated after a new release.
Excellent video and walkthrough. I don't do as much geoporocessing with python these days as I used to, but this brought back all of the excitement it used to give me. Thank you Dr. Lindsay!
Every GIS user has had the experience where our standard software, be it ArcGIS, QGIS, or any other geoprocessing platform, simply doesn't have some specialized tool we need to get the job done. This forces us to A) wait and hope that such a tool is developed or send requests to very busy developers, B) perform a potentially convoluted or even suboptimal workflow using many other tools to accomplish the same task, or C) take up a high-performance systems-level language and try to develop it ourselves (and who has time for that?). But with Whitebox Workflows for Python, users now have the ability to develop specialized algorithms to suit their needs with the ease of Python and the power of Rust. No more waiting, no more complicated tool chains! Truly an enormous leap forward for WBT users and GIS practitioners everywhere. While it is true that Esri's Arcpy package offers something called the Raster Iterator, which allows users to iterate over raster objects in Python scripts and work at the level of pixel data, this of course requires a costly Esri license, while a Whitebox Workflows for Python license will only set you back about the price of a cup of coffee and a sandwich. QGIS, when combined with other packages like numpy, will allow you to do something similar, but setting up QGIS for scripting outside of the actual QGIS platform is not trivial. In contrast, getting your scripts up and running with Whitebox Workflows for Python is as simple as a few lines of sensible code, as Dr. Lindsay has clearly demonstrated here. For myself at least, Whitebox Workflows for Python comes out as the clear winner.
I couldn't agree more with this assessment Nigel! Thanks for the insightful comment. I know that you were one of the early adopters of Whitebox Workflows and I appreciate your perspectives on it.
That's a great question! No, I'm afraid that all of the filters in WhiteboxTools use square (or rectangular) shaped kernels. I used to have the option for circular filters in Whitebox GAT, however, in developed WBT, I made certain compromises for efficiency that meant circular filters were out. For example, many filters use certain strategies to reduce the computation performed at each cell. Some filters, like the median filter, utilize the overlap between neighbouring filters (see Huang et al. 1979) and others use an integral image to improve efficiency. Unfortunately circular shaped kernels can't take advantage of these advanced techniques, and therefore, computational efficiency decreases very dramatically as kernel size increases. That isn't the case for most of the filters in WBT. Anyhow, thanks for the really interesting question.
Yes it will be available. This tool is apart of the General Toolset Extension from Whitebox Geospatial, which requires a software license. For more information check out our Toolset Extension page to learn more (www.whiteboxgeo.com/whitebox-toolset-extensions/).
