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GIS Guide: simplifying polygons in QGIS

If shapefiles (.shp) are too complex and have too many vertices for groundsure.io (or other platform) to handle, the simplify tool can help solve this by reducing the complexity while maintaining the integrity of shape as best as possible.

  1. Make the shapefile editable and select the Simplify Feature tool from the Advanced Digitizing Toolbar: Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 16.21.23
  2. Adjust the tolerance to the desired level. The higher the number the more the polygon will be simplified. It will give a preview of how many vertices will be kept. 
    Tip: a tolerance of 0 will delete all unnecessary vertices while keeping the polygon exactly the same.



  3. The shapefile will have been simplified and will look slightly different as shown below. In this case the greatest difference is 1m while reducing the number of vertices 47% of the original count.

Tip: The difference between the two polygons can be seen using the Symmetrical Difference tool. An example is shown below. This is useful to ensure any key detail hasn’t been lost in the process.