Home › Vector tools › Change Describer
Change Describer QGIS 4 compatibility
QGIS 4 ready Active
Yes — Change Describer supports QGIS 4 (declared max version 4.99.0).
Compare two versions of any vector layer and get the differences written out in plain English — added, deleted and modified features, attribute changes field by field, and geometry edits measured as area, length or distance moved. Results come as a report table, a colour-coded change layer, a CSV file and an HTML summary.
About
COMPARE TWO VERSIONS OF A LAYER AND SEE EXACTLY WHAT CHANGED Change Describer answers the question every GIS team asks sooner or later: what is different between this version of the data and the previous one? Instead of a raw diff, it produces readable sentences you can paste into a change log, a permit file, a QA report or an email. Example of a generated description: "'height' changed from 12 to 15; 'zoning' gained: RES; geometry edited (area 1200.00 m2 -> 1350.00 m2, +150.00 m2)" WORKS WITH ANY VECTOR LAYER Points, lines, polygons and attribute-only tables. Parcels and cadastral data, land use and zoning, utility networks, pipelines, addresses, survey points, habitats, assets, infrastructure inventories — any dataset that gets revised over time. The two versions may sit in different formats: a GeoPackage compared against a Shapefile, PostGIS against GeoJSON, a file downloaded today against last year's export. HOW IT WORKS 1. Load both versions of the dataset into your QGIS project — the previous one and the current one. 2. Pick the field that identifies each feature (parcel number, asset ID, code). The plugin checks straight away whether the values are unique and complete in both layers, and tells you if they are not. 3. Tick the fields that matter. Fields holding a list of codes ("RES, COM, IND") can be marked as multi-value and are compared as sets, so reordering is not reported as a change. 4. Run it and read the report. WHAT YOU GET - Report table: one row per change, with a ready-made English description, the list of changed fields and the measured geometry difference. - Change layer: only the features that changed, drawn on the map and colour-coded — green for added, red for deleted, cyan for modified. Deleted features keep their old geometry, so what disappeared is still visible. - CSV export: UTF-8 with BOM, opens correctly in Excel. - HTML summary: counts of added, deleted and modified features, which fields changed most often, and examples. DETAILS THAT SAVE TIME - Features are matched by a field, not by feature order or internal ID, so re-saving a file does not break the comparison. - NULL, empty string and whitespace are treated as the same absent value, which keeps the report free of false positives. - Numeric tolerance for data that has been through a format that rounds values. - Optional case-insensitive matching for both keys and text values. - Geometry changes are described in fitting terms: area for polygons, length for lines, distance moved for points. Measurements use the project ellipsoid, so they are correct in any coordinate reference system. TYPICAL USES Change detection and data versioning, quality control after a bulk edit or a data migration, verifying what a contractor delivered, documenting revisions of a plan or a permit drawing, building a change log for a dataset you publish regularly, and audit trails for regulated data. REQUIREMENTS QGIS 3.22 or newer. No external software, accounts or API keys.
| Author | Grzegorz Górniak |
|---|---|
| Downloads | 337 |
| Latest version | 1.0.0 |
| Last updated | 2026-08-25 (51 days ago) |
| Min QGIS | 3.22.0 |
| Max QGIS | 4.99.0 |
| QGIS 4 ready | Yes |
| Maintenance | Active |
| Category | Vector tools |
| Tags | compare, comparison, diff, difference, differences, change detection, changes, change log, versions, versioning, revision, attribute, attributes, geometry, audit, audit trail, quality control, quality assurance, qa, validation, report, reporting, csv, html, monitoring, vector, layers, geopackage, shapefile, data quality, before after |
Homepage · Repository · Issue tracker · Official page
Alternatives in Vector tools
- HCMGISQGIS 4 ready
HCMGIS - Basemaps, Download OpenData, Batch Converter, VN-2000 Projections, and Field Calculation Utilities
- mmqgisQGIS 4 ready
A collection of QGIS vector layer operation plugins
- Shape ToolsQGIS 4 ready
Shape Tools is a collection of geodesic shapes and tools. Create circle, ellipse, line of bearing, points along a line of bearing, concentri
Related plugins
- GeoQAQGIS 4 ready
Audit your vector layers for geometry, CRS, and attribute quality issues before spatial analysis.
- Layer or Table Comparison ToolNot QGIS 4 ready
Compares vector layers and tables to find differences between selected fields
- QGIS Data ReviewerNot QGIS 4 ready
Rule-based QA/QC validation tool for vector layers (attribute, geometry, spatial relationship checks) with Error Inspector and auto-fix capa
- Polygon CompareNot QGIS 4 ready
Compares two polygon layers to find added, deleted and modified polygons by unique ID and geometry
- DupliCheckNot QGIS 4 ready
Interactive duplicate detection and management for vector layers (geometry and attributes)
- Table CompareNot QGIS 4 ready
Visual comparison tool for vector layers and tables with change detection, filtering, and export capabilities
Maintenance: Active = updated within 1 year, Quiet = 1–3 years, Likely abandoned = over 3 years.