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Yvann Barbot

Co-founder

Dev & AI Engineer

Work

Yvann co-founded TerraLab and codes on all of it: the three QGIS plugins, the AI models behind them, and the servers those models run on. AI Segmentation turns imagery into vector polygons. AI Edit changes what imagery shows, from a written instruction. AI Agent carries out the task you describe in the open project.

Background

42 Paris alumnus. He was an AI engineer at Mago, based at Station F, before TerraLab. His open-source work has passed 1,200 GitHub stars.

Elsewhere

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Meet the rest of the team

Posts by Yvann Barbot

Install QGIS on Windows, Mac and Linux: the two versions offered in November 2026, 3.44 LTR and 4.2, next to an OpenStreetMap view of Annecy in QGIS.

Download and Install QGIS in 2026: Which Version?

Which QGIS to download on 12 November 2026: 3.44.15 LTR or 4.2.3, the size of each installer, and the install steps for Windows, Mac and Linux.

AI Agent in QGIS: parks and schools within 1 km of the metro stations of central Recife, with the request and the counts.

AI AgentQGISGuide

AI Map Generator for Real Places: Image Models vs a GIS Agent

Most AI map generators draw pictures, not maps. I tested two image models and a QGIS agent on one prompt in Recife, Brazil, and checked every name against OSM.

AI Agent in QGIS: schools per ward in Pune as a choropleth, with the request and the 256 schools counted across 58 wards.

AI AgentQGISGuide

Claude and QGIS: 3 Ways to Connect Them, Tested on One Task

There is no official Claude plugin for QGIS. Here are the three ways to use Claude with QGIS, tested on the same mapping task, and which one to pick.

AI Agent in QGIS: built-up area by district in Münster, with the request and the area of each district.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

QGIS Automation: One Task, 4 Methods, Timed on 2 Cities

Batch processing, the Graphical Modeler, a PyQGIS script, and an AI agent: we ran the same multi-step QGIS workflow on two German cities and timed the re-run.

AI Agent in QGIS: buildings in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, styled by height class, with the request and the count in each class.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

QGIS Field Calculator: 24 Tested Expressions and the Traps

How to use the QGIS Field Calculator for area, length, CASE WHEN classes, text cleanup and spatial counts, tested on 8,709 buildings with the silent traps.

AI Agent in QGIS: NDVI classes of a 120 ha farm from Sentinel-2, with the request and the hectares in each class.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

QGIS Raster Calculator: Tested Formulas and 4 Silent Traps

Tested QGIS raster calculator formulas for NDVI, masks, reclass and slope, plus four traps that silently write wrong numbers without raising an error.

AI Agent in QGIS: buildings within 100 m of the Ciliwung river in Jakarta in red, with the request and the count per neighbourhood.

AI GIS: What It Does Today and Which Tool to Use

AI GIS is software that does GIS work from imagery or a prompt. The five jobs it handles in 2026, the tools for each, and where it still fails.

A dark card over a QGIS map of Lyon asks who pays for the AI. ArcGIS assistants: inside a licence of 700 dollars a year or more. Plugin plus your API key: your model bill. AI Agent by TerraLab, highlighted in green: model included, free plan.

AI AgentQGISComparison

ArcGIS AI Assistant vs QGIS AI Agents in 2026

Esri's AI assistants come free with a paid ArcGIS licence. In QGIS you pick: free plugins with your own API key, or an agent with the model included.

A village seen from the air where every tree crown, in gardens and along the streets, is filled with its own colour as a separate polygon.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Tree Inventory in QGIS From Aerial Imagery

Build a tree inventory in QGIS: one point per tree from aerial imagery or LiDAR, with ID, crown size and height, then species and condition from the field.

Sentinel-2 true colour image of the Rhône delta in southern France, with the river, salt pans in orange and cream, lagoons and farm fields.

What Is Remote Sensing? Sensors, Free Data, QGIS

Remote sensing is measuring the ground from satellites, planes and drones. The sensors, the free data, and a Sentinel-2 workflow in QGIS, step by step.

A dark card titled QGIS MCP alternatives, with six tools grouped by where they run: inside QGIS, AI Agent highlighted in green, OpenGeoAgent, QGIS Agent and Kue; another MCP bridge, qgis_mcp by jjsantos01; no QGIS needed, GIS MCP by mahdin75.

AI AgentQGISComparison

QGIS MCP Alternatives: 6 Ways to Use AI With QGIS

AI Agent is my pick: one QGIS plugin, model included, no uv or config file. Six QGIS MCP alternatives compared on setup, model, price and safety.

Painted pear with the AI Agent eyes, drawn as an island on a green nautical chart

AI Agent QGIS Plugin: The Most Powerful AI Agent for QGIS

AI Agent, a free QGIS plugin, scored 43.8 out of 100 on Google's geospatial benchmarks, against 24.9 for Claude Sonnet 5.5 with a QGIS MCP server.

Two exported A4 print layouts side by side. On the left, the chatbot's first answer: a title, a legend and a north arrow around an empty map frame, with the words Ran without an error, the map frame is empty. On the right, the AI Agent layout of the schools in Annecy with districts, coloured schools, a legend and a scale bar, with the words One message.

AI AgentQGISGuide

ChatGPT for QGIS: What It Can and Can't Do, Tested

Can ChatGPT automate QGIS? I asked it for PyQGIS code on three real tasks and ran every script in QGIS. What worked, what failed without an error, and why.

A dark PyQGIS script buffering schools by 100 metres next to a map of central Denpasar, with the result that 864 of 7,015 buildings fall inside those zones.

What Is PyQGIS? A First Script and a Chatbot Code Test

Where to run PyQGIS, a first script, and a test on six tasks: chatbot code always ran, but one result was silently wrong when given only layer names.

A dark comparison card. Left, QGIS MCP as four stacked pieces to set up, 9 minutes 28 seconds, 6 of 10 steps in Python and no data of its own. Right, AI Agent as one green plugin card with 1,200+ open datasets from 72 sources, 5 minutes 35 seconds. Same task: schools within 300 m of a tram stop in Lyon.

AI AgentQGISGuide

QGIS MCP: How to Set It Up With Claude, and Where It Breaks

What to install (plugin, uv, an MCP client, a config entry), the setup step by step, and four tasks timed: on the Lyon one, 9 min 28 s through MCP against 5 min 35 s inside QGIS.

Price comparison on a dark panel, QGIS $0 versus ArcGIS Pro $700 a year, next to a QGIS map of Bonn street trees along the Rhine, coloured by species.

QGIS vs ArcGIS Pro: 3-Year Cost Table and 9 Tasks Compared

ArcGIS Pro costs $700 to $4,200 per user a year, QGIS $0. A 3-year cost table for 1 and 3 users, 9 tasks side by side, and how Esri files open in QGIS.

Dark Web Mercator map of Europe with four equal 500 km ground squares drawn at Madrid, Berlin, Oslo and Tromsø, growing visibly larger toward the pole, with a ×8.23 callout at Tromsø.

What Is a CRS in GIS? EPSG Codes and Fixing Wrong Layers

A CRS tells software where coordinates sit on Earth. Datums, EPSG codes, 4326 vs 3857, and a step-by-step fix for a layer that lands in the wrong place.

A map of Pune with orange areas marking the neighbourhoods more than 2 km from a hospital, with a chat card showing the question and the answer that 46,363 people live in them.

AI AgentQGISGuide

AI Agents in QGIS: What They Are and Which to Use

An AI agent in QGIS takes a task as a prompt and runs the steps in your project. How it works, a real test checked by hand, 38 plugins, and which to use.

Diagonal split of the Harike wetland in Punjab, India: true colour satellite imagery on the left, the same scene recoloured by NDVI on the right, with a green-to-red NDVI legend strip.

What Is NDVI? Formula, Value Chart and the Sentinel-2 Trap

NDVI = (NIR - Red) / (NIR + Red), from -1 to 1. What each value range means, a season measured field by field, and the offset that turns 0.82 into 0.56.

A detailed street map of central Lisbon with roads coloured by class and the Tagus river in blue, next to a floating Layers card listing roads, buildings, parks and the river.

What Is QGIS? Free GIS Software, QGIS 4, and the 10 Top Plugins

QGIS is free, open-source GIS for Windows, macOS and Linux. What people use it for, what QGIS 4 changed in 2026, and the 10 most downloaded of 3,600 plugins.

Central Kisumu, Kenya, split in two: the OpenStreetMap basemap on the left, and on the right the same streets as loaded data, 4,572 buildings coloured by footprint area and 128 main roads on a dark background.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

How to Download OSM Data in QGIS: 4 Methods, Timed

QuickOSM fetched 4,560 buildings in 5 seconds; a whole country timed out. When to use QuickOSM, a Geofabrik .pbf (Kenya in 57 s), Overpass Turbo or an AI agent.

Centre-pivot farms near Cristalina, Brazil, from the Sentinel-2 image of 7 July 2026, split in two: true colour on the left, NDVI from red to green on the right, under the title Sentinel-2 in QGIS.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

Download Sentinel-2 Images in QGIS: 4 Free Methods

Stream Sentinel-2 over STAC with no account, or get the L2A product from Copernicus Browser. Four methods tested on farms in Brazil, with timings.

A 1947 USGS topographic map of San Francisco split in two: on the left the plain scan, on the right the same map georeferenced and laid over OpenStreetMap, the Bay Bridge continuing past the map's edge, under the title Georeferencing in QGIS.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

How to Georeference an Image in QGIS: 3 Ways, on a 1947 Map

Layer > Georeferencer, 8 points, Polynomial 1 and a 34 s warp on a 1947 scan. Which transformation to pick, and why an RMSE of zero hid a map 594 m off.

AI Agent in QGIS: a map of Jakarta with the buildings within 100 m of the Ciliwung river in red, under the request that made it.

AI AgentQGISTutorial

AI Agent for QGIS: The Complete Guide

Install AI Agent for QGIS and run a full project in five prompts: load open data, analyse it, style the map and export a PDF.

Three panels of the same suburban street from the air: bare satellite imagery, an OpenStreetMap centreline drawn down the middle of it, and the paved surface filled in kerb to kerb as a polygon.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Extract Roads in QGIS: 6 Methods, OSM Checked in 4 Towns

Start with QuickOSM: in four French towns OSM held 96 to 98% of paved road length. Where it is thin, five more methods and the line-or-surface choice.

Three panels over the same suburban rooftops: plain aerial imagery, the same roofs with OpenStreetMap solar generators drawn as sparse outlines, and the same roofs again with every array detected as its own polygon.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Detect Solar Panels in QGIS: 5 Methods

Check OpenStreetMap first. Then four ways to map rooftop PV from aerial imagery in QGIS, with the menu paths and where each one fails.

Three panels of the same suburban block from the air: bare imagery, a colour threshold lighting up the pools and a blue roof alike, and a segmentation result with only the pools outlined.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Detect Swimming Pools in QGIS: 5 Methods

Start with QuickOSM on leisure=swimming_pool. Where the map is thin, use a segmentation model, threshold the blue, or run a water index. Five methods compared.

Three panels of the same parkland: plain aerial imagery, an NDVI raster with vegetation in red, and every tree crown as its own coloured polygon.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Map Tree Canopy in QGIS: 6 Methods, Free and Paid

For multispectral imagery, threshold NDVI in the raster calculator, then polygonize. Six methods, what each one needs, and what a canopy layer costs.

5 Best Bunting Labs Alternatives for QGIS (2026)

QGISGeoAIComparison

5 Best Bunting Labs Alternatives for QGIS (2026)

Five QGIS tools that replace Bunting Labs, compared on input data, price, where they run and licence, using each tool's own public pages.

Deepness Alternatives in QGIS: 5 Free and Paid

QGISGeoAIComparison

Deepness Alternatives in QGIS: 5 Free and Paid

Deepness runs an ONNX file you supply, offline and free. If you have no such file, here are five tools compared on input, price and where the imagery goes.

5 Best eCognition Alternatives in 2026

QGISGeoAIComparison

5 Best eCognition Alternatives in 2026

Trimble's product page says eCognition is no longer actively sold. Five alternatives compared on input, cost and where your imagery goes.

Mapflow Alternatives for QGIS: 5 Free and Paid

QGISGeoAIComparison

Mapflow Alternatives for QGIS: 5 Free and Paid

AI Segmentation is my default pick: draw a zone, type a word, no graphics card. Five QGIS plugins on price, install, GPU and where the imagery goes.

Three panels: a land cover raster drawn as a grid of coloured pixels, the same boundary traced by polygonize as a staircase, and the same boundary again as a smooth green line after dissolve, an area filter, simplify and smooth.

QGISTutorialGeoAI

Convert Raster to Vector in QGIS: 5 Methods, Clean Edges

For a classified raster, use Raster > Conversion > Polygonize. Here are the five methods, the fix for staircase edges, and what to do with a photograph.

A diagram in which the outline of a roof, drawn in green, sits offset from the dashed outline of the walls underneath it, labelled overhang plus lean, beside an aerial view of houses whose detected outlines are drawn in red.

Building Footprint Meaning, Measured on 8,511 Houses, Free Data

The ground area inside a building's outer walls: what counts, how to calculate it, 8,511 houses measured, and why Microsoft's footprints run 19 to 31% too big.

QGISAI SegmentationComparison

9 Best AI Plugins for QGIS in 2026 (Free and Paid)

For pulling objects out of imagery, start with AI Segmentation or Mapflow. Nine plugins compared on price, where the computation runs, and install effort.

Aerial imagery of dense Paris blocks split down the middle, plain photo on the left and every detected building drawn as its own coloured polygon on the right.

What Is GeoAI? Definition, Examples, Uses in QGIS

GeoAI is machine learning run on geographic data. The five things it extracts today, what it costs in hardware and time, and how to run it in QGIS.

A before/after slider over aerial imagery of a Paris neighbourhood, plain rooftops on the left and each building filled with its own colour on the right, under the title Building Footprints in QGIS.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Detect Building Footprints in QGIS: 3 Methods

Draw a zone, name the object, run it: you get a polygon layer in minutes. Open data, AI detection and hand-digitizing compared, with the filtering step.

A before/after slider over aerial imagery of a lakeside park, plain trees on the left and each tree crown filled with its own colour on the right, under the title Segment Anything in QGIS.

AI SegmentationQGISTutorial

Segment Anything (SAM) in QGIS: 7 Plugins Compared

SAM outlines an object from a click or a word. Seven QGIS plugins run it: what each costs, which needs an NVIDIA card, and how to install one.

AI Edit in QGIS: aerial imagery on the left, AI-generated segmentation on the right.

AI EditQGISTutorial

AI Edit for QGIS: The Complete Guide

Turn the aerial imagery in your QGIS canvas into edits, clean maps, and vector data with prompts, using AI Edit by TerraLab.

A card showing the exact error, ImportError: DLL load failed while importing _C, above the fix: install the Visual C++ Redistributable for x64, then restart Windows.

QGISTroubleshooting

ImportError: DLL Load Failed While Importing _C in QGIS (Fix)

Install the Visual C++ Redistributable (vc_redist.x64.exe), then restart Windows. That clears it on most machines. Three more fixes if it does not.

A card showing the exact error, ImportError: DLL load failed while importing _gdal, above the fix: take the non-QGIS GDAL folders out of PATH, then sign out and back in.

QGISTroubleshooting

QGIS: DLL Load Failed Importing _gdal (Solved)

A second GDAL sits earlier on your PATH and wins the DLL search. Take the non-QGIS folders out, sign out, sign back in. Five fixes, likeliest first.

A card showing the two errors the Flatpak build of QGIS returns, no module named pip and a read-only file system, above the fix: run pip with --devel and install with --user.

QGISTroubleshooting

QGIS Flatpak: No Module Named pip (Solved)

Run pip through the Flatpak with --devel and install with --user. The exact commands, four fixes when it still fails, and why /usr is read-only.