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Making a Map (QGIS3)

Often one needs to create a map that can be printed or published. QGIS has a powerful tool called Print Lay-
out that allows you to take your GIS layers and package them to create maps.

Overview of the task

The tutorial shows how to create a map of Japan with standard map elements like map inset, grids, north ar-
row, scale bar and labels.

Other skills you will learn

How to view and change QGIS Project Variables
How to use QGIS expressions

Get the data

We will use the Natural Earth dataset - speci cally the Natural Earth Quick Start Kit that comes with beauti-
fully styled global layers that can be loaded directly to QGIS.
Download the Natural Earth Quickstart Kit
(http://naciscdn.org/naturalearth/packages/Natural_Earth_quick_start.zip).

Data Source [NATURALEARTH] (../credits.html#naturalearth)

Procedure
1. Download and extract the Natural Earth Quick Start Kit data. Open QGIS. Locate the Natural Earth
quick start folder in the Browser panel. Expand the folder to locate the
Natural_Earth_quick_start_for_QGIS_v3 project. This is the project le that contains styled layers in
QGIS Document format. Double-click the project to open it.

2. You may notice that the map has labels in Greek. This project uses variables to set the language. We
can change the variables by going to Project ‣ Properties.
Note
Project variables are a great way to store project-speci c values for use anywhere you can use an expres-
sion in QGIS. The Natural_Earth_quick_start_for_QGIS_v3 project comes with many preset variables that
are used for styling within that project.

3. Switch to the Variables tab in the Project Properties dialog. Locate the project_language variable and
click on the Value column to edit it. Change the language to name_en and click OK.
4. Back in the main QGIS window, click the Refresh button in the Map Navigation Toolbar. You will now
see the map rendered with English labels.
5. Use the pan and zoom controls in the Map Navigation Toolbar and zoom to Japan.

6. You can turn o some map layers for data that we do not need for this map. Expand the z5 - 1:18m
folder and uncheck the box next to ne_10m_geography_marine_polys and
ne_10m_admin_0_disputed_areas layers. Before we make a map suitable for printing, we need to
 choose an appropriate projection. The default CRS for the project is set to EPSG:3857 Pseudo-
Mercator . This is a CRS popularly used for web mapping and is a decent choice for our purpose, so we
can leave it to its defalt value. Go to Project ‣ New Print Layout.

Note
For Japan, Japan Plane Rectangular CS is a projected coordinate reference system (CRS) that is designed
for minimum distortions. It is divided in 18 zones and if you are working for a smaller region in Japan, us-
ing this CRS will be better.

7. You will be prompted to enter a title for the layout. You can leave it empty and click Ok.

Note
Leaving the layout name empty will assign a default name such as Layout 1 .

8. In the Print Layout window, click on Zoom full button to display the full extent of the Layout.
 9. Now we would have to bring the map view that we see in the QGIS Canvas to the layout. Go to Add
Item ‣ Add Map.

10. Once the Add Map mode is active, hold the left mouse button and drag a rectangle where you want to
insert the map.
11. You will see that the rectangle window will be rendered with the map from the main QGIS canvas. The
rendered map may not be covering the full extent of our interest area. Use Edit ‣ Select/Move item and
Edit ‣ Move Content options to pan the map in the window and center it in the composer.
12. Let us also adjust the zoom level for the map. Click on the Item Properties tab and enter 10000000 as
the Scale value.

13. Now we will add a map inset that shows a zoomed in view for the Tokyo area. Before we make any
changes to the layers in the main QGIS window, check the Lock layers and Lock styles for layers boxes.
This will ensure that if we turn o some layers or change their styles, this view will not change.
14. Switch to the main QGIS window. Turn o the layer group z5 - 1:18m and activate the z7 - 1: 4m
group. This layer group has styling that is more appropriate for a zoomed-in view. Use the pan and
zoom controls in the Map Navigation Toolbar and zoom around Tokyo.
15. We are now ready to add the map inset. Switch the the Print Layout window. Go to Add Item ‣ Add
Map.

16. Drag a rectangle at the place where you want to add the map inset. You will now notice that we have 2
map objects in the Print Layout. When making changes, make sure you have the correct map selected.
17. Select the Map 2 object that we just added from the Items panel. Select the Item properties tab. Scroll
down to the Frame panel and check the box next to it. You can change the color and thickness of the
frame border so it is easy to distinguish against the map background.

18. One neat feature of the Print Layout is that it can automatically highlight the area from the main map
which is represented in the inset. Select the Map 1 object from the Items panel. In the Item properties
tab, scroll down to the Overviews section. Click the Add a new overview button.
19. Select Map 2 as the Map Frame. This tells the Print Layout to highlight the current object Map 1 with
the extent of the map shown in the Map 2 object.
20. Now that we have the map inset ready, we will add a grid to the main map. Select the Map 1 object
from the Items panel. In the Item properties tab, scroll down to the Grids section. Click the Add a new
grid button, followed by Modify grid….

21. By default, the grid lines use the same units and projections as the currently selected map projections.
However, it is more common and useful to display grid lines in degrees. We can select a di erent CRS
for the grid. Click on the Change… button next to CRS.
22. In the Coordinate Reference System Selector dialog, enter 4326 in the Filter box. From the results, se-
lect the WGS84 EPSG:4326 as the CRS. Click OK.
23. Select the Interval values as 5 degrees in both X and Y direction. You can adjust the Offset to change
where the grid lines appear.
24. Scroll down to the Grid frame section and check the Draw coordinates box. The default format is
Degrees but it appears as a number. We can customize is to append a ° symbol. Choose Custom and
click the Expression button next to it.
25. Enter the following expression to create a string that takes the grid number and appends ° symbol to
it.
 concat(to_string(@grid_number), '° ')

26. Notice that the grids now have a custom label from the expression. Adjust the position settings for
Left, Right, Top and Bottom as per your liking.
27. Now we will add a Rectangluar frame to hold other map elements like north arrow, scale and label. Go
to Add Item ‣ Add Shape ‣ Add Rectangle.
28. You can change the Style of the rectangle to match the map background.
29. Now we will add a North Arrow to the map. QGIS comes with a nice collection of map-related images -
including many types of North Arrows. Click Add Item ‣ Add Picture.
30. Holding your left mouse button, draw a rectangle. On the right-hand panel, click on the Item Proper-
ties tab and expand the Search directories section and select the image of your liking.
31. Now we will add a scale bar. Click on Add Item ‣ Add Scalebar.
32. Click on the layout where you want the scalebar to appear. In the Item Properties tab, make sure you
have chosen the correct map element Map 1 for which to display the scalebar. Choose the Style that
t your requirement. In the Segments panel, change the Fixed width to 200 units and adjust the seg-
ments to your liking.
33. It is time to label our map. Click on Add Item ‣ Add Label.
34. Click on the map and draw a box where the label should be. In the Item Properties tab, expand the La-
bel section and enter a label for the map. Similarly add another labels for data and software credits.
35. Once you are satis ed with the map, you can export it as an Image, PDF or SVG. For this tutorial, let’s
export it as an image. Click Layout ‣ Export as Image.

35. Save the image in the format of your liking. Below is the exported PNG image.
49 Comments QGIS Tutorials and Tips 🔒 Disqus' Privacy Policy 
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Name

Michael Siska • a year ago

Wow! This is a very fantastic tutorial for map creation in QGIS. However, am interested to
have this tutorial saved as pdf please
2△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Ujaval Gandhi Mod > Michael Siska • a year ago

Use Ctrl+P (on Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac) in Chrome to print the page to PDF (see
attached screenshot)