Introduction in QGIS 3: Presentation of Geographic Information (Chapter 5)

After this chapter you will be able to do the following:

There are different possibilities to present or provide the visualized, newly recorded or changed data or results of queries and manipulations to others.

Here is a selection of them:

Two of these output types we’d like to look at more accurately with some examples.

At the end of this exercise you should have mastered the following points:

Before you can start creating the map, you must design the section of the map window as you would like it to appear on your map. This includes showing and hiding layers, depending on whether you want to display them on the map or not. When you are satisfied with the presentation and the detail, you can continue with the exercise.

There is a separate mask for creating a map. Open it via the menu Project → New Print Layout…​.

The mask is structured in such a way that the menus and tools are again located in the upper area. The middle part is divided into two areas, on the left side is the map window, in which the map can be designed, and on the right side the corresponding parameters can be set and settings made.

On the right side there are three tabs, one named Layout, one named Item Properties and one named Guides. Under Layout you can make settings that affect the whole map. In contrast, the settings under Item Properties only affect the currently selected element (e.g. map or legend).

Before you start designing the map, right-click on the white map and select Page Properties. This should select the Page Properties tab on the right side, which you can then use to select the paper format for the map you want to design. Under Size you have a choice of common paper formats as well as the option Custom, with which you can create your own format. Leave this setting at A4.

Under Orientation you can choose between Landscape and Portrait. Choose the format, which you have chosen in the theory part for your map design.

It also makes sense to place a grid over the map sheet where you can align the elements you place on the map. You have to activate the options Show Grid and Snap to Grid in the menu bar View and set the Grid spacing to 10.00mm under the tab Layout → Guides and Grid.

Thus the general settings are made and it can be begun with the map organization.

First the layers should be displayed in the map. Click on the Add Map button and draw a frame in the size you have chosen in your map design. The map section and the layers you selected at the beginning of the exercise will appear.

With the help of the button Select/Move item the new map can be selected and the size can be changed by clicking on the border. Additionally the map can be moved in the print compilation. The size can also be determined in the Item Properties tab under Position and size by entering Width and Height.

The Move item content button can be used to move the content of the map. Under the Item Properties tab under Main properties you can also set the scale (Scale) and the rotation angle (Map rotation) of the map. If the coordinates of the extent of the section to be displayed are known, they can also be entered under Extents.

In addition, the option can be selected under Grids whether a grid should be displayed above the map. For example, this grid can be of type Cross or Solid and additionally labeled. For Switzerland a grid interval of 25'000 m or 50'000 m would be suitable.

Under Frame you can determine whether the frame around the map element should be displayed and if so, in which color and which line width.

Design your card element with the described possibilities. If you are satisfied with your result, you can save your settings by clicking the Save project button.

Then add the other map elements you have on your design. The buttons can be found in the toolbar. If an element has been added, you can adjust these elements under the Item Properties tab.

Are you done with your card and satisfied with what it looks like? Then check again to see if your card really contains all the important card elements. Is the copyright for the data included? If so, then there’s nothing standing in the way of bringing the card into a format that is suitable for distribution.

The map can be saved as a raster or as SVG, exported as PDF or printed on a printer. Saving in raster format can be used, for example, if the map is to be included in a report. If you want to forward the map by e-mail, the PDF format is well suited. Often, however, printed plans are still used. Therefore you have this option in the mask Printer composition

In this exercise, a plan in the form of a PDFs is to be created. Therefore, click the Export as PDF button, select the location and start creating the PDF. If the map also contains a WMS service that is to be saved, the quality must be reduced in the Layout tab under Export settings before the PDF is created, depending on the zoom level used.

Take a look at the map again in PDF format. Satisfied with it? Then it’s time for the last chapter test.

Let’s come back to the situation from question 4 of chapter test 3: Your class teacher instructs you to create a GIS for the next school trip, on which the different intermediate stations of the trip and the hiking route are spatially represented. At the end you should pass on the GIS map to the other students in some way.

Again and again, be it in newspapers, books or on the Internet, the spatial relationships between data and events in a report are visualized with the help of a map. But do these maps also contain the most important map elements?
You got to know these elements in this chapter and made your own experiences with the design of a card. Look at the map under the link http://www.mygeo.info/landkarten/schweiz/schweiz_cia_2005.gif and answer the following questions: