GSS 556

INTRODUCTION TO CARTOGRAPHY
LAB REPORT

anon 2022

anon 2022

anon 2022

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

1.0 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………

2.0 MANUAL……………………………………………………………………..
2.1 LAB 1…………………………………………………………………..
2.2 LAB 2…………………………………………………………………..
2.3 LAB 3…………………………………………………………………..
2.4 LAB 4…………………………………………………………………..

3.0 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………

4.0 RESULT………………………………………………………………………

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1.0 Introduction

Cartography, the art and science of map-making, finds its modern expression in sophisticated software
like QGIS. QGIS stands as a testament to the evolution of cartography, enabling individuals to delve
into the intricate world of spatial analysis and mapping with remarkable precision and depth. At its
core, cartography is a multidisciplinary field that amalgamates geography, data science, and visual
communication. Through QGIS, this amalgamation takes tangible form, empowering users to create,
analyze, and interpret geographic information through maps. QGIS serves as a versatile platform,
accommodating various data formats and sources, from satellite imagery and aerial photographs to
geographical surveys and census data. Its user-friendly interface belies the complexity of the tasks it
can perform, allowing users to manipulate spatial data, overlay multiple layers, and customize maps to
suit specific needs.

The software’s capabilities extend far beyond static representations. QGIS facilitates dynamic
mapping, enabling the creation of interactive maps that respond to user interactions or real-time data
feeds. This dynamic functionality imbues maps with a level of engagement and utility previously
unimaginable in traditional cartography. Moreover, QGIS embodies the democratization of
cartographic tools. Its open-source nature fosters a community-driven approach, encouraging
collaboration, innovation, and the sharing of knowledge. Users can leverage a vast array of plugins and
extensions contributed by a global community, enhancing QGIS’s capabilities and adaptability to
diverse mapping requirements. Through QGIS, the nuances of cartography come alive. Users can
explore spatial relationships, analyze patterns, and convey intricate geographical information in
visually compelling ways. Whether it's delineating terrain features, plotting demographic trends, or
visualizing environmental changes, QGIS stands as an indispensable tool for cartographers,
geographers, planners, and enthusiasts alike. In essence, QGIS serves as a gateway to the captivating
realm of cartography, bridging the gap between data and its visual representation. As technology
continues to evolve, so too does the potential of QGIS and cartography, ensuring that the art and
science of map-making remain vibrant and indispensable in our increasingly interconnected world.

2.0 Content
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2.1 Manual Lab 1
1. Add on the vector layer and explore the origin of vector datasets available in the geodata folder
mentioned in the book. (geodata/osm/seattle_osm.db)

2. Add layer multi-polygon ,line and point from the dataset

3. Access the Layer properties and utilize the Query Builder button in Sources to modify the
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expression code to ("natural" = 'water' AND 'amenity' IS NULL). Once the coding is inserted,
confirm changes by clicking OK and applying them to the map. Subsequently, rename the layer
as the "water layer."

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4. To alter the Fill and Stroke style of our layer, navigate to Symbology and select the Simple fill
column. To change the color, input the code (#dee8e8) in HTML notation within the Color
Ramp section. For the stroke style, set it to "no line."

5. Following that, add an additional layer by right-clicking on the water layer and selecting "Copy
Layer." Then, proceed with the same steps as previously done, but this time, modify the Layer
styling to "Inverted Polygon." Adjust the fill color to #dbc8af, the stroke color to #6d5943, and
set the stroke width to 0.7.

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6. Head to the Seattle Osm line layer and utilize the query builder to filter where the attribute by
using “Highway” is NOT NULL

7. To enhance road visibility, select the land color using the eyedropper tool, then find a similar
shade on the color wheel. Adjust the layer rendering settings to set opacity to 60% and choose
the Burn blending mode for features before applying the changes.

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8. To create a coffee shop icon, import vector data points from the Seattle OSM file. Modify the
query to filter data where the "others_tags" Like"%coffee%".

9. Select the option for an SVG marker and upload the provided 'mug with parameter' file to
represent the coffee shop icon.

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10. To segment data within the same layer, utilize the Rule-Based option in the Styling panel. Begin
by renaming the initial label to 'Starbucks', assigning the fill color, and implementing the query
"name" = 'Starbucks' in the query builder. For the subsequent label, follow the same steps but
rename it to 'Others' and modify the query builder to "name" <> 'Starbucks'.

11. To label the roads, access the layer properties, select 'label,' and opt for the single label feature.
Use the Query Builder with the code "replace(name, 'Street', 'St.')" to format the road names.
Adjust font type and size creatively, then apply changes to view the updated labels. For coffee
shops, employ the Rule-Based option due to two types. Label Starbucks using the description
'Starbucks' and code "name" = 'Starbucks' in String Builder. For other coffee shops, create a

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 new layer and repeat the process with the code "name" <> 'Starbucks'. Customize names, font
size, color, and types, then apply changes to see the updated labels.

12. To generate a suitable map, navigate to the Project tab, select 'New Print Layout,' name the
layout you wish to work on, and click OK. This action will open the layout working area where
you can make all necessary edits to the map.

13. To incorporate the map, marker, image, scale, and compass direction indicator, utilize the icon
in the column below for map editing. Click on the "add map" icon and adjust the map's
dimensions to fit the existing layout

14. To insert text, select the T icon and modify the text settings within the label properties. For
adding an image, select the "add picture" icon and pick the picture file. Choose the image
format as either Raster or SVG. Afterwards, utilize the editing toolbox to complete all
modifications before generating the final map.

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2.2 Manual Lab 2
Project creation
1.) First click on the QGIS desktop 3.32.3 in the folder until it started running in the background
just like in the picture below.

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2.) To insert the data from book’s geodata.
-Layer > Add Layer > Add vector layer.

3.) Go to qgis_data> geodata > natural_earth_vector.gpkg> packages and the choose

 ne_110m_admin_0_countries_lakes” for the country lakes layer

 ne_110m_populated_places” for the country lakes layer.

5.) Open the Layer Styling panel by clicking on View > Panel > Layer Styling or click F7.

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6.) In the Layer Styling panel, change the first drop-down to the countries layer and then change
the colour via the colour bar as shown in the figure below. Make sure the stroke style set to
solid line.

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 7.) After we have change the colour bar followed each layer, next go to :
i. Layer Styling panel > Symbology > change Column to POP MAX > Method > Size.
The result will be shown as the figure below.

8.) Next, to make the map become more readable, change the column value in the Layer Styling
panel to: Expression String builder > “POP_MAX”/1000000 > click ok.

9.) For the finishing touches, for the populated places layer, adjust the numbers in the:
Layer Styling panel > Legend format > Precision 0 > Size 1 to 12

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Labelling
1.) First, we should begin with the finished map from styling graduated.qgz.

2.) Make sure we renamed the ne 110m populated places to Metro Population in Millions:

- Open the layer properties > Layer name > Metro Population in Millions > Apply > Ok.

3.) Next, to make sure the layer is active change the drop-down to:
- Layer Styling panel > Labels > Single labels

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4.) To resolve the text glyphs, open Properties > Source tab for metro population by right clicking
the layer in the Layers panel > Change data source encoding drop-down to UTF-8 > Click Ok.

5.) To make the map look better, we need to label only the largest population centres. To make it
happen, we need to:
- Open Layer Styling panel> Label tab> Rendering submenu> Data defined section> Show
all labels for this layer> click Expression button next to Show label > Edit as shown in the
figure below.

- Expression button will turn yellow to indicate that it is active.

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6.) Next, we will be adding the leader lines. Make sure the QGIS label toolbar is visible. Once
visible click: Label toolbar> Move label and Diagram button (the one with the right-facing
arrow)

7.) To add leader lines, add new symbol layer:

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 8.) After that we need to specify where the lines will be drawn which basically from new label
points to the points they belong to. We will use the following expression in the code box
(expression dialog box as shown below):
-
make_line( make_point
(
“auxiliary_storage_labeling_position x”,
“auxiliary_storage_labeling_positiony”),
$geometry)

- Those field names are found at the bottom list of Fields and Values in the expression
Dialog (as shown in the diagram below).

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9.) To move the leader line ending to the bottom-right of the label, click on the label with Change
Label tool from the label toolbar and change the Label Properties> Horizontal alignment>
Right> Vertical alignment> Bottom.

- The label will now appear as shown in the figure below.

10.) Add leader line as per the main recipe, change the text font, colour, size, and buffer as
desired. The options that will appear when using the change button from label toolbar is shown
in the figure below.

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 11.) This will show our selected metropolitan areas that we has added with the leader lines.

Print Map Design

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2. Make sure to name the new layout (popmax)

3. After that click on the left click on the mouse of your laptop/pc and click on the page properties.
4. Make sure the Size is set to Custom and its width is set to 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches which seem
to suit the aspect ratio of the world level map and the margin elements that will be added into
the map.

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5. Next to add the map to the page, use the Add a new Map to the layout using the move item
content tool in the left-hand toolbar. It should snap to the page edges automatically.

6. We can move the map using the move item content tool so it will perfectly zoom to the page,
and it still has some white space to fit the title and legend on the page.

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7. First, we can change the extent of the original map in the main project window in the item
properties.

8. Next, try to change the map item properties > Scale to 150,000,000 and set to the map canvas
extent. After that we need to update the map extent by clicking the:

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-Item properties > Extents> Set to map canvas extent button> Update preview to update the map with
any data

9. Next, add a new legend in the lower-left-hand toolbar using the left-hand toolbar by clicking
the Add Legend as shown in the figure above.
10. Open the item properties for the new legend and set the width to 8.500 inches and height to
5.500 inches.

11. Next open the item properties for the new legend that we have added just now.

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12. Uncheck the Auto update option in the Item Properties in the Legend item section.

13. Delete the countries layer item from the legend items list by clicking the red (-) minus button.

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14. Because there are no features in the 20-30 million categories, we need to edit that category
with the pencil button and put “20-30(none)” has been shown in the figure below.

15. We can change the subgroup title with the pencil button, and we changed it to Metro
Population, Millions.

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16. Next, we need to deactivate the Background checkbox to create a transparent legend
background that won’t interfere with the map features.

17. Under the Item properties> Legend> Fonts, change the Subgroup font to Geogia and the Item
font to Arial.
18. After that, we can add the title for the map using the Add a new Label to the layout button in
the left-hand toolbar. Text is added in the Item Properties> Main properties box as shown in
the figure below.

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19. Next, we should move the new legend using the move item context tool.

20. After we complete moving the new legend box into the map and changing the font for the map,
we can proceed to export the layout of the map.

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21. Go to the layout and click on the Export as PDF.

22. Saved the file name into PDF format.

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23. Finally, we have completed the final map.

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2.3 Manual Lab 3
PART 1 LAYER STYLING
1. Start by opening the QGIS software. Then click on layer tab > Add layer > choose Add vector
layer like shown below.

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1. Open the data (seattle_osm) from the job file which can be found in the book’s geodata directory.
After clicking at the Add button (after uploaded the seattle_osm), the interface like below will
pop out and choose on lines and click Add layers.

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Figure below shows the result of the data after being uploaded.

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2. Go to the properties and look for rule based on the right side of the tab. Next click on the ‘plus’
icon below and figure below will show up.

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3. Set the first rule as roads and click the epsilon logo to insert the expression. The first expression
would be “highway” IS NOT NULL > click apply > OK. Make sure to untick the symbol
checkbox.

4. Repeat the same step and add river. “waterway = ‘river’”

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3.1 ADDING MORE DETAILED RULES

3.1.1 MOTORWAY

1. Under the roads rule, there will be other categories like motorway, trunk & primary and minor
road. Thus, select the rule we want to add categories and click at the Refine Selected Rules >
Add Categories to Rule.

2. Now, it is time to add details or add rules for the base rule. One of the details rule is motorway
with the expression is “highway” = ‘motorway’ then click OK.

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3. Now, you can add rules under the road classification by clicking at the epsilon icon and a pop
out of the expression dialog will come out. The motorway is the simplest rule because it only
contains line with the highway value ‘motorway’. The expression is: “highway” = ‘motorway’
then click OK

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 3.1.2 TRUNK & PRIMARY

Second rule for roads class would be trunk & primary which contains either ‘trunk’, ‘primary’ or
motorway link’.

The expression for primary and trunk will be : “highway”IN (‘motorway_link’, ‘trunk’, ‘primary’)

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 3.1.3 ROAD

1. Add other categories to the rules for road by clicking the Refine Selected Rules. The same type
of rule using the IN () statement is used for the third rule labeled road. To express the coding,
select the epsilon icon.

The expression will be "highway" IN

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3.1.4 MINOR ROAD
1. Next, add minor road to the rule. Click the Refine Selected Rules > Add Categories to Rule
> OK.

2. Click the epsilon icon and insert the expression as follows: “highway” NOT IN (‘motorway’,
‘motorway_link’, ‘trunk’, ‘primary’, ‘trunk_link’, ‘primary_link’, ‘secondary’,
‘secondary_link’, ‘road’, ‘tertiary’, ‘tertiary_link’). This last rule minor road contains all other
roads by using NOT IN () statement listing all the previously defined highway values.

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3. Edit the rule by choosing any colour, opacity and width of line according to student’s creativity.

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3.1.5 2nd MINOR ROAD

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3.1.6 ROAD BRIDGES

4. Students furthermore distinguish between bridges for the three most important classes. Refine
Selected to Rule > Add categories to Rule.

5. Click epsilon icon and insert following expression for bridge: “other_tags” LIKE ‘% “bridge”=>
“yes”%’ OR “other_tags” LIKE ‘% “bridge”=> “viaduct”%’

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6. After that, label the rule as Bridge. Choose the colour for the bridge, opacity, and width of line
at the Edit rule section > OK >Apply.

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 3.1.7 ROAD BRIDGES 2

7. Under the road bridge rule, add another category of road bridge 2 to the rule. Insert its expression
as following in expression string builder:
“other_tags” LIKE ‘%”layer”=> “2”%’

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3.1.8 ROAD BRIDGES 1

8. Add another category of road bridge 1 to the rule. Insert its expression as following in expression

string builder: “other_tags” NOT LIKE ‘%”layer”=> “2”%’

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3.1.9 SCALE: MINOR ROAD 1

9. For minor road, it is necessary to insert its scale. For minimum scale, set it as 1:1000 meanwhile
maximum scale was set as 1:1 > OK.

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MINOR ROAD 2
10. For minor road 2, scaling is also important. For its minimum scale, set it as 1:125000 meanwhile
maximum scale was set as 1:1000 > OK

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3.1.10 RIVER 1
11. Continue inserting other expressions for other rules. Make a new rule which is River with
expression like: “waterway” = ‘river’

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12. Then, add categories to the river rule and label it as river 1 with (no filter) expression. Also, set
the scale for river 1 as 1:125000 (minimum) and 1:1000 (maximum) > OK > apply.

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3.1.11 RIVER 2

13. Repeat step 29th but change the label as river 2. The scaling used is 1:1000000 for minimum and
1:125000 for maximum.

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 3.1.12 MOTORWAY BRIDGE

14. Under the roads rule > motorway rule, make a new rule which is motorway bridge. As usual,
insert the expression like following: “other_tags” LIKE’% “bridge”=> “yes”%’ OR “other_tags”
LIKE ‘% “bridge” => “viaduct”%’

Then, click ok > change the colouring > Apply.

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 3.1.13 MOTORWAY BRIDGE 2

15. After that, students have to make two other rule under motorway bridge which is motorway ck
bridge 1 and 2. Pop out the editing rule > label it as motorway bridge 2 > clik epsilon > insert the
expression: “other_tags” LIKE ‘% “layer” => “2”%’

MOTORWAY BRIDGE 1

16. For motorway bridge 1, pop out the editing rule > label it as motorway bridge 1 > clik epsilon >
insert the expression: “other_tags” NOT LIKE ‘% “layer” => “2”%’

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 3.1.14 MOTORWAY

17. Make another motorway rule under motorway. This time the expression would looks like:
ick OK.“other_tags” NOT LIKE ‘%”tunnel” => “yes”%’ > click OK.

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 3.1.15 MOTORWAY TUNNEL

18. Besides that, also add categories to roads rule which is motorway tunnel with expression:
“other_tags” LIKE ‘% “tunnel” => “yes”%’

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3.1.16 TRUNK & PRIMARY BRIDGE

19. Same goes for trunk & primary. Insert a new category under this rule namely trunk & primary
bridge.

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20. Go to the epsilon and insert the expression: “other_tags” LIKE ‘% “bridge” => “yes”%’ OR
“other_tags” LIKE ‘% “bridge” => “viaduct” %’

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3.1.17 TRUNK & PRIMARY BRIDGE 2

21. Repeat step 36th by adding categories to trunk & primary bridge. First category would be trunk
& primary bridge 2. Write the expression through the epsilon > expression string builder >
“other_tags” LIKE ‘% “layer” => “2”%’

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3.1.18 TRUNK & PRIMARY BRIDGE 1

22. Secondly is the trunk and primary bridge 1. Write the expression through the epsilon > expression
string builder > “other_tags” NOT LIKE ‘% “layer” => “2”%’

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3.1.19 TRUNK & PRIMARY

23. Make a new category (trunk & primary) under Trunk & Primary base rule. These two have the
same label but different expressions.

24. Use the expression string builder to express following expressions: “other_tags” NOT LIKE ‘%
“tunnel” => “yes”%’

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Figure below shows the final arrangement of the rules and its output of symbolization.

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 3.2 UNDERSTANDING ROAD SYMBOL

Students use cased line symbols consisting of two symbol layers to create the road symbols. Cased line
symbols can be created using at least two symbol layers. The lower layer is a wide and dark line, while
the second is slightly narrower and lighter.

25. To create this look, go to line layer properties and choose motorway rule.

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26. Double-click at the motorway rule and this editing rule will pop out. Choose the colour and set
the stroke width & offset value like figure below. Stroke style can be solid line, meanwhile join
style should be round and flat cap style to make sure that the road features look like a connected
network.

27. After that, go the lines layer properties again to open the layer styling panel and select the symbol
levels.

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28. Therefore, the layer styling panel will then be showing the symbol levels.

29. Next, insert all the values for layer 0 and layer 1 according to the example given.

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30. Besides that, students also need to activate Curved Placement with On line position.

31. Students can define the data-defined Priority in the Placement section to make sure that more
important roads are labeled first. To do this, go to placement > priority > epsilon icon.

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32. Now, insert the new expression as:

CASE

WHEN “highway” IN (‘motorway’)

WHEN “highway” IN (‘motorway_link’, ‘trunk’, ‘primary’)

WHEN “highway” IN (‘trunk_link’, ‘primary_link’, ‘secondary’, ‘secondary_link’, ‘road’, ‘tertiary’,

THEN 8

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3.4 FINE-TUNING AND ROAD REFERENCE CODES

33. Last for road label is to combine road names and road reference code. Another expression is
needed for this. Following is the expression for road reference code.

concat (name,’ ‘,
CASE

WHEN strpos (other_tags, ‘ “ref”’) > 0

right (other_tags,
length (other_tags) – strpos (other_tags, ‘ “ref”’ => “’)-7),
strpos (right (other_tags,

length (other_tags) – strpos (other_tags, ‘”ref” =>”’)-8),

‘“)

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3.5 LABELS FOR AREAS

34. It is nice to also label some parts of the polygon. For this map, student want to label piers and
parks, therefore select the multipolygon layer > properties > Single labels.

35. Set the expression: name LIKE '%Pier%' or name LIKE '%Park%'

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36. To fit the name labels inside the polygons, it is necessary to split long labels into multiples lines.
Insert the expression: wordwrap (“name”, 12). The colour and other editing can be changed
according to student’s creativity.

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37. Also, at the formatting section, set the alignment to Center and click OK.

38. The placement has also been set to Horizontal. This allows the labelling algorithm to compute
the optimal location for the labels rather than sticking to polygon centroid.

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 39. Finally, in the Rendering section, set the Suppress Labelling of Features Smaller Than to 5mm
to avoid labels for tiny areas.

For now, after all the editing and setting is made, the map looks like figure below.

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3.6 MAP DESIGN
40. Last but not least, this step is to print a layout or to prepare a pdf file for the map. Go to the
Project Tab > New Print Layout > Give a name to the file.

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41. Select the landscape view and Add Map icon to insert the map into the layout.

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2.4 Manual Lab 4
1. Add a Vector Layer and navigate to the "natural_earth_vector.gpkg" dataset in the
geodata directory from the book. Add the layers "ne_10m_ocean" and
"ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes."

2. Modify the fill color and stroke style by accessing the Layer Styling Panel and setting the
stroke to "no pen."

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3. Transform the countries layer symbology from a single symbol to categorized symbols.
Choose the value "123 MAPCOLOR7" and click "Classify" to generate multiple colors
based on this attribute.

4. An alternate method involves loading a style from the database style manager. Browse
and select the file named "shapeburst_countries_style."

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5. Duplicate the countries lakes layer, access its properties to switch the symbology to shape
burst fill, adjust settings like "Set Distance" and "Blur Strength," and enable Data
Defined Override for gradient colors by entering appropriate code in the Expression
dialog. Apply these changes to view the updated appearance.

6. To mitigate the effect, create another copy of the layer and repeat the previous steps, but
this time, change the expression dialog to "@symbol_color." Then, arrange this layer on
top of the others in the layer column.

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7. Then other step is just like lab 1,2 and 3 for mapping design

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3.0 CONCLUSION

The exploration and application of QGIS in multiple manual labs provided a hands-on
understanding of the intricate art and science of cartography. Through these exercises, a plethora
of tools, techniques, and functionalities within QGIS were unraveled, highlighting its versatility
and depth in handling geographic data.
Beginning with the fundamental aspects of adding vector layers from diverse datasets like
"natural_earth_vector.gpkg," the labs delved into modifying layer properties, manipulating
symbology, and employing queries to filter and customize geographical information. This
included creating distinct representations for various elements such as water bodies, road
networks, and populated places using nuanced color palettes, stroke styles, and symbol effects.
The labs showcased the power of categorizing symbols, implementing shape burst fills, and
enabling Data Defined Overrides, allowing for sophisticated and visually captivating maps.
Techniques like labeling roads, regions, and landmarks demonstrated the importance of clear and
strategic information dissemination on maps.
The process extended to map layout and design, where the creation of print layouts and the
incorporation of map elements like legends, scale bars, compass indicators, and labels added
depth and usability to the final visual output.
Moreover, the labs illuminated the significance of understanding and manipulating expressions
within QGIS, enabling granular control over layer styles, symbology, and labeling, thereby
enhancing the overall clarity and readability of maps.
The use of complex expressions, layer duplications, and the iterative nature of adjustments
highlighted the iterative nature of cartographic work, emphasizing the importance of
experimentation, refinement, and attention to detail in creating comprehensive and informative
maps.
Overall, these labs underscored QGIS as a robust and adaptable tool for cartographers,
geographers, and enthusiasts alike. Its open-source nature, coupled with its multifaceted
capabilities, not only empowers users to create visually appealing and data-rich maps but also
fosters an environment of continuous learning, exploration, and innovation within the realm of
cartography. As technology advances and QGIS continues to evolve, it remains an indispensable
asset in unraveling the complexities of spatial data and presenting them in a comprehensible and
engaging manner.

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4.0 RESULT
4.1 LAB 1

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4.2 LAB 2

4.3 LAB 3

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4.4 LAB 4

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