Step 4: Prepare a final map layout

The districts, cities, rivers, and roads should already be symbolized appropriately. However, the two point layers must be symbolized.


• Make the points taken from Google Earth a bright green color with a symbol size of 6. Make the points digitized in QGIS a bright red with a symbol size of 6.

Now you are ready to create a final map layout.

• Zoom to the layer extent of the Districts in the Map View (right click on layer to access this option) before accessing the Print Composer.
• To access the Print Composer, click on the Print button in the toolbar or choose Print from the File Menu.
• The Map Composer has two tabs: “General” and “Item”. The “General” tab allows you to set the paper size, orientation, and resolution for the map. The “Item” tab displays the properties for the currently selected map element. By selecting an element on the map (eg. legend, scalebar, text, etc.) and clicking on the “Item” tab, you can customize the settings.
• To add the QGIS map canvas to the map composer, click on the “Add a new map” button in the Toolbar of the Print Composer window.
• Drag a rectangle (IMPORTANT: start in the upper-left hand corner and drag outwards to the lower-right hand corner so that the map frame is almost as large as the paper) on the composer canvas to add the map. You can resize the map later by clicking on the “Select/move item” button, clicking on the map, and dragging one of the handles in the corner of the map. With the map selected, you can also resize the map by specifying the width and height on the Item properties tab.
A legend can be added to the composer canvas and customized to show only the desired layers.
• To add a legend, click on the “Add Vector Legend” button. The legend will be placed on the composer canvas and you can move it where you like. Click on the “Items” tab to customize the appearance of the legend, including which layers are shown.