How to Make Maps

[@richavic4520]

I work in the environmental industry. Creating site maps is routine. One that I made overlapped another site with a friendly competitor. I emailed a copy of mine to the GIS expert there, to see if my interpretation was close to hers. I took it as a compliment when she asked about the software that I was using. Microsoft Visio.

[@SuperCulverin]

Another overlooked skill in the digital age. Thank you, S2.

[@setoste]

Not really overlooked but rarely discussed outside of circles where it is used. QGIS is highly flexible tool and can do almost anything with the right modifications. My last specialist internship/part-time job at a company specialized in forest fertilizer spreadings really opened my eyes how versatile and powerful this program really is.

[@freeshipping4569]

As a geography and GIS student, I appreciate this. Hopefully it inspires more people to become geographers!

[@chuckfinley3152]

As a graduate with gis and geography degrees, I say be an engineer lol /s

[@tovaris9492]

@@chuckfinley3152 What brings you to say that?

[@MC-zr7hl]

Hey same here, I'm in school for a Surveying degree with a focus on GIS. I just got hired as a GIS intern for the city I live in as well. It's such a cool field, I love it so far.

[@tonyyy117]

@@MC-zr7hl do you free lance?

[@serialcarpens290]

@@chuckfinley3152 Money and opportunities

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

2:39 "The Open Street Map from Google". As a contributor to OSM myself: No, no it isn't. We are an open data project. The OpenStreetMap Foundation hosts OSM. It has nothing to do with Google. That's the entire point of the project.

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

3:46 Still not Google.

[@rustym.shackelford5546]

@@fredwupkensoppel8949 I knew he was making a mistake by saying you guys are Google. But I'm like "whatever".

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

@@rustym.shackelford5546 Aparrently you're not "whatever" enough to not comment about your whatever-ness.

[@rustym.shackelford5546]

@@fredwupkensoppel8949 Lol. I can't help but to comment. Leads to interesting convos. But yeah - I am sure S2 will correct this mistake.

[@tumblingdown8612]

@@fredwupkensoppel8949 lol

[@wxfield]

Brilliant..never knew this existed. Going to use this to teach ~50 Boy Scouts orienteering skills (and now map-making skills)

[@rubenaguirre4537]

Since my first comment seems to have been deleted: for everyones info arc map and arcpro are better than QGIS but as stated in the vid it’s expensive and you wont get the most out of it if you dont have the GOTS version. Some scales to make your products in if you are used to MGRS is 1:25,000 1:50,000 and 1:100,000. QGIS is used by alot of partner nations and third world militaries due to it being free and readily accessible. If you are using a map for navigation purposes dont forget to add a GM angle to your product so you know how to convert your azimuths back and forth for the area you are operating in. And if you plan to pursue this type of software or work the two main types of data you will be working with is Raster and Vector data. Pick up some GIS books and familiarize yourself with the capabilities of this software.

[@erwin643]

I've noticed some of my comments being deleted here as well. I actually had links to Amazon for a couple of adapter parts for the Soviet trench periscope, minus the overpriced GoPro crap and... It's gone.

[@jerseyshoredroneservices225]

@@erwin643 I've noticed the same thing on many channels. Comments with links disappear.

[@Diamonddavej]

"for everyone's info arc map and arcpro are better than QGIS" Those are fighting words right there. I work in a GIS consulting company, use both ArcMAP. I also teach GIS at university. ArcMap is generally inferior to QGIS. Only thing better about it the help file and support. Cartographic output is much better in QGIS. I get far more done and a shorter space of time in QGIS, whereas menus and most tools are not ergonomically accessible in ArcMap, the interface is late 90s. ArcGIS Pro focused on improving the quality of UI. It is in my opinion about equivalent to QGIS in most areas, though it has some advantages in some tools and capabilities. However, most users complain about the slow speed of ArcGIS Pro compared to QGIS. The problem with ArcGIS Pro is that although it looks gorgeous, its UI is built upon core legacy code. Many of the software developers and programmers who wrote the core of ArcMap, that ended up in Pro, have retired and what's left are UI developers who have little understanding of the back box closed source code. It's ArcMap in a nice suit.

[@Mr0rris0]

Good tips folks Definitely the links The more off platform the worster Maybe sometimes or in someplaces you can link to KZbin vids in youtube now? That may be a channel setting like cussing I can cuss in some places Where the streets have no names and I wipe my own ass

[@TekedixXx]

Not sure if it's an option in the program, but a black stroke around white text is visible on basically any background. If there's a text outline feature, adding a contrasting stroke around the text with greatly increase readability. Very cool video, and the first time I've seen anything about this program, I might play around with it.

[@Korruptor]

@15:32 - You shouldn't have to lose map grid by redrawing to accommodate the coordinates. You change the orientation of the 'Draw Coordinates / Decimal with Suffix' from 'Horizontal' to 'Vertical,' in the appropriate positions this will have them hug the map edge all the way around.

[@iaintshootinmister8754]

This! It was driving me crazy. I could see the horizontal drop down box, it only made sense we'd be able rotate them. Smh. Thank you!

[@mikelee4926]

Key note about the ESRI World Topo: On the bottom left tab (Layers), if you right click the ESRI World Topo layer, you can change its Properties. Under Symbology, you can make the Gamma 0.25 instead of 1 so the topographic lines are more clear. Also, at 18:39 you can add the North Arrow at the top left by clicking Add Item -> Add North Arrow

[@CaptainSeamus]

Nice to know about this software and the quick "how to" THANK YOU for all the good stuff!

[@Andrewy27]

I know this video is a year old by now, but hopefully it reaches someone! If you are using metric units of measure in your scale bar, it is far easier to use scales such as 1:25,000, 1:50,000, or 1:100,000 because 1cm on the map will equal 250, 500 meters, and 1km respectively. If you are using US Standard units of measure use 1:24,000, 1:48,000, 1:72,000 for 1" on the map being 2,000; 4,000; and 6,000 feet respectively. Alternatively, you can use the close approximation of 1:62,500 for 1" = 1 mile. That way you can use a ruler, assuming it has both centimeters and inches to measure distance on the ground

[@justinheads5751]

As a now middle aged man who grew up with a grand total of exactly zero males in his entire childhood, I really appreciate men who take it upon themselves to share their man-knowledge. Respect for what you choose to spend your time doing, S2. Sincerely.

[@radarking9857]

Great primer video on QGIS! It's amazing how beneficiary it is to create special maps for different activities. I have been using this application on and off for several years. I can attest that after not using it for a few of months it takes some work to remember how to complete GIS functions. It's a great tool to have in the hiking, camping, traveling and land nav tool boxes.

[@mattfleming86]

Thank you!! I have made multiple maps of my property and surrounding lands, but because of pulling screenshots from backcounty navigation programs to get good topo my resolution was not great, I had no useful scale, etc. This will be MUCH better.

[@highdesertdrew]

Check my channel, I have a good tutorial on using shapefiles from county and state to determine property boundaries and you can overlay those with contours and other data you might need.

[@mattfleming86]

@@highdesertdrew Thanks! I will check out your stuff, if only to learn. We pulled maps from the county, and sadly because of the lack of surveying data nothing (or any adjacent/nearby properties) match actual boundaries. That being said, I'm SURE I will learn something. Thanks!

[@Coop1588]

Absolutely love this kind of instructional video for useful things. Keep em coming.

[@MTimWeaver]

Can the software "split up" an area and print it across several pages? I grew up in the era of Thomas Guides, and being able to create something like that of a much larger area (but printed across 4, 6, 8 pages, for example) without having to create each map segment separately would be useful.

[@DJTheMetalheadMercenary]

Fantastic topic! Highly undervalued, but extremely necessary. Great job!

[@SCUBAdfq]

Damn bro I see you everywhere lol I used to think you were Shipley's channel after seeing you on GBRS

[@DJTheMetalheadMercenary]

@@SCUBAdfq Hahaha nope i'm a different DJ, funny though we did serve around the same time in the military (him SEALS me Army, both Iraq), love the GBRS Group guys too, definitely make my way around the circuit to all the "in the know" channels ;) don't be a stranger bro!

[@baranbati2361]

I've been searching this for a while thanks! I hope you'll make one with more detailed map example

[@roflchopter11]

It's very likely you can rotate the latitude labels 90 degrees to make it take up less space

[@richardkennedy815]

Great idea. Unfortunately something [probably my system] seems to be preventing loading of the plugins...namely Quickmap Services so I may not be able to use this.

[@lennysstuf4630]

Thanks I have been struggling to fined descant mapping for my area. so spent a productive afternoon making some thanks to your video

[@Enigma81329]

Thanks mate, good job. Would be awesome if one could add an UTM grid / MGRS (Nato grid) instead of decimal ...any idea how to achieve this?

[@pawncze]

Now... this is exactly what I needed! Thank You so much man.

[@x-streamfisherman2045]

Thank you for this tutorial. I see so many applications for this. Hunting pheasant will be mine. Looking forward to the next vid.

[@tonyyy117]

Amy way to use this in ATAK, and able to do a whole state ?

[@nottonyhawk123]

Do you know if it's possible to add a military grid reference system?

[@Project314]

Wonderful tutorial. Two requests: Make your MOUSE CURSOR BIGGER so it's easier to track. Make your FONTS LARGER so they are easy to read. I'm using 23" monitors and pumped up youtube to 1440 output but still found the display hard to track and follow. Even a 50% increase in font size would do wonders for being able to follow. In any case, THANKS for the video; it was an excellent introduction.

[@TheBoatPirate]

Very true, plus not all of us can read Russian. I wonder if theres a way, I'm sure there has to be, to change font size of text on the map and translate foreign languages?

[@kebman]

I bet artillery attacks have already been made on areas where software detected soldiers or movement from training apps tracking joggers and so on. It's particularly interesting to look at heat maps around areas where people _aren't_ supposed to cross, such as border areas, and see how people cross those areas anyway. To me it's just amazing how people can leave such an app _on_ while doing something so stupid / dangerous.

[@waylonk2453]

To a similar point, I heard through the grapevine that the russians linked their artillery systems to radio direction finding equipment in order to locate and fire on ukranian militants' radios. That's some scary sh*t right there.

[@zedhiro6131]

Nice too know I was looking for some topographic maps of my local area, to practice land navigation, I could not find any printed (digital yes, analog no.)

[@benjaminburns4412]

You should make a basic land nav course that would be awesome

[@x73.]

Great Info

[@TheAnimal191]

Would you consider just dumping a bunch of tools at once for us all to play with? Maybe do another instructional on the most popular? As always, very useful tool, very concise video. Thank you!

[@georgequinney818]

Can you add grid lines. As in MGRS

[@nikanor8152]

Sick, I'm basically an 18f now

[@xbadaimx6792]

Thank you, this program is beyond cool.

[@gregcox600]

Outstanding tutorial!

[@rodiculous9464]

We looked at GIS a bit for my real estate college courses but it was all very high level.

[@Deep_field]

Get an error using Magnetic Declination when trying to draw the label "TypeError: a member of enum 'LabelPlacement' is expected not 'LabelPredefinedPointPosition' " But can still get the results needed in the window. Just wondering if anyone else is?

[@gpalmerify]

LOVE this application! Also enjoy hearing that heavy duty keyboard, is it milspec?

[@TheModularDiver]

How would you set the grid up for MGRS?

[@TheBenny1683]

I use the free version of Caltopo maps to create my own maps for land navigation practice. Much easier process but maybe not as much options from the free version compared to this.

[@donteh58]

Love this as I left SFCAA half my peers from our days in uniform are contractors or esri developers at the nga. The stories I could tell about nome and gait and the other crazy stuff thats /u/

[@maeton-gaming]

as a land surveyor's son, this pleases me greatly.

[@Eluderatnight]

Does this program harvest data like many other "free" programs?

[@christinecortese9973]

Don’t know but I bet it does.

[@chingyeungwong1507]

QGIS is a open source tool, not sure if it will acquire your data

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

@Mialisus I'll take you up on that offer: It's Free Software, meaning that it places all the responsibility in your hands and your hands only. Also, the map used in the video, OpenStreetMap has NOTHING to do with Google. I don't know where he gets that idea from, but it's the entire point of the project to NOT be slave to the big G.

[@KlasKarlsson]

No! The only "ping" back to the project is when you click "download" on the web page. Essentially a download counter. There's an ongoing discussion if they should also record how many online QGIS launches there are every day. QGIS will check if it is running the latest version, if you don't turn it of in the settings. For now this check is not recorded. No personal or in other way identifiable data is sent anywhere from the base software. What individual plugins do that you add yourself is another question.

[@KernelKrunch663]

This is excellent, curious why you dont use MGRS? Would love to see how to do that with QGIS and create multiple maps of surrounding area of this one. Example map above and below and left and right of this one?

[@nagypw1]

Is is possible to do maps with MGRS vice lat/long/degrees? I haven't downloaded the program yet so I don't know.

[@Spuki2k]

everything work but the selection tool in print layout. Nothing happens and i have to re-scale my map in the properties tab

[@Spuki2k]

also ive noticed that the google roads text stays tiny no matter what scale you make the map, is there a solution?

[@mikepaxton9609]

Excellent video! I noticed that each time I create a map it pulls the data from the Internet. Is there a way to store some of these maps for offline usage?

[@vonscherfarms925]

how to add MGRS wouldve been nice

[@schlirf]

Quick question from (far) distant 80s: Had a discussion on the regimental FB page about iron sites, which of course, due to CAV troopers being involved, developed into rant about old school and new school. This went of course to navigation and IF the new army is still using paper maps.

[@isaacsierhuis4927]

yes, we still do, there's some new stuff (digital gear in vehicles) but yes we still use paper maps

[@sugma3475]

We all still learn paper maps before touching any of the new stuff

[@schlirf]

@@sugma3475 Most Excellent!

[@xdm38]

Great info. Thank you for the walkthrough.

[@zachbrenner9959]

I'm sure that qgis can process DTED, but is DTED something you even want to bother importing into your maps?

[@zekehatfield7991]

Any way to lay an MGRS grid over this?

[@zachbrenner9959]

I can only assume that I can change it from decimal coordinate system to mgrs

[@cmdrcorvuscoraxnevermore3354]

Can the maps made this way be used by ATAK CIV? Thank you for any feedback.

[@jonny_wright]

Yes, export them to any format supported by ATAK (Geotiff, MBTiles, KMZ...).

[@cmdrcorvuscoraxnevermore3354]

@@jonny_wright Thank you Jonathan. I'm learning ATAC CIV and uploading better maps is a high priority for me. I appreciate your feedback. Have a great day.

[@judym614]

I need to create a simple map and drop pins in multiple cities to demonstrate a route .. Berlin, Germany to Vilnius, Lithuania to Minsk, Soviet Union ... I downloaded QGIS, but got stuck when I tried "Search QMS". Hoping someone can help me.

[@JohnTBlock]

Would GPS notes be used, for Arty plotting fire mussions?

[@earlgrayman982]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting this.

[@TheModularDiver]

Any tips for making the declination plugin window bigger? It's 100% unusable when it pops up on my computer. TIA

[@jjrobiso]

how can i make the letters and words on the map itself print clearer? does increasing the export dpi help?

[@adanpiumpium2613]

When I saw the blacksquare I was like oh his computer has artifacts... then I realized there is a reason that was placed there

[@RajanPudasainiz]

very nice, impressive. Please make a geological map in QGIS

[@paskaesports2212]

Very good tutorial! thank you

[@RoninTX3377]

This is great. Out of curiosity is it possible to port this over to ATAK?

[@highdesertdrew]

You can export files to KML and KMZ, I don't know what formats ATAK take, but GIS shapefiles is not one of them that I'm aware of.

[@thinkog]

How would you generate sections to a large area of osm data so you could work on individual grids in the layout. I would eventually like those layouts to be printed and have them all align after printing them.

[@flysubcompact]

Awesome video! I used to use Delorme and Garmin software, but this is an awesome alternative.

[@davidr2421]

Free and open source, nice.

[@kalebnolen1616]

Is there a forum I can ask questions on? I'm having trouble once I get to the page properties and sizing to the paper. It forces all the print so tiny its illedgible when I try to set the map back to 1:24000 even though I already had it to 1:24000 before bringing map to the formatting screen for printing.

[@KitOkunari]

Right-click on the "layer" where your text is then click on "properties" and go to "labels" there should be an option for font scaling.

[@Backertothegrave]

can you use this off line?

[@seanb658]

mobile map software on your phone pretty much makes this obsolete. gaia gps has more than enough layers to satisfy and an entire area can be downloaded for offline use. they can also be printed if needed.

[@X4Alpha4X]

lord forbid batteries from ever dying right?

[@stokesseegers5012]

As a land surveyor, I can tell you for a fact that GIS stands for Get... It... Surveyed... lol

[@skinywtboy]

Anyone know a decent program for making KML/KMZ from spreadsheet data?

[@tiespunkU]

does qgis have COGO functions like ESRI's arcview/arcmap?

[@Justified324]

Awesome resource thank you! MGRS all the way.

[@johnherrick7486]

Magnetic N is 8 degrees east of True N?

[@Eluderatnight]

Been moving a lot lately. Also varies with Lat.

[@almondsnackbar4969]

Depending on latitude.

[@CaptainSeamus]

Depends on your location. It isn't just latitude that causes it to vary, but longitude as well. The magnetic poles have been moving substantially the last few years (enough that they've had to update far ahead of schedule) - so you need to check for the area you are building the map for.

[@ChevTecGroup]

@@CaptainSeamus exactly. It varies by quite a bit.

[@KiLLaDaTa]

Comment for the algorithm

[@SuperCulverin]

Hello, frens! Don't forget to like and subscribe too!

[@chk6194]

Thank you, excellent vid, made one already, can't seem to find MGRS grid though in version Zurich, how can this be added?

[@klotz__]

Open Street Map is not from Google. It is a 100% free and independent crowd sourced project

[@doejohn8674]

Could you maybe make a video on different ways to make maps for civTAK, so that it can be used without Internet connection?

[@theoriginaldavid6969]

Does it work with mgrs

[@Trip_Johnson]

Have you found any particularly good paper on which to print maps?

[@TheRealMcCoy707]

Is it possible to use UTM coordinates?

[@Fede_uyz]

Guess i can stop making my maps in excel or paint. AWESOME!

[@elconquistador932]

Awesome video, great instructions! Stupid question, I know we need paper maps and it kinda defeats the purpose, but is there a way to dump your custom maps into, lets say a hand held Garmin? Just for fun here....

[@EvanDerickson]

There's a plugin for QGIS called GarminCustomMaps that might do what you're asking. I've never used it so I can't vouch for it.

[@elconquistador932]

@@EvanDerickson Thanks, might have to check that out.👍

[@boatwreks]

I’m kinda in the GIS field. I’m an AutoCad operator. It’s pretty easy to make maps with those things. But AutoCad is also pretty expensive

[@markcarpenter3600]

I use QGIS to make maps, but I believe QGIS does have CAD functions.

[@kovi567]

Okay, this is actually pretty useful. Now I don't need to print screen google maps for my TTRPG assets.

[@meridianstrat]

Can these maps be created and then used with ATAK?

[@jackonsline8406]

Please do more ATAK videos now, got a computer to use!!!

[@TheMilkmaidFarm]

Ok this is useful. Thank you.

[@canibezeroun1988]

Can you do a conformal (?) transformation to make the compass and map align?

[@KlasKarlsson]

QGIS can use any transformation to reproject the map to any projection including ones suitable to work with a compass. In the bottom right there's a text with "EPSG:...". If you click there you will get a dialogue with all available projections you can use. For anyone not used to work with projections a warning, coordinate reference systems and projections/transformations is kind of complex...

[@canibezeroun1988]

@@KlasKarlsson Yes it is. I have seen all the math that went into it. I had looked into why Mercador was still used and saw all the math that went into projections. Taking me all the way back to Calc 3

[@smith0426]

Memory aid for magnetic declination adjustment: "east is least"

[@johnwolfen4243]

This is a bit off topic, but it would be an interesting video or two. If you were to set up an intel operation let’s, say in occupied territory, how would you go about doing it?

[@ghostedyoutuber263]

Awesome video! Hopefully there is a way to bring in waypoints like KML data etc.

[@KlasKarlsson]

If you have a KML of KMZ file you can simply drag and drop it onto the map.

[@mrhung7867]

How come the grid intervals of 1000, doesnt match up to the 1000m legend?

[@spunik45]

The map scale of 1:24000. 1:50000 scale on military maps align one grid square as 1000m by 1000m square.

[@mrhung7867]

@@spunik45 right but if you look at 18:38 you will notice that the 1km legend shows a grid square to be about 730m per grid instead of the full length of the legend.

[@KlasKarlsson]

@@mrhung7867 The map in the video is "projected" in Pseudo Mercator (or Google Mercator) which does not have units in meters. The grid is therefor not 1000 meters, but 1000 "units". Pseudo Mercator is unsuitable for printed maps and you really should re-project it to something like UTM. It is not possible to get accurate coordinates from this type of grid. When it is said that the grid is in "decimal degrees" that is also incorrect. The grid is still in Pseudo Mercator "units" and not really useful for anything on a printed map.

[@wanderingcalamity360]

Dude, you're like the Bob Ross of cartography.

[@ferebeefamily]

Thank you for the information.

[@JW-fq1pp]

Pretty awesome as long as one has electricity and internet. How about basic map making for an electricity challenged world? Let's say all I had was a magnetic compass, a piece of paper, and a pencil. I'll even throw in an inclinometer. How would I proceed to make a map of my surroundings? How would I estimate elevations, and distances? Not ragging on the video, just pointing out some "considerations", as electricity may not always be available... See, I grew up in a pre-electronic age. Calculators didn't exist until I was halfway through high school. I know how to make maps using mechanical means, few do.

[@richavic4520]

A Brunton Compass is a good tool. For me, learning how to estimate 500' within a reasonable range helped. Inverse tangent of 45 degrees is .707, which are both the horizontal and vertical lengths. You can kinda do your vertical distances arithmetically from there off of horizontal distance and the angle. I'm talking estimates.

[@markcarpenter3600]

Much of the electrically challenged 3rd world is using, QGIS to do everything from tracking forest fires, and other environmental concerns to planning roads, sewer systems, electrical grids etc. QGIS easily runs on low power laptop and is cross platform, so you don't even have to buy a copy of Windows. I have it successfully running stable on a surface go with a Pentium processor. When your done making the map print it and use your compass. This video doesn't even scratch the surface of what this program can do once you start using vector data. Trying to map hundreds or thousands of data points over a large area isn't practical on paper. Right now I'm working on a map for a 90 mile bicycle event I known I have 100's of data points on the map just wouldn't be possible for me to do that on paper.

[@JW-fq1pp]

@@markcarpenter3600 Awesome for you, but what happens if the electricity and internet go away and you need to make some detailed maps? That is my point.

[@markcarpenter3600]

@@JW-fq1pp Buy a road atlas.

[@TheModularDiver]

@@richavic4520 I'll absolutely NEVER buy another Brunton Compass. I ordered direct from them with the compass being defective on arrival, combined with horrible customer service. All I wanted was a replacement compass. It ultimately took me filing a credit card dispute to get the RMA and refund. Cammenga Lensatic or Suunto are who I recommend now.

[@lockpickingparamedic2136]

BTW OSM is not google it is a open source project.

[@squee317]

CalTOPO is worth the cost for the best version, group funding goes a long way.

[@hamsandwich4451]

my topo will send you almost any map you want laminated for $10. Just have to know what to ask for and how to read one.