[Qgis-user] Print Composer: Best Practices

[Gordon Lane]

Dear List:

I'll give an overview of a general problem here, then ask for your personal
Best Practices.

I use GIS in a professional setting but am not a GIS professional. I
learned ArcGIS at school and am now trying to transition to the world of
QGIS. At the moment I typically deal with displaying data, and not so much
with analysis.

My major problem is trying to export a good quality map. I typically make
maps for small-scale areas (50 sq. miles or so, with secondary maps for <1
sq. mi. details) for decision-making support. These maps aren't fancy, but
orthos are standard additions to make them accessible to the end-users.

I have played and tested and cajoled various outputs from Print Composer,
and still can't find a good workflow for a final product. The legends
typically are washed-out. The PDF files are waaaay to big (even with res
set at ~150 dpi), and load in a piecemeal fashion. PNG files are smaller
than TIFs, but sometimes still too big to email, and don't make legends any
better. Some of this is because I have an old computer. But not all.

Additionally, I have not found a way to deal with differences in legend
colors and shapefile colors when a transparency is set, and have not found
a way to save anything more than a "template" print composer, which on
reload is essentially useless.

So, Best Practices. None of the above have singular solutions. I'm hoping,
however, that you might be able to give a perspective on the *workflow*
that *you* use to export maps for consumption. I.e., you religiously use
one file format vs. another, or have some other settings, or always export
to another program.

Looking forward to hear how you work!

Thanks,

-Gordon Lane
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