[Qgis-user] Print Composer: Best Practices

[Alex Mandel]

On 07/25/2012 07:49 PM, Gordon Lane wrote:
> 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
> 
> 

Here is one possible workflow, I and several others use (and we taught
in a cartography class a couple of years ago).

QGIS -> Print Composer -> SVG or PDF (Sometimes with SimpleSVG plugin)
-> Inkscape

Sadly SimpleSVG export does not support the New Symbology or New
Labeling engine. And PDF also has issues with labels not being preserved
as text which makes them really hard to edit in the next step.

Final output is usually PDF (Standalone or printing), though depending
on where it's going Tiff or PNG(web)

Once you have a PDF or Tiff you can easily eye dropper the fill and then
bucket fill the legend color boxes to match using GIMP or Inkscape.

If your page size is big and you want quality your files will be big.
The best answer then is use a file hosting service and send people links
to download the PDF.

The alternate workflow I've been exploring lately is:
QGIS data prep
Tilemill styling (Using CSS)
Mapnik for output or as the base for online tiles.


Now some examples, everyone started with Arc or QGIS and Finished with
Inkscape or Illustrator. I'll let you guess which was done with what.
http://geography.ucdavis.edu/gallery/classes/geo-290-f10-cartography

Enjoy,
Alex