[Qgis-user] Did scale change outputting to PDF?

[Kirk Schmidt]

Hi All:

I always add a scale bar to a printed map so that if there is variaition 
between the pdf/print configuration, It can always be confirmed on the 
final printed map.

Kirk Schmidt

On 5/27/2021 4:27 AM, j.huber at post-ist-da.de wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> as I understand it, you created the base map in QGIS. If you use the 
> measure tool in QGIS to get the distance between two distinct features 
> in the map (e.g. road intersections) and then measure the same 
> distance on the printed base map with a ruler, it should be possible 
> to calculate the scale. Maybe use two distances, one aligned more or 
> less horizontally and one vertically, to check if the scaling is 
> proportional.
>
> As Andreas pointed out, it is probably a problem with the settings 
> when the PDF was printed. In my experience it is a good idea to go to 
> print shops usually working for architects and engineers since they 
> are familiar with the importance of scaling (for advertising etc. it 
> is more important that the whole content is printed, so that scaling 
> might be used to fit the output to the printable area without 
> potential cropping).
> You can print directly to a plotter in QGIS if you have access to the 
> device, avoiding the PDF detour.
>
> EPSG 2264 should be fine. Units should be US feet.
>
> Regards
> Jochen
>
>
> Am 27.05.21 um 07:15 schrieb John Antkowiak:
>> Hi. This plan was too simple to fail - but it failed. The charity 
>> whose project this is needed a large (that is... massive) paper wall 
>> map on which to plot and rethink its delivery driver assignments. 
>> Both drivers and delivery addresses are subject to change from week 
>> to week but it's not a pizza delivery; this is a regular run to 
>> supply people in a bad way. So the plan was to print the base map 
>> (roads and road names and county boundaries only) and then print 8.5 
>> x 11 address maps with parcel data and orthos. That way, the base 
>> maps don't change but the physical parcel layer is flexible. (On top 
>> of that is a third paper layer indicating which drivers go where so 
>> someone can stand back and take in the whole picture graphically. Not 
>> a cutting-edge state of the digital art solution, but not everyone is 
>> cut out for that. It is what it is.) In order for this to work, the 
>> parcel maps have to be the same scale as the base map. Which they 
>> were... in QGIS.
>>
>> We have to convert all the maps to PDF to print them, and we had to 
>> send the base map PDFs to FedEx/Kinkos to print the 9 map grid panels 
>> at 42" by 62" each.
>>
>> When we got the big base maps up on the wall, we discovered the scale 
>> did not match the 8.5" x 11" parcel maps output to PDF and printed 
>> from home. It's not off by a lot, but it's enough to be painfully 
>> obvious from a single standard size sheet of paper. I don't know how 
>> to reverse engineer the big map scale precisely enough to enter a new 
>> scale number in the QGIS Print Layout. I didn't foresee it because 
>> this never would've been a conceivable scenario at the engineering 
>> firm where I picked up my meager GIS skills. (ArcMap sent a map 
>> directly to the plotter without interim steps.) There was no scale 
>> bar on the map. It shouldn't have been needed for this.
>>
>> Did something happen to the map scale when QGIS output the map to 
>> PDF? Could the size of the image on the pdf page have been adjusted 
>> manually or otherwise when being sent to a plotter with 42" paper? 
>> Could the image have been distorted horizontally differently from 
>> vertically? For the life of me, I cannot trial-and-error guess at a 
>> scale to enter. I've gone through dozens of new 8.5" x 11" test maps 
>> trying to guess the correct scale.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Thank you all -
>>
>> John A.
>>
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-- 
Kirk Schmidt, MScF, BScF, RPF
General Manager
Nortek Resource Solutions Inc.
RR # 1
Thorburn, NS
B0K 1W0
Tel (902) 922.3607
Email: kirk at nortekresources.com
Web: www.nortekresources.com

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