GEO 127: Geographic Information Systems

Familiarization with Vector Data

Laboratory Exercise No. 2

Objectives:
1. Explore the capabilities of QGIS in displaying shapefiles and editing its properties familiarize with the
interface and tools in QGIS
2. Create a map layout in QGIS.

Materials: Internet Connection, Laptop/Desktop Computer, Mouse, Shapefiles with file extensions and etc.

A. Displaying Shapefiles.
1. Download all the data needed for the activity.
2. Open QGIS Application. Create you’re a new project. Save the project in a folder. Name your project as
GEO 127_LAB 2_SURNAME.
3. Add Vector Data by going to MENU BAR >>>Layer>>> Add Layer>>> Add Vector Layer. A window
will appear, “Data Source Manager” window

Figure 1. Data Source Manage window

4. Set “Source Type”to File and Encoding as: System
5. Under “Source” click the browse button and browse to the file: Barangays.shp
6. Click Add and Close.
7. Paste a screenshot of the result.

B. Zooming Tools
The zoom tools are useful for focusing and looking at the spatial aspect of your geographic data. Inspect the
different Zoom tools:

Question 1: What are the different Zoom tools?

C. Viewing and Editing Shapefile properties

8. Double click on the filename of the “Barangays” layer in the Layers Panel window.
9. The Layer Properties will appear.
10. Paste a screenshot of your Layer Properties window.
11. Under the Information Tab, the layer’s general information is displayed, including: name, source,
coordinate reference system (CRS), and extent.

Question 2: What is the coordinate reference system of the shapefile?

12. In the Symbology Tab, you can select anycolor scheme for the display of your data through the drop-down
tab. The default option is “Single Symbol”.
13. Paste a screenshot of your Layer Properties - symbology.
14. Inspect the output of this symbology style in the map view.
15. Set the symbology style to Categorized.
16. Set “Column” to BARANGAYS. Click the Classify button, click Apply then click OK.
17. Paste a screenshot and inspect the output of the Categorized layer in the map view.
18. Go back to the Layer properties window. Try the symbology style: Graduated, and Set “Column”
to AREA_SQKM.
19. Click the Classify, Apply, then OK.
20. Paste a screenshot and inspect the output of the Graduated layer.

Bulacan Agricultural State College

Institute of Engineering and Applied Technology GEO 127 – Geographic Information System
Department of Geodetic Engineering
GEO 127: Geographic Information Systems
Familiarization with Vector Data
Laboratory Exercise No. 2

Question 3: What is/are the difference/s in the three (3) layer styles?

21. In the Layer properties window, go to Labels Tab. Labels can show names or description of your features.
22. Click the drop-down button to enable the Single labels option,
23. For the “Label with” option, select BARANGAYS from the drop-down menu. Click Apply then OK.
24. Zoom-in to the lowest/southern part of your data.
25. Inspect the island/group of barangays that include Brgy. Rabor.

Question 4: What are the barangays surrounding Brgy. Rabor?

26. Go back to the Layer Properties window. In the Source Fields Tab, the field (attribute/column) names
contained in the attribute table of the shapefile are listed.

Question 5: How many fields are there and what are their names and data type (type name)? Tabulate your
answer.

D. Making a Map Layout

a. Continuing from the previous QGIS project, go to MENUBAR Project > New Print Layout.
b. You will be prompted to enter a title for the Create Print Layout. You can set any preferred name, e.g.
Lab1_Map and click OK. (Leaving the composer name empty will assign a default name such as Layout
1.)
c. Now we would have to bring the map view that we see in the QGIS Canvas to the composer. Go to
menu AddItem > Add Map.
d. The cursor will change to a cross sign which means the Add Map button is active. Hold the left mouse
button and drag a rectangle where you want to insert the map.

e. We will be making a map for the island groups containing barangay Rabor (Municipality of Balabac).
If the rendered map is not covering the full extent of our interest area, we can move the map view.
Select Edit > Move content to pan the map in the window and center it in the composer.
f. You can adjust the zoom level for the given map. Click on the Item Properties tab (located at the right
panels) and enter your desired Scale. Try: 200,000
g. We can add an inset map to our layout. Go back to QGIS desktop and zoom out to the whole extent of
the BARANGAYS layer (Province of Palawan).
h. Go back to Composer and go to Add Item > Add Map. Drag a rectangle at the place where you want
to add themap inset. You will now notice that we have 2 map objects in the Print Layout, similar to
image below:

Bulacan Agricultural State College

Institute of Engineering and Applied Technology GEO 127 – Geographic Information System
Department of Geodetic Engineering
GEO 127: Geographic Information Systems
Familiarization with Vector Data
Laboratory Exercise No. 2

i. Select the new map object that we just added from the Items panel (Map 2). Select the Item properties
tab (Note: When making changes, make sure you have the correct map selected). Scroll down to the
Frame panel and check the box next to it. You can change the color and thickness of the frame border
so it is easy to distinguish against the map background.

j. The current labels may appear to clutter the

inset map, butwe want the labels to appear
in our main map object. We can adjust our
labels to be scale-dependent. Go back to the
QGIS Desktop window.
k. Open the Layer properties of the Barangay
layer, go to Labels Tab
l. Highlight the option for Rendering.
m. Check the box for Scale dependent visibility
n. Set the minimum and maximum zoom levels
as: 1:250000 and 1:1000 respectively.
o. Click Apply and OK

p. Go back to the Print Layout window. To automatically highlight the area in our inset (Map 2) that
represents our main map object (Map 1), select Map 2 in the Items panel. In the Item properties tab,
scroll down to the Overviews section. Click the Add a new overview button .
q. Select Map 1 as the Map Frame. What this is telling the Print Layout is that it must highlight in our
current objectMap 2 with the extent of the map shown in the Map 1 object.
r. Now that we have the map inset ready, we will add a grid and zebra border to the main map. Select the
Map 1 object from the Items panel. In the Item properties tab, scroll down to the Grids section. Click
the Add a new grid button
s. To configure the settings for the grid, click on the Modify grid... button.
t. In the Map grid properties view, click the button beside CRS. In the Coordinate Reference System
Selector window select WGS 84 EPSG:4326. Click OK
u. Set “Interval units” to: Map unit.
v. Select the Interval values as 0.1 in both X and Y direction. You can adjust the Offset to change where
the grid lines appear.
w. Scroll down to the Frame section and select a frame style that suits your taste (e.g. Zebra). Also check
the Draw coordinates box.
x. You can adjust the Distance to map frame till the coordinates are legible. You can also change font type
and size through the Font button.
y. Change the Coordinate precision to 1 so the coordinates are displayed only up to the first decimal.
z. To add a North Arrow to the map, click Add Item > Add Picture. Holding your left mouse button, draw
a rectangle on the top-right corner of the map canvas. On the right-hand panel, click on the Item
Properties tab and expand the Search directories section and select the North Arrow image of your
liking.
aa.Add a scale bar. Click on Add Item > Add Scalebar. Click on the layout where you want the scalebar
to appear. In the Item Properties tab, make sure the correct map object (Map 1) is selected for which to
display the scalebar.
bb. Choose the Style that fit your requirement.
cc.Set scale bar units: Kilometers. Label unit multiplier: 1. Label for units: KM
dd. In the Segments panel, you can adjust the number of segments and their size (e.g. Map units per bar
unit: Segments: L=0, R=4; Fixed width=5units, Height=2mm).
ee.To add a label to our map, Click on Add Item > Add Label. Click on the map and draw a box where
the label should be. In the Item Properties tab, expand the Label section and enter the text as:
MUNICIPALITY OF BALABAC, PALAWAN. Adjust the Font (click button “Font…”) and
Bulacan Agricultural State College
Institute of Engineering and Applied Technology GEO 127 – Geographic Information System
Department of Geodetic Engineering
GEO 127: Geographic Information Systems
Familiarization with Vector Data
Laboratory Exercise No. 2

alignments based on your preference.

ff. You can add another text label to add the data source, software credits and/or your names, (e.g. Data
Source: Philippine GIS Data Clearinghouse (PhilGIS), http://philgis.org/. Mapped using QGIS
3.4 Cartographer:
<YourName>)
gg. Once you are satisfied with the map, you can export it as Image, PDF or SVG. Export it as an image. Click
Layout> Export as Image. Save as GEO 127_LabEx2_Map_SURNAME.jpg
hh. Save the composer layout as a map template,
Layout > Save as template,LabEx2_MapTemp_<YourSurnames>.qpt

SAMPLE MAP OUTPUT:

For Submission:

1. A pdf file of your laboratory exercise.

2. An export of your MAP using the QGIS Map Layout.
FORMAT

Name: Date:
Course & Year: Score:
Geographic Information System
Laboratory Exercise No.
LAB TITLE

Objectives:
Introduction: ***long bond paper
Methodology: (include snapshots if of process) ***Times New Roman
Results and Discussion: ***12
Problems Encountered: *** Line Spacing : 1.15
Conclusion: ***Body Text: No Spacing
Recommendation: ***MARGINS : 1” all sides
ANSWERS: ***Justify
***include proper citation

Bulacan Agricultural State College

Institute of Engineering and Applied Technology GEO 127 – Geographic Information System
Department of Geodetic Engineering