Custom made polygon
qgis
gis
Y2023
Create a polygon in QGIS using google maps as background
Intro
This post is to give you an example on how to create your own polygon using google maps.
Program
For this exercise we used the release candidate of QGIS, but every version has the option to create new layers, so no worries in which version you are using.
If you still dont have it, here is the link for download QGIS
QGIS
In earlier QGIS versions, there was a plugin called Open Layers plugin, but is not available anymore (as far as I am aware of).
Now to add a google satellite map in your QGIS you could do the following:
Go to View > Panels > Activate Browser Panel
Now go to XYZ > a new connection
A new window will appear
Fill in the spaces with the map you want to use
You need to give it a name and the URL
There are many options of maps, you can look at some here: Google URLs
We will use Open Street Map: https://tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png for the example.
Once you have create the connection, double click on the name and the map should be loaded as a layer.
Ready to Use!
Create polygon
Select New Shapefile Layer
Give a name to your new shapefile
I recommend to click on the three dots to select also the directory
In the exercise, we will create a polygon, therefore, select Polygon in Geometry type
Select Layer > Toggle editing, or just click on the icon with the yellow pencil
Now add polygon feature by clicking on the green polygon icon
Use the pointer of your mouse and click one time to create points
The areas will start to look red
Keep clicking until you have a more or less the polygon you want
When you finish you should add an id, here I used the number 1 for an example
Now you should have a polygon!
To edit the shapes you can use the vertex tool
The corners can be moved/dragged when the icon has been selected
New points can be created using the cross
When you are editing your layer you will have a red pencil icon, click on the yellow pencil for finish editing
Do not forget to save the changes!
… Now you are done!
I hope this helped you.
References
For continuing learning, here are other uses of google maps: