Practical GIS

Adding cartographic elements

In the composer window, we can access the layout properties of our map instantly. In the right panel, we can choose the paper size, and its orientation. On the left toolbar, we have access to the most important cartographic elements, which are added on demand as separate, configurable items. The first four tools are for item management. We can use the Select/Move item tool to move and resize items, and the Move item content tool to pan the map inside the data frame item. Under those tools, we can access the items which can be added.

First, let's add the dataframe to the map. To do this, click on the Add new map tool, and draw a rectangle on the canvas. Let's resize the map to match the paper's dimensions. Once ...