Help

The free map editor

Import your files, style them, draw, measure and export a map, all in your browser.

The free map editor (Tools, Map editor) turns your own files into a finished map page: a frame with a coordinate grid, your title and logo, a legend, scale bar, north arrow, location map, callouts and notes. No account, nothing to install. It runs in your browser: your files are read on your computer and never uploaded, and nothing is stored on our server.

The walkthrough, step by step with captions: from your files to a finished, exported map.

Quick start

  1. Open the editor. A new map opens over northwestern Ontario with the page already laid out: your logo's place at the top left, the title at the top centre, the location map at the top right, the north arrow over the scale bar at the bottom left and the credits at the bottom right.
  2. Name it. Type the map's title in the box at the top of the editor (it says Untitled map).
  3. Add your data. Drop your files on the Data tab (shapefiles as a .zip, GeoJSON, KML, GPX, CSV of drill collars or samples). The map zooms to them and the grid picks their UTM zone.
  4. Style your layers. On Layers, choose colours, symbols and legend groups, or colour points by a number such as Au g/t.
  5. Label it. On Labels, label a layer by a column, add callouts for key holes and line notes.
  6. Finish the page. On Layout, pick the page size and the title style, add your logo, and drag any element where you want it.
  7. Export and keep it. Export a PNG or PDF of the page, and Project, Save project file so you can open and update the map next time.

Every step in detail:

The editor fills the window; the MinexMaps mark at the top left goes back to the home page, Tools back to the other tools, and Help at the top (in the Project menu on a phone) opens this guide in a new tab. The page in the middle is exactly what you export. To see one finished, choose Project, Load the example project (made-up data).

1. Data: bring in your files

  • Drop files on the Data tab (or anywhere on the page). Each file becomes a layer; the list shows the file each came from.
  • GeoJSON, KML, KMZ, GPX: read as they are.
  • Shapefiles: zip the .shp, .dbf, .shx and .prj together and drop the .zip. The .prj tells the editor the projection (UTM is fine). Mining claims (a file or layer named for claims, tenure or MLAS, or with a claim number column such as TENURE_NUMBER_ID, TENURE_ID, CLAIM_NO or CELL_ID) come in light green with a darker green outline, each claim labelled with its number; restyle them like any layer.
  • CSV or TXT tables (drill collars, samples): pick the coordinate columns and say whether they are latitude/longitude or UTM easting/northing; for UTM give the zone, north or south, and NAD83 or WGS84. Other columns come along as attributes.
  • PNG or JPEG images (a scanned figure): type the latitude and longitude of its edges.
  • Up to 50 MB a file. GeoTIFF is not supported yet: save it as PNG or JPEG.
  • Nearby claims (Ontario): choose a search radius (5 to 50 km) and search around the centre of your data or a point you pick on the map, then Load claims. The claims come from the Ministry of Mines' register (MLAS) straight into your browser as one layer, each main holder in its own colour, with the tenure number, title type, status, dates and holder in the table. Ontario's claims are cells of one grid (15 seconds of latitude by 22.5 seconds of longitude), so they line up with your own claims. With a claims layer of your own loaded, Leave out claims under my own claims is ticked: the register's cells under your claims (usually your own claims, still in the register) are left out and the status says how many; pick the layer when you have several, or untick it to load them all. They are a snapshot at load time, for information only (not an official record). Other provinces later.
  • Finish your map ticks itself as you go: add your data, choose your layout, download your map, save a project file for your next update.

2. Layers: style and group them

  • Show or hide, rename, move up and down, zoom to, delete.
  • For the selected layer: colours, line width, dashed lines, opacity, point size and symbol.
  • Legend group: put layers under headings such as Property, Targets, Drilling or Geochemistry (or type your own). The legend shows the groups with their headings.
  • Colour by a number: pick a number column (for example Au g/t or Cu ppm), the number of classes and equal intervals or quantiles, then Apply. The legend shows the classes.
  • Draw, edit and measure: Point, Line, Polygon, Rectangle, Circle (click on the map; the table opens so you can name the shape), Edit shapes (drag corners, Delete removes one, then Finish editing), Distance and Area, and the attribute Table.

3. Labels: labels, callouts and line notes

  • Layer labels: pick a layer and the column to label it with, the size, and whether the text has a white halo. Show labels switches a layer's labels off and on again without losing the column.
  • Callouts: Add callout, click the place on the map (a hole, a showing), then drag the box where you want it. Type a title line and the text lines (Enter for a new line). Drag the small circle to move its point.
  • Line notes: Add line note, click where the line starts and where it ends, then type the text (for example "Untested strike >1.5 km"). Drag either end, or the text to move the whole note.
  • Click a callout or note on the page and press Delete to remove it. Undo brings it back.

4. Layout: the page

  • Page: Letter, Legal, Tabloid (11 x 17), A4 or A3, landscape or portrait, and the basemap (the light hillshade, OpenStreetMap, OpenTopoMap, imagery or the Canada Base Map).
  • Coordinate grid: UTM (the zone is picked from the middle of your map unless you choose one; NAD83 or WGS84) or latitude/longitude, at round numbers or the interval you choose, with grid lines or just the ticks on the frame.
  • Title block (dark or light, with an accent bar), logo (PNG, JPEG or WebP up to 2 MB and 4096 pixels; it stays in your browser and your project file), legend (put its groups in order), scale bar (with the coordinate system under it), north arrow, location map (the whole province or state, or the country elsewhere, with a red dot at your project and its name; you can change the label, show the country or the region instead, and pick its basemap) and your credits. The basemap's credit is always on the page.
  • Switch each element on or off, and drag it on the page to place it. Positions are kept as a share of the page, so changing the page size keeps the layout.
  • Pan and zoom the map inside the frame as usual (or with the + and - buttons). Preview shows just the finished page.

5. Export

  • PNG or PDF of the page at 96, 150, 200 or 300 dpi (very large pages are held to a safe size).
  • The data of the selected layer or all layers as GeoJSON, KML (Google Earth) or CSV (points, longitude/latitude).
  • The project file (.json): everything on the map, to update it next time.

6. Keep your work

  • The current map is kept in this browser, so it is still there next time you open the editor on this computer ("Saved in this browser" at the top).
  • Project, Save project file downloads a .json file with everything (layers, styles, the page, callouts, your logo); Open project file brings it back on any computer. Files from the first version of the editor still open.
  • New project starts an empty map and keeps your page, logo and title style; Start over clears everything in this browser.

Something not right, or an idea?

Report a problem or suggest something at the top of the editor (the speech-bubble button on a phone) opens our contact form in a new tab with the topic "The map editor" picked and a short note of where you were: the tab, the basemap and your window's size. Nothing of your map, layers or files goes with it; add what you like before sending.

Want it as a live web map?

The editor makes one map at a time in your browser. MinexMaps publishes whole QGIS compilations as fast, secure web maps your team or the public can open, with 3D and drill holes. Talk to us.

Stuck? Contact us and we will help.