Quickly creating a geo-map illustration for an article. Showing off PDOK as geo data source, QGIS as geo data inspector and editor and Datawrapper to create the actual map. This one that shows the train stations in the province of Utrecht. The label layout leaves something to be desired – I know:
The steps to take for this are straightforward:
- open QGIS with the PDOK Viewer Plugin installed (as described in this article)
- create a layer for the PDOK Service's data set of Dutch Provinces
- create a layer for the PDOK Service's data set of Dutch Train Stations
- create a virtual layer based on the query "select p.* from provinces where naam='Utrecht'" –= producing a layer with a single polygon for the province of Utrecht
- clip the stations layer with the virtual layer – to get the set of stations that lie within the polygon (i,.e. inside the province)
- export the clipped layer as a GeoJSON file with the proper CRS (EPSG:3857 )
- run Datawrapper
- load the GeoJSON file
- define a title, some marker styles and the map zoom level
- publish the map – and embed it in the article
Step by Step demonstration
Some pictures to illustrate these steps:
open QGIS with the PDOK Viewer Plugin installed (as described in this article)
create a layer for the PDOK Service's data set of Dutch Provinces
create a layer for the PDOK Service's data set of Dutch Train Stations
the result:
create a virtual layer based on the query "select p.* from provinces where naam='Utrecht'" –= producing a layer with a single polygon for the province of Utrecht
the result: the pink polygon is the virtual layer
clip the stations layer with the virtual layer – to get the set of stations that lie within the polygon (i,.e. inside the province)
and
The result:
export the clipped layer as a GeoJSON file with the proper CRS (EPSG:3857 )
Create Map Visualization with Datawrapper
Run Datawrapper - https://www.datawrapper.de/. Create a new Map of type Locator Map, as described in this article.
On the first page of the map wizard, load the GeoJSON file that was exported from QGIS.
define a title, some marker styles and the map zoom level
Add region Utrecht as a marker – make it pale orange.
Fiddle a little with the marker styles (for the label)
Select the base map type, add a scale bar if you like and an inset map to show where Utrecht is in The Netherlands.
Define the origin of the map's data:
Publish the map – and embed it in the article
Resources
Blog article - PDOK Data Sets in QGIS using QGIS Plugin - https://technology.amis.nl/data-analytics/pdok-data-sets-in-qgis-using-qgis-plugin/
Blog article Prepare custom map data with MapShaper and Present with DataWrapper - https://technology.amis.nl/data-analytics/prepare-custom-map-data-with-mapshaper-and-present-with-datawrapper/
Introducing QGIS plugin for PDOK (2012, in Dutch) https://qgis.nl/2012/10/20/eenvoudige-pdok-services-plugin-voor-qgis/
Most recent update of the plugin – december 2023:L https://qgis.nl/2023/12/22/pdokserviceplugin-met-openbasiskaart-en-vectortiles/
Home page of PDOK – https://www.pdok.nl/ – Dutch portal for public geo data sets published by central and local government organisations.
Link to Datawrapper visualization: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/f9F6y/1/
