It’s no surprise that behind this seemingly simple application is a complex data collection process where information from various sources – previous app users, satellites, vehicles, and even camels- is collected to provide the navigational answers that users are looking for. Have you ever wondered what is driving this technological marvel? How does Google Maps provide you with all that information? What is driving the Google Maps system? The multitude of valuable features, in conjunction with consistent updates and tweaks, big or small, are turning Google maps into a modern-day travelling pre-requisite for billions of people around the world.Īnd this brings us to the main agenda of this case study. For example, Google recently added a new widget to show real-time traffic information near you even when the app is not running, or your screen is locked. In addition, Google maps also offer a variety of other unique and helpful features, such as turn-by-turn directions, street view, and public transportation schedules.īut that’s not the end of it! Google Maps is constantly updated with new features and data to optimise the application and improve its usefulness and usability. Google uses a combination of satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° panoramic views of streets, and GIS data to provide up-to-date, comprehensive digital maps for route planning and travel via foot, car, bicycle, air or public transit. More links to free map tiles can be found (with example maps) at this website.The technology behind Google Maps allows users to view maps online and get valuable travel information in a few clicks. Included are shaded terrain maps, maps in different languages, outdoors maps with trails and elevation contours, and more. Use the WMS link located on this webpage.Ī number of free XYZ map tiles are available from Open Street Map. USGS world imagery can be added to QGIS as a WMS layer ( see here for a tutorial on adding WMS layers). One of those is the World Imagery map from the USGS. If Google maps do not meet your needs, there are other map services available for your use. So if the links in this tutorial no longer work you may need to do some searching to find the new links. Before any of the Google map layers for a project, you should verify that you are not violating any licensing or copyright restrictions that may be placed on the imagery.Īlso, the tile source URLs may be changed by Google at any time. Please note that the map sources used in this tutorial are a product of Google. Now you can pan, zoom, and navigate the map like any other layer.Add the basemap to your project by dragging it from the Broswer Panel into the map area or adding it from the QGIS Data Source Manager.You will now see that the new connection has been added under XYZ tiles.In this example I’ve added the URL for Google Satellite. In the new window enter a name for the new connection and provide the URL to the tiled map service (from the table above), then click OK.This will open a new window to enter the connection details. Right-click on ‘XYZ Tiles’ and select ‘New Connection’.Navigate to the QGIS Browser panel and find the XYZ tiles section.This is easy to do and is explained by the directions below. Now that we have the links to the tiled maps sources we need to add them to QGIS as XYZ tiles. Links to Google basemap layers Add XYZ Tiles to QGIS I obtained links to the maps from NextGIS and included them in the table below. They are Google Maps, Google Satellite, Google Satellite Hybrid, Google Terrain, and Google Roads. There are five different Google Maps products you can link to. The first thing you need to add Google Maps or Google Satellite to QGIS is a link to the map source. This linked example shows you how to add a basemap from another satellite imagery source as a WMS layer. On a side note, there are a lot of other basemaps you can add to QGIS. This tutorial will walk you through the process step by step. If you’re not sure how to do what I just described, don’t worry. Then add the link to the XYZ tiles in the QGIS browser. To add Google Maps to QGIS you just need a link to the tile map service layers you want to use. You can easily add these layers to QGIS as XYZ tiles. Google Maps and Google Satellite are probably the most recognized map layers in the world. The great thing is that it is very easy to add other basemap sources to QGIS. However, one of its shortcomings is that it only comes with one default basemap, Open Street Map. QGIS is a very powerful and customizable software.
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