QGIS lesson 27 – Creating a choropleth / heat map

In this lesson I will show you how to create a choropleth or heat map based on data from the US Census Bureau

You will learn how to

• Write simple excel formula to join two columns
• Import a csv into QGIS to perform a data join with a shapefile
• Create a graduated choropleth with Jenks distribution
• Create 3 views of your map in print composer

US counties shapefile

US poverty data

[wburke]

Thank you!!!! This was a little dated by the time I found it (some of the navigation has changed in QGIS), but this video was a linchpin for figuring this out as a novice. My biggest hurdle was not being able to figure out how to save a .csvt file on my Mac. The workaround I used was to use (Processing toolbox > Vector table > Field calculator) to create an integer field -- with the to_real("varname") expression --in a new layer after I dragged and dropped the data as the default "string", then joined the new field and was able to proceed more-or-less as you laid it out. I downloaded QGIS this afternoon, and now I'm making choropleths! I owe you one!

[dysmayado]

Didn't think I can do a chloropleth map, until I watched your video! Thank you so much!

[dipeshkarmarkar]

thanks... i was trying and trying .. finally with this clip, i could make my first choropleth.... feeling happy... thanks again...

[Albapol]

Great job Steven! I have learnt a great deal from your videos. The best videos when it comes to QGIS.

[garethplloyd]

Thanks for this Steven: total novice with QGIS here and this helped me with exactly what I needed to do.

[MJKCoperation]

I cant choose the column, the only tow options I've are aland and alwater, any Ideas, where it went wrong?

[Playtimeco]

Hi, Thanks
Is it possible to create heat maps for commutative data?

like if you have incidence of cases by district of residents where the incidence is imported and joined to the district names

[darcyemery]

Helpful video but I think the data doesn't work any more, for future reference (I got very confused when using this data but not when using an example I created). Steps still useful though!

[AliUyan]

Hi Steven, I need your help about QGIS. I want to create a temperature map in formerly determined coordinates on the Mediterranean sea surface. Can I do this map by QGIS?

[cameralumina]

The column wasn't showing up for me either. The problem seemed to be that I had dragged the CSV file into the layer browser, rather than adding it through the menu.

[topcataj]

Not bad but I don't have any issues with QGIS importing all csv fields as text.  Also, I disagree that "Natural Breaks" is the best.  Sometimes it is, but equal interval and quantiles are also pretty useful depending on what you are displaying.

[ricothegreat]

Hi Steven, Thank you for this tutorial. Dataset shown above is one-time data .
What if we have a dataset containing 10 years population data and we want to animate the choropleth using QGIS time manager plugin..? I find this example in Anita Graser's time manager website but I had no clue how to create it