Changing the map units

Changing the units of measurement on a map, or map units, is a very common operation, depending on the purpose of your map or the standards of your organization or country. In this recipe, we'll read the map units used by QGIS and then change them for your project.

Getting ready

The only preparation you need for this recipe is to open QGIS and select Python Console from the Plugins menu.

How to do it...

In the following steps, we'll access the map canvas, check the map unit type, and then alter it to a different setting.

  1. First, access the map canvas, as follows:
    canvas = iface.mapCanvas()
    
  2. Now, get the map units type. By default, it should be the number 2:
    canvas.mapUnits()
    
  3. Now, let's set the map units to meters using the built-in enumerator:
    canvas.setMapUnits(QGis.Meters)
    

How it works...

QGIS has seven different map units, which are enumerated in the following order:

0 Meters

1 Feet

2 Degrees

3 UnknownUnit

4 DecimalDegrees

5 DegreesMinutesSeconds

6 DegreesDecimalMinutes

7 NauticalMiles

It is important to note that changing the map units just changes the unit of measurement for the measurement tool and the display in the status bar; it does not change the underlying map projection. You'll notice this difference if you try to run an operation in the Processing Toolbox, which depends on projected data in meters, if the data is unprojected. The most common use case for changing map units is to switch between imperial and metric units, depending on the user's preference.

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