Styling layers
Choose colours, symbols, patterns, sizes, and visibility ranges for point, line, polygon, and raster layers. Start here to style a layer.
Style each layer for its geometry and purpose. Colour by category and colour by quantity work on points, lines, and polygons. Some options exist on one geometry only: size, heatmaps, and zoom styling on points, patterns and casing on lines, and fill patterns on polygons.
Start here
How layer styling works
Every geometry. What points, lines, and polygons share in the Style tab, and what only one geometry has.
Plan a thematic map
Every geometry. Match the styling method to your data, with examples for roads, countries, and cities.
Choose a classification method
Every geometry. Compare equal interval, quantile, natural breaks, and head/tail breaks on the same data.
Style any geometry by a field
Style by category
Points, lines, and polygons. Give each text value or numeric code its own colour.
Style by quantity
Points, lines, and polygons. Colour features from a numeric field, in classes or a gradient.
Customise category and class break symbology
Points, lines, and polygons. Change one row’s colour, label, range, marker, or pattern.
Labels and visibility
Show feature labels
Points, lines, and polygons. Show a field’s value as text on each feature.
Set layer zoom visibility
Every layer type. Show a layer only between the zoom levels you choose.
Points only: markers
Set a uniform point style
Points only. Draw every marker the same way: one marker type, colour, outline, and size.
Upload a custom point icon
Points only. Use your own image as the marker.
Points only: size
Size points by a number
Points only. Make a bubble map, with marker size set by a numeric field.
Colour and size points by two fields
Points only. Colour from one field and size from another, with both in the legend.
Vary marker size by zoom
Points only. Make circle markers grow or shrink at different zoom levels.
Points only: density and zoom
Make a heatmap
Points only. Show the density or weighted intensity of point features.
Colour markers by zoom
Points only. Blend circle markers between colours at different zoom levels.
Lines only
Set a uniform line style
Lines only. Draw every line with one colour and width.
Style line patterns and casing
Lines only. Dash or dot lines, and add a casing so roads stand out.
Set line width and opacity
Lines only. Make lines thicker, thinner, or see-through, with any colour style.
Polygons only
Set a uniform polygon style
Polygons only. Fill every polygon with one colour and set its stroke.
Style polygon fill patterns
Polygons only. Fill polygons with hatching, grids, dots, or arrows.
Style polygon outlines
Polygons only. Draw a solid, dashed, or dotted edge around every polygon.
Raster and WMS layers
Fix a styling problem
Style change not appearing
Every geometry. Find out why the map does not show your new style.
Colour ramp the wrong way round
Every geometry. Flip a ramp whose light and dark ends sit on the wrong values.
Empty classes or odd class breaks
Every geometry. Fix classes with no features or class breaks that make no sense.