Adding a Secondary Map View
This tutorial demonstrates how to add a secondary map view, allowing you to view the same map canvas at different scales and locations side-by-side.
Included in this tutorial:
Adding a Map View
Viewing and changing map view settings
Software version in examples: QGIS-LTR 3.40.5-Bratislava
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here.
Credits: Sally Kaye (2025)
Note that adding a map view is not the same as adding a “map frame” to a layout. To learn more about adding new maps or map frames to a layout in QGIS, see Print Layouts, Map Surrounds, and Exporting a Map.
Adding a Map View
In the main menu, click View > New Map View.
The map view—a copy of the current main map—will be added next to the main map. This window can be docked and undocked as needed.
You can zoom and pan within each individual map to change the scales and centers independently. A small symbol representing the cursor’s position in the main map is shown in the added map view.
adding a new map view and demonstrating independent zooming
Map View Settings
Below, we demonstrate accessing the map view settings menu by clicking the wrench icon and using a few settings options. These are…
Synchronizing View Center with Main Map: When this is checked, panning one map canvas will automatically pan the other.
Changing the rotation of the Map View: The new map view can be rotated independently of the main map.
Synchronizing scale between Main Map and Map View: Zooming one map canvas will automatically zoom the other.
Showing Main Canvas Extent: A box representing the current scale and extent of the main canvas becomes visible in the new map view.
changing some map view settings