Plotting X,Y Coordinates
This tutorial demonstrates plotting XY coordinates from a table in QGIS. You can do this within your current QGIS project as a temporary scratch layer and/or export the coordinate points to a new feature class.
Included in this tutorial:
Plotting XY coordinate points as a temporary layer
Plotting and saving coordinate points as a new feature class
Software version in examples: QGIS-LTR 3.40.5-Bratislava
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here.
Credits: Sally Kaye and L. Meisterlin (2025)
The tutorial includes two examples of plotting coordinates from Table1 in the Standard Data Package of sample data:
in feet based on the projected NAD83 NY State Plane Long Island zone coordinate reference system (CRS), and
in decimal degrees based on the WGS1984 datum.
Example XY Coordinates
Highlighted in magenta below are the four example fields in the table that will be plotted in our demonstrations: latitude and longitude coordinates in feet (NAD83) and in decimal degrees (WGS84). The fields representing the projected NAD83 coordinates have the “_ft” suffix in their names. The fields representing the unprojected WGS84 coordinates have the “_dd” suffix in their names.
latitude and longitude fields within the example table
The Create Points Layer from Table tool
Accessing the Tool
First, we access the Processing Toolbox by clicking the Toolbox icon in the Attributes Toolbar (you can also navigate through Processing > Toolbox).
Under Vector Creation, find Create points layer from table and click to open the tool’s dialogue box. You can also find the tool by searching within the Toolbox’s search bar.
The Tool’s Parameters
Interacting with the tool’s dialogue box is demonstrated in the examples below. Briefly, the tool’s parameters include:
The Input layer. In this example, we use the layer “Table1”.
Coordinate fields
The X field and Y field (both required): Specify which fields in the input table contain the coordinates you would like to map.
Optional Additional Coordinate fields: You can also specify a Z field if your table includes three-dimensional point locations and/or an M field if your table includes linear referencing measurements.
The Target CRS: This is the coordinate reference system (CRS) of the values in your chosen coordinate fields. (In our examples, we will plot identical locations with coordinate values in two different CRSs.)
Layer settings under Points from table: By default, running this tool will create a temporary layer, meaning it will not save as a new feature class with the project. (See more on this immediately below).
The checkbox option to Open output file after running algorithm specifies whether you want the resulting layer to be added to the project’s current map. It is selected by default (and the option to deselect is only relevant if you are not creating a temporary layer).
Plotting Coordinate Points as a Temporary Layer
In the first demonstration, we access the Create Points Layer from Table tool and plot coordinates twice:
First: with the “_ft” fields and NAD83 NY State Plane Long Island zone CRS.
Second: with the “_dd” fields and WGS1984 CRS.
After coordinates are plotted and the new point layers are added to the map, we zoom to layer and rename the temporary layers for clarity. We confirm the contents of their attribute tables are identical to the contents of the input table (Table1, in this example) and confirm the CRS of the outputs by right-clicking the layer name and viewing Layer CRS.
In each case the resulting layers are not saved as standalone datasets and cannot be accessed outside the current QGIS project.
plotting XY coordinates from a table
Saving the temporary layer
To make the layer permanent, we export a new feature class by right-clicking the layer name and navigating through Export > Save features as.
exporting a temporary layer as a new feature class
Plotting Coordinate Points as a New Feature Class
You can also plot points and create a new feature class in one step within the “Create points layer from table” dialogue shown above. Click the dropdown menu next to “Points from table” and select Save to File. In the resulting Save window, you can give the new feature class a name and location and change the file type if desired.
plotting and exporting points as a new feature class
After specifying your Save options, you can click Save to return to the Create Points Layer from Table tool dialogue box; then click Run to save and add the new feature class to the open map canvas.