Rotating a Map
This tutorial covers changing the rotation of a map canvas.
Included in this tutorial:
Viewing and changing the rotation of a Map Canvas
Software version in examples: QGIS-LTR 3.40.5-Bratislava
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with the 2020 Census Tracts shapefile downloaded from NYC Open Data
New York City Department of City Planning. (2025). New York City Census Tracts (2020 US Census) (25B) [shapefile]. BYTES of the BIG APPLE - Archive. Accessed from New York City Open Data: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/2020-Census-Tracts/63ge-mke6.
Credits: Sally Kaye and L. Meisterlin (2025)
Rotating a map is useful to fit irregular geographies into rectangular map layouts and, more importantly, to ensure that your maps meet familiar, local conventions or the mental and social image of places held by your audience.
Reminder: As for any map (rotated or not), do not assume that all readers will quickly orient themselves. Clarify with a north arrow, graticule, or other indication of direction and placement.
Viewing and Changing the Rotation of a Map Canvas
By default, map canvases will have a rotation of 0°, meaning north is “up” and south is “down.”
To change this, find the Rotation box at the bottom of the map canvas (highlighted below in magenta) and adjust by typing a new rotation or using the arrows—the up arrow rotates the map clockwise and the down arrow rotates the map counterclockwise.
In this example, we rotate a map that contains a polygon layer called NYC 2020 Census Tracts 29° counterclockwise (-29°), roughly matching the rotation of Manhattan’s streets.
the map canvas with a default 0° rotation
the same map canvas, rotated to -29°
TIP: If your canvas is included in a layout, any north arrow associated with the canvas should update itself automatically to match the new rotation.