A new guideline for geological maps with QGIS

Abstract Being able to create digital geological maps has become a basic requirement for the skillset of today’s geologists. QGIS is a geographical information system that receives increasing popularity due to its user-friendliness and the fact that it is an open access software. This contribution provides an update and extension to a previously published software guideline that gives a stepwise explanation on how to create a geological map with QGIS. The article serves as a brief overview of the guideline through an illustrated example. The guideline itself is published as a supplement to this paper. Within six sections, the guideline explains how to create a geological map with QGIS: 1. Introduction, 2. Download and installation, 3. Basemaps, 4. Map drawing, 5. Plugins, 6. Layouts. The aim is to instruct geologists who are completely inexperienced with digital map creation as well as provide specific information for more advanced users. In general, providing software guidelines for the geological community is an important step towards increasing geologists’ digital proficiency and to keep up with today’s fast paced developments in digitalization.