Importing data layers into Avenza Maps Android app

DATE: 2023-03-13

AUTHOR: John L. Godlee

I had a go with the Avenza Maps[1] Android app during fieldwork to visualise my position within the landscape. I had access to a vegetation map and I wanted to see how close I was to transition zones between vegetation units, and also where I could walk to find a good place to install a vegetation monitoring plot.

1: https://store.avenza.com/pages/app-features

It was a bit of a faff, but I worked out a method for importing raster and vector data into Avenza Maps. I used the free version of the Avenza Maps app:

To import a raster layer:

In QGIS:

Choose to export the chosen raster layer

Choose GeoTIFF

Choose "Rendered Image" when exporting

Increase the resolution as desired

Put the exported .tif on Android phone

Open Avenza Maps

Add the .tif as a Map

Avenza (free) only supports KML/KMZ and GPX, which don't support polygons. To import point (vector) data:

In QGIS:

Ensure that the chosen point features only have one attribute "name"

Choose to export the chosen features

Choose GPX

Select GPX_USE_EXTENSIONS = YES

Put the exported .gpx on Android phone

Open Avenza Maps

Add the .gpx as a Layer in the chosen map