Exploration Maps vs QGIS for Exploration Mapping

QGIS is a powerful free and open-source GIS platform ideal for spatial analysis and data processing. Exploration Maps is faster for producing polished investor-ready maps with no setup or GIS expertise required. Most exploration teams use both: QGIS for data preparation and analysis, Exploration Maps for final presentation-quality outputs.

QGIS: Powerful and Free, But Complex

QGIS is an excellent free and open-source GIS platform that can do nearly everything ArcGIS can do. It handles coordinate system transformations, geospatial analysis, grid processing, and complex cartography. However, producing a polished map in QGIS — with a styled title block, legend, north arrow, scale bar, and company branding — requires significant configuration in the Print Layout module, a skill that takes time to develop.

Exploration Maps: Fast Output, No Configuration

Exploration Maps produces investor-ready maps in 15–30 minutes with zero configuration. Design themes handle all the styling automatically — title blocks, legends, panel colors, and fonts are all pre-configured. For a geologist who needs to produce a clean map for an investor deck on Friday afternoon, this is a significant practical advantage.

The Best Workflow: Use Both

Most experienced exploration teams use a hybrid workflow: QGIS for data preparation, coordinate system management, and any spatial analysis (clipping, buffering, processing geophysical grids), then export the results as GeoJSON for import into Exploration Maps for final presentation-quality output. This leverages the strengths of both tools.

Cost and Accessibility

QGIS is free — a major advantage for bootstrapped junior companies. Exploration Maps is low-cost and browser-based, requiring no installation. For teams without an in-house GIS specialist, the time cost of learning QGIS for cartographic output often exceeds the value of the free license. Exploration Maps reduces that time cost significantly.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Exploration Maps	QGIS
Cost	Low	Free
Setup required	None	Installation + plugins
Learning curve	Minutes	Hours to days
Time to polished map	15–30 min	1–3 hours
Spatial analysis	Basic	Full-featured
Investor-ready themes	Built-in	Manual layout config
Browser-based	Yes	No (desktop)
Best for	Presentation maps	Data analysis + maps

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use QGIS to prepare data and Exploration Maps for the final map?

Yes — this is actually the recommended workflow for teams that need both analytical capability and fast presentation output. Export your processed layers from QGIS as GeoJSON (right-click layer → Export → Save Features As → GeoJSON, CRS: EPSG:4326), then import into Exploration Maps.

Does QGIS produce better-quality maps than Exploration Maps?

QGIS's Print Layout can produce very high-quality maps given enough time and expertise. For standard investor presentation maps, NI 43-101 figures, and news release maps, Exploration Maps produces output that is equivalent or superior in presentation quality — in a fraction of the time.