Exploration Maps vs QGIS for Exploration Mapping

QGIS is a full open-source GIS and it is the better tool for spatial analysis, coordinate system management, raster and geophysical processing, and advanced cartography. Exploration Maps is narrower on purpose: it produces presentation-ready exploration figures — claim maps, drill collar plans, investor and news-release figures — without a desktop install or a layout composer. Most exploration teams end up using both, with QGIS for preparation and analysis and Exploration Maps for the figure that goes out.

Example mining map created in Exploration Maps — A finished map exported from Exploration Maps — the kind of output this guide walks you to.

What QGIS is genuinely better at

QGIS handles coordinate system transformation and CRS management properly, does real spatial analysis, processes rasters and geophysical grids, and its print layout composer will produce any cartographic output you can specify. It is free and open source, actively developed, and it is the correct answer for most serious GIS work in an exploration company. If your problem is analytical, use QGIS.

Exploration Maps: Fast Output, No Configuration

Exploration Maps is deliberately narrow. Design themes fix the title block, legend, panel colours and fonts, so producing a figure is a matter of adding data and framing it rather than composing a layout. That is a real constraint as well as a convenience — if you need a bespoke cartographic layout, a layout composer is the right tool and QGIS has one.

Using 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 the honest version of the trade-off

QGIS is free, which matters to a bootstrapped junior. Exploration Maps has a free tier and a $29/month Pro tier. The trade-off is not price, and it is not quality — a skilled GIS user will produce a better map in QGIS than in anything else, given time.

The trade-off is who is doing the work and how often. A team with a GIS specialist should keep using QGIS. A team where the geologist is also the cartographer, producing the same kinds of figures repeatedly under deadline, generally finds a narrower tool gets the figure out. Both things can be true.

Side-by-Side Comparison

	QGIS	Exploration Maps
Cost	Free, open source	Free tier; Pro $29/month
Install	Desktop application	Browser
Spatial analysis	Full — clipping, buffering, raster and geophysical processing	Not an analysis tool
Coordinate systems	Full reprojection and CRS management	Expects WGS84; converts common inputs
Cartography	Unlimited via the print layout composer	Themed layouts with fixed structure
Mineral claim search	Manual — download and import registry data yourself	Built in for seven Canadian jurisdictions
Tenure deadline tracking	Not a GIS function	Tenure Monitor (British Columbia)
Best at	Analysis, data preparation, bespoke cartography	Repeatable presentation figures

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.