Labels & placement

Most layers can show a data-bound text label on each feature - choose the label field, size, and colours in the layer's label settings. For finer control, the label settings for Shapes & geometry, Shapes from file, Circles, and Icons layers include a collapsed Placement group.

Existing maps are unaffected by the Placement group until you touch one of its controls - the defaults reproduce the previous label behaviour exactly.

Position

  • Anchor - where the label sits relative to the feature. Auto lets the map pick the best-fitting position from the available space; or pin it to one of nine fixed positions (centre, the four sides, and the four corners).
  • X / Y offset - nudge the label from its anchor, in em units (relative to the label's text size, so offsets scale with the label).
  • Rotation - rotate the label by a fixed angle.

Text shaping

  • Wrap width - the width, in em, at which longer labels wrap onto multiple lines.
  • Letter case - display labels as-is, or force UPPERCASE or lowercase.
  • Halo width - the thickness of the halo drawn around the text to keep it readable over busy backgrounds.

Collisions and visibility

  • Draw over others - by default, labels that would overlap another label are hidden. Turn this on to draw the label regardless.
  • Priority field - when labels compete for space, features with a higher value in this field win, so your most important labels survive collisions.
  • Zoom limits - only show labels between a minimum and maximum zoom, so detail appears as viewers zoom in.

Labelling lines

For line features, turn on repeat along the line to place the label along the line's path - following its curvature - and repeat it at a chosen spacing, in the style of road or river names.

Next steps