How to standardise colour-value graduations across multiple maps

Question

In QGIS I have a vector dataset (imported CSV vector + csvt) spanning multiple years, and a shapefile shape which is essentially a grid. By joining the CSV file with the shapefile I can apply a colour to each grid square and hence a gradient scheme for the whole grid. I have created a series of maps - one map per year, each with its own colour gradient. However the colour gradients are not comparable between maps because the range of values is different among years. How can I make the gradient scales standardised across all maps?

I've tried splitting the CSV file into years, and with each year individually, it does not seem possible to create a 'custom' range of values for the gradient, say 0-100, even though the values span say 20-70. I've also tried working with one CSV file containing all years, thinking that I could somehow 'trick' QGIS into applying a gradient that spans the range of the whole dataset, while at the same time only map individual years. Categories doesn't seem to be an option as if I have 200 grid squares I get 200 categories each with own unique value.

Any help would be much appreciated. It may be that there is a database-based solution which I am open to. I am also open to GRASS solutions, but I am less familiar with GRASS as this stage.

Answer 1

You can create a custom range of colors using the "rule based rendering" option in the Style tab of the layer properties. Create a set of rules, with the colors you choose (for the whole scale of possible values, 01-00 as you mention). Then save the style out to a QGIS style file (*.qgs).

Now you can load that style for all the other years (the "Load Style" button), and you'll have an identical color ramp for all the years.

Answer 2

I know this is an old question, but I had this problem today so I figured others might still be running into it. Since I couldn't find the menu options to follow the older answer, I noodled around and found another way to do it:

After you decide the symbology for one layer, you can right-click on the layer name, and go Styles > Copy style > Symbology. Then you can right-click on another layer (or multiple selected layers) and Paste the symbology. The other layers will have the same color ramp as the layer you copied from.