Is it possible to use different symbols instead of colours in one shapefile in QGIS?

Question

I want to show 50 bird species on a map and give each species a different symbol (with a different colour) so they can be visually distinguished in the map.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

I'm not sure if this answers your question but here's how you do it in QGIS

What you need:

• Bird point vector layer
• In that layer, you should have a unique field (row) that identifies those birds species categories

Process:

• Right click the layer, then click on Properties
• Click on the Style on the left
• In the Style (top of the window) drop down click on Categorized
• In the Column drop down, click on the bird species category field that you have identified
• In Color map specify the colors you need. You can change those later
• Click on Classify (bottom of the window)
• Now you see, that the colors are different for each category.
• You can change the color of any category by right clicking on it and picking the option you want
• You can double click the row to change the symbol