Google Imagery in QGIS 3

QGIS is the second most popular GIS software and the most popular free GIS. Few month ago, the latest version QGIS 3 Girona was released. It has important improvements and new features, but it also has some limitataion compared with previous versions. One important limitation is that some plugins were not updated yet. For instance the plugin for imagery services such as Google Maps is not available. In this post we present a solution for this issue.

Google Maps Layer is hosting somewhere on the Google server and sends the tab to the user who requests it. Technically it is called Tile Map Service (TMS). Therefore, we just need to find the TMS that Google uses to use the Google Maps layers. The Google Maps Layer TMS are:

• Google Maps: https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=r&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
• Google Satellite: http://www.google.cn/maps/vt?lyrs=s@189&gl=cn&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
• Google Satellite Hybrid: https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
• Google Terrain: https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=t&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
• Google Roads: https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=h&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}

Add Google imagery to QGIS 3

To add the Google Maps map service in QGIS 3:

Go to XYZ Tiles in the Browser panel. Right-click on XYZ Tiles and create a new connection.

Enter the name, for example: Google Satellite. Copy and paste one of the Google Maps TMS listed above into the URL. Adjust the maximum zoom level (suggested to 19).