QGIS – Append Layers

By David Crowther

Question:

How do you append multiple layers together into one consolidated layer using QGIS?

Answer:

In this example, we want to append individual Street Service ROUND boundary layers into one consolidated ALL ROUNDS layer.

Here we have 3 separate ROUND layer boundary GIS files.

To append these layers together we can simply export each layer into the chosen main layer. During the export and save process we will be asked to overwrite the main file or append records to it.
Step1 – save a copy to create a Main Layer
Firstly, export one of the individual ROUND layers e.g. ROUND1 to create the master ALL ROUNDS layer.

Currently the ALL ROUNDS layer consists of the features from the chosen exported layer… in this case ROUND1.
Step2 – export each of the other individual layers into the master layer
The ALL ROUNDS layer currently consists of the record(s) from the ROUND1 layer. So next, export the features from ROUND2, and in the export choose the file name and location to be the master ALL ROUNDS GIS file.

Before exporting the layer, choose the Select Fields to export option and untick the FID field…

… now when you press Save to export the ROUND2 layer, instead of overwriting the ALL ROUNDS layer, choose APPEND TO LAYER.

The result will be the feature(s) from ROUND2 will be appended into the ALL ROUNDS later… so the ALL ROUNDS layer now consists of the features from ROUND1 and ROUND2.

Repeat the process for each of the other individual Round layers e.g. ROUND3.

And the ALL ROUNDS layer will be continued to be updated with the features from the individual ROUND layers appended into it!