Bug report #7820

Labels vanish even when x,y specified

Added by John Sankey over 11 years ago. Updated over 11 years ago.

Status:Closed
Priority:High
Assignee:-
Category:-
Affected QGIS version:1.8.0 Regression?:No
Operating System:Mac OSX Easy fix?:No
Pull Request or Patch supplied:No Resolution:
Crashes QGIS or corrupts data:No Copied to github as #:16705

Description

QGIS hides labels when they get too close together. That's OK for auto label placement (although a user should be able to turn it off), but it's a disaster that it isn't off when x,y is specified. That's when the user needs to take total control of labelling. The inability to turn off label hiding under any circumstances is blocking me from taking on a whole class of projects with QGIS. In fact, if there were a patch that would turn off hiding althogether (not auto-placement - that works well nearly all the time), I'd install it in an instant for the maps I want to do.

History

#1 Updated by Larry Shaffer over 11 years ago

Hi John,

There are a couple of settings you can try in a master build (only the first is available in 1.8).

  • Show all labels and features for all layers This is in the auto placement engine's config dialog. Obviously, this is overkill and not very useful if you have several layers. It's more for debugging.
  • Show all labels for this layer This is currently under Advanced tab. It will show all labels for the current layer. This will cause overlapping labels, but if you are looking for total static control over the layout of your labels this is where to start.
  • Always show This is a data defined option. It will cause an individual label to always be shown.
  • Show label This is a data defined option. Using this, and the Show/Hide Labels map tool, you can interactively show/hide the labels you want if there are redundant labels, or you want to focus on a subset.

After working with those options, please let me know if there is still something more you need in this area. The collision management should fully be optional, selectively on, or fully on. Precise cartographic label output, as well as automated, is certainly a goal for the labeling engine.

NOTE: there is still an outstanding feature needed with regards to this, as outlined here #7779.

#2 Updated by John Sankey over 11 years ago

  • Status changed from Open to Closed

Thanks, Larry - it took me a while to find that option! I agree it's overkill because it turns off collision avoidance between layers as well, but I've turned it on - for me it's far better to deal with collisions manually than to have labels vanish without warning. I'll look forward to getting easier control when the next stable version comes out.

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