I want to draw several squares of 250 by 250 meters in the North Sea using QGIS 2.14. I need the coordinates of each corner as ETRS89 coordinates.
I created a new scratch layer with CRS EPSG:4258, ETRS89, then click "Toggle editing" and "Add Feature" with the Advanced Digitizing Panel open.
I click on a point on the map and press "d" to enter the distance. I enter 250 and press Enter. I then can click the angle.
After I finish editing, the 250 meter square looks small. When I measure it using the measuring tool it measures as 156 meters. Why is this, and how can I work with meters?
Also, why does QGIS not display units in any of the input fields? I know it depends on the CRS, but how can I know what unit is used for which CRS?
Best Answer
I would strongly suggest creating a grid of 250x250 m squares rather than doing it manually. You can do this from the toolbar:
Vector > Research Tools > Vector grid...
If you can locate the North Sea by a shapefile then you can use the extents of this layer; if you can locate by other means such as using a basemap from OpenLayers (or preferably QuickMapServices plugin) then you can use the extents of the canvas.
The output can be in polygons so you can select, edit, move the ones you want to keep and delete the remaining polygons. The amount of squares will depend on the coordinate extents you use.
Also, as @TobsenB mentioned, you may want to use a CRS which uses meters as distance.