Creating a Heatmap using QGIS

Purpose

The purpose of the tutorial is to provide users with a step by step process of how to create a heatmap on QGIS. This tutorial will contain detailed explanations on how to download and use the QGIS software, how to get open source data and how to use the Heatmap feature in Symbology, make analysis and inferences from the data and how to create a map in QGIS. The tutorial will also cover the limitations of QGIS for making Heatmaps. For the tutorial, we would be making a Toronto Crime Heatmap with Data from the Toronto Police. Disclaimer: This Tutorial is for Educational Purposes only. The result of the Tutorial shows real crime committed in the city of Toronto. Due to the sensitivity of the data to be used, we would only be making heat maps for Property related crimes. In accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Toronto Police Service has taken the necessary measures to protect the privacy of individuals involved in the reported occurrences. No personal information related to any of the parties involved in the occurrence will be released as open data. The location of crime occurrences have been deliberately offset to the nearest road intersection node to protect the privacy of parties involved in the occurrence. All location data must be considered as an approximate location of the occurrence and users are advised not to interpret any of these locations as related to a specific address or individual.