QDataMap: An open-source plugin for automated multi-domain thematic mapping across administrative scales

This study presents QGIS Data Mapping (QDataMap), an open-source QGIS plugin that encodes an expert-validated cartographic specification into a reproducible, parameterised workflow for the automated spatial representation of statistical data. Rather than extending layout flexibility, QDataMap constrains it by design through a fixed layout template defined via structured consultation with domain and risk-assessment experts. The template is exposed through 34 core parameters, of which only three must be set by the user, ensuring that visual differences between any two maps in a series reflect differences in the data rather than in authoring decisions. The specification was developed to support European Food Safety Authority and Joint Research Centre plant health assessments under EU Regulation 2016/2031, where the resulting map series served as mandatory input to Expert Knowledge Elicitation sessions. To assess how far this specification has been made transferable from GIS specialists to domain experts, we additionally report a descriptive accounting of interaction cost, expressed as the number of discrete user operations required to produce a map series, as supporting context for this transferability claim. Producing the reference specification through the manual QGIS workflow requires 239 user operations for the first map and an additional 81 operations for each subsequent map. In contrast, QDataMap requires a single configuration followed by one execution, eliminating any additional user operations for subsequent maps. Two applications illustrate the workflow in a complementary way. The first focuses on the batch production of EU-27 agricultural statistics at the regional level (NUTS2), while the second explores its use across diverse thematic and spatial contexts. This second application combines rapid mapping of socio-economic indicators across Africa with colour-vision-deficiency palettes, while extending the workflow to a global climate data at a different administrative level, highlighting the versatility of QDataMap across thematic domains, geographic extents, and spatial scales.