QGIS's user interface is translated into dozens of languages by community volunteers — a remarkable achievement that means anyone can open QGIS and see menus in their own language. Yet having a translated UI is not the same as having a step-by-step tutorial in your language, written with screenshots of that translated interface and built around the datasets and coordinate systems you actually use.
In Japan, a wealth of QGIS-related information exists online, but it is scattered across personal blogs, forums, and social media. We felt that a dedicated, organized platform was needed. In October 2024, we launched "QGIS LAB," a Japanese-language media platform focused entirely on QGIS. It provides how-to tutorials, real-world use cases, blog posts covering new features and FOSS4G event reports, and curated "learning packages" — structured sets of articles that guide users through topics such as installation, vector analysis, and QField. All tutorials use Japanese coordinate reference systems and data from major Japanese open data portals, so readers can follow along immediately. The platform is ad-free — we want users to focus on QGIS, not navigate around promotions.
Since launch, we have published over 100 articles and the platform reaches approximately 20,000 users per month. So what is our most-viewed article? Not an advanced analysis technique — it is how to download and install QGIS. Articles on adding basemaps and importing CSV data also rank consistently high. This tells us something worth sharing: there is significant demand for onboarding content — guides that help beginners through their very first steps, with screenshots of the same interface they see on their own screen.
We also put emphasis on local context. Tutorials built around Japanese Plane Rectangular Coordinate Systems and domestic open datasets help users connect QGIS to their own work, which we hope encourages them to explore further on their own.
We run this platform as a company — MIERUNE, a QGIS sponsor and voting member. This means we can commit sustained resources to content production. Our experience delivering QGIS training courses also helps us understand exactly where beginners stumble, which directly shapes what we write.
If QGIS's UI is already translated into your language, consider writing beginner guides in that language. Our data suggests that onboarding content — helping newcomers past their first steps with confidence — reaches the widest audience. Writing code is not the only way to contribute to open source — a well-crafted tutorial in your language can help someone take their first step into QGIS, and that is how a user community grows.