To follow this recipe, load zipcodes_wake.shp and geology.shp from our sample data. In the following screenshots, the zipcodes_wake layer was styled with a simple white border, while the geology layer is styled with random colors.

The Print Composer Atlas feature will create one map for each feature in the so-called Coverage layer. In this recipe, the zipcodes layer will serve as a Coverage layer, and we will create one map for each zipcode feature:

The Atlas feature provides access to a series of variables related to the current feature. We already used this to display the NAME value of the current feature in the title label using the [%attribute( @atlas_feature, 'NAME' ) %] expression. Besides @atlas_feature, you have access to the following variables:

Overview maps are a great way to provide context to more detailed main maps. To add an overview map (as shown in the upper-right corner of the composition in the following screenshot), you need to add a second map item to the composition. To turn this map item into an overview map, go to Item properties | Overviews and click on the button with the green plus sign. This will add an Overview 1 entry and enable the Draw "Overview 1" overview configuration GUI: