Practical Manual - Malareo

You will be creating a layer using a text file. In order to do this you must validate your data.
Open the text file called Moz_places using excel.
table.
Expand all the columns to
enable you to see the cell
contents. In order to import
spatial data from a table
you require 2 columns, each
one representing the X and
Y location of each point you
wish to show. You can
name these X and Y or Long
and Lat or any name as long
as you can identify it in the
Conventions
Ensure that the columns f the X and Y co-ordinates are of type Number and check they have atleast 5
but preferably 8 decimal places. Also check if the Y co-ordinate is negative (as you are south of the
equator.) If you make it positive it will place your points upside down in the northern hemisphere.
Other columns can be of type general as they will be text generally, however any numbers must be of
type numeric. (For example population data etc.) Also at this stage check for spelling errors. Also make
sure you have not transposed the X and Y columns as this is a common occurrence.
Save the Excel Spread sheet as a csv file or close the table if all the data is in the correct format.
Creating a Layer from CSV
Create a new project. Using either the New project tool
on the toolbar or the menu item under file menu or use
the shortcut key cntrl-N
This creates a blank new project.
Select add delimited text layer from the layer menu
This opens up The “Create layer from a delimited text
file” window.
Browse and find the csv file called moz_places
QGIS for Malaria Page 21