QGIS

This tutorial takes you through the steps to install QGIS. We will then install the QLavHA plugin (Mossoux et al., 2016)¹.

Step 1: Download and install QGIS

1. Go to this page
2. Download the Long Term Version for your OS
3. If needed, refer to the installation guide for more details

Step 2: Install QLavHA

1. Open QGIS
2. Download QLavHA from this link
3. From the top menu bar of QGIS, choose Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins
4. From the new window (Fig. 1), choose Install from ZIP, then locate the Qlavha_v3.zip you just downloaded and click Install Plugin
5. Going to the Installed tab on the left, make sure QLavHA appears and is activated

Figure 1: Plugin installer window

Alternative install procedure

If the above procedure produces an error, follow these steps:

• Unzip Qlavha_v3.zip ( this means actually unzipping it, not only double clicking on it!)
• Make sure QGIS is closed
• In the Finder (MacOS) or Explorer (Windows), navigate to this location:

WindowsMac OS

C:\Users\$USER\AppData\Roaming\QGIS\QGIS3\profiles\default\python\plugins

/Users/$USER/Library/Application Support/QGIS/QGIS3/profiles/default/python/plugins/

• Copy the Qlavha_v3 folder to the plugins folder. If it does not exist, create it
• Open QGIS
• From the top menu bar, open the Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins window
• Following Figure 2, search for lava and activate the plugin.

Figure 2: Activate the Q–LavHA plugin

Step 3: Load the QGIS project

1. Download the exercise file and unzip it.
2. Double click on LaPalma_basemap.qgz. This should open QGIS as in Figure 3.
3. If the extent of the map canevas seems off, click any layer on the Layer tab on the left and click Zoom to extent Figure 4.

Figure 3: QGIS project

Figure 4: Re-centering the QGIS project.

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1. Mossoux S, Saey M, Bartolini S, Poppe S, Canters F, Kervyn M. Q-LAVHA: A flexible GIS plugin to simulate lava flows. Computers\ & Geosciences 2016;97:98--109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2016.09.003. ↩