Frequently Asked Questions

I found a bug, how should I report it?

We manage the project issues using a GitHub issue tracker. The InaSAFE issue tracker is open to everyone, though you will first need to register a (free) account on GitHub to use it. You can find the GitHub self-registration page here.

Do I need to pay to use InaSAFE?

No, the software is completely Free and Open Source.

What license is InaSAFE published under?

InaSAFE is published under the GPL version 2 license, the full text of which is available at www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt.

Under the terms of the license of you may freely copy, share and modify the software, as long as you make it available under the same license.

How is the project funded?

The project is being developed ‘for the good of humanity’ and has been jointly developed by BNPB, AusAid & the World Bank.

Could we request a new feature?

If you have a feature request, please use the issue tracker to let us know about it, using the same procedure as for bug reporting.

How do I rename a shape file and all the helper files?

Use the rename command. rename [ -v ] [ -n ] [ -f ] perlexpr [ files ]. For example:

rename -v "s/^building/OSM_building_polygons_20110905/" building.*

How do I reproject a spatial data file to WGS84 geographic coordinates

For raster data, use gdalwarp, for example:

gdalwarp -t_srs EPSG:4326 <source>.tif <target>.tif

For vector data use ogr2ogr. For example from TM-3 zone 48.2:

ogr2ogr -s_srs EPSG:23834 -t_srs EPSG:4326 <target>.shp <source>.shp

How do I get Open Street Map building data into InaSAFE?

For Indonesia, you can download latest collections at data.kompetisiosm.org. or you can add our Open Street Map building PostGIS mirror to InaSAFE:

  • Add PostGIS layer with host=203.77.224.77, database=osm, username=aifdr, port 5432, SSL mode=disable
  • Select view named vw_planet_osm_polygon
  • Build query: upper(geometrytype(“way”)) IN (‘POLYGON’,’MULTIPOLYGON’) AND BUILDING != ‘’
Another way, you can export osm data from HOT Exports:
  • Go to Preset JOSM.
  • Find and download Building preset created by Kate Chapman and save it
  • Go to HOT Exports website www.hot-export.geofabrik.de.
  • Go to New Job menu in the upper right of the page
  • Select region, currently only 3 regions are supported by HOT Export (Haiti, Indonesia, Africa)
  • Fill Job Name and Description
  • Select area that you want to export by zooming or panning the map
  • You can choose smaller area by clicking Select Smaller Area and creating rectangle in the map or filling min/max longitude/latitude value for it
  • Click Save if your map is ready
  • Upload JOSM Preset File which have been downloaded before, and click Save
  • Your job is created and you have to wait until it finish. It’ll take some minutes if your map is big one
  • When the job is finished, there will be a table contains files that can be downloaded
  • Download the ESRI Shapefile (zipped)
  • Extract it on your computer, and the data will be ready to use

How do I take screen capture e.g. for use in a presentation?

On Ubuntu, get the packages gtk-recordmydesktop and mencoder Record using recordmydesktop (start and stop icon in the top bar) Convert to other formats using mencoder, e.g:

mencoder -idx yogya_analysis-6.ogv -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts \
vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1 -of lavf -o yogya_analysis.avi

or:

mencoder -idx yogya_analysis-6.ogv -ovc lavc -oac lavc -lavcopts \
vcodec=wmv2 -of lavf -o yogya_analysis.wmv

How do I convert a vector hazard layer to a raster layer?

For vector to raster conversion, use gdal_rasterize utility, for example:

gdal_rasterize -a <attribute_name> -l <source>.shp <destination>.tif

Why does the plugin not show up in my QGIS Plugin Manager?

One common issue is that if you upgraded from QGIS 1.7.x to 1.8 you may not get the new plugin repo added to your repo list. To fix this you can do:

  • open QGIS
  • Go Plugins -> Fetch Python Plugins
  • click ‘Repositories’ tab
  • click add
  • Name: Official QGIS Repository
  • Url: http://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/plugins.xml
  • Save it and the plugin repo list should update. If it doesn’t, close and open QGIS to force an update.
  • In the python plugin manager main tab now you should find InaSAFE available