Do you want to install QGIS? If you're eager to harness the power of a popular open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) equipped with advanced capabilities, QGIS is the right tool for you. QGIS is a popular open-source GIS with advanced capabilities.
QGIS (until 2013 known as Quantum GIS) is a free and open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system (GIS) application that supports viewing, editing, and analysis of geospatial data. In this guide, you will learn how to download, install and launch QGIS. Ready? Let's go!
How to Download QGIS
To download QGIS, follow the steps below:
Visit the official website of the QGIS project. Then Scroll down and click on the “Download Now” button. Since I am using windows, the "Download for Windows" tab is expanded for me by default. Feel free to expand the right tab for your operating system if necessary. Please not that since version 3.20 QGIS only supports 64Bit windows architecture.
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| Open the QGIS website, scroll down and click "Download Now" |
To check if your PC’s CPU architecture is 64Bit, press Windows + E to open Windows Explorer. Then on the navigation tree on the left side, right-click on ‘This PC’, then click ‘Properties’. A windows containing your PC's properties will come up.
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| How to confirm that your PC is 64Bit |
How to Install QGIS
To install the QGIS, the following steps need to be performed:
Step 1: Navigate to the download folder, check and select the QGIS installation file. Double-click it for the installation to begin. If you’re prompted to give admin permission click yes.
Step 2: Click Next button on the Setup Wizard page.
Step 3: System displays the License Agreement Page, click on “I Agree” button to continue with the installation as shown in Figure 10-2 below
Step 4: System displays the Choose Location Install Location Page, browse to the location to install the QGIS application and click “Next” button as shown in Figure 10-3 below
Step 5: System displays the Choose Component Page, select QGIS and click “Install” button as shown in Figure 10- 4 below
Step 6: Once Install button is clicked, the system begins the installation of the QGIS Application. The installation may take 5 to 20 minutes depending on the speed of the computer.
Step 7: System pops up page notifying that the installation is done, Click Finish button to end the installation.
How to Launch QGIS
To launch the QGIS application, follow the following steps:
Step 1: On the desktop, you will see a folder called QGIS3.x (where x stands for the minor version of your software). The version of QGIS installed will be the name of the folder, so since I have 3.32 installed, my folder is QGIS 3.32.0.
Step 2: Open the folder, you will see a number of shortcuts. You will see that some other software have been installed alongside QGIS. However, we are only interested in QGIS 3.32 for now so double-click the icon labelled QGIS Desktop. Depending on the speed of your machine, it may take less than a minute or a couple of minutes for QGIS to fire up.
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| QGIS Interface. Yours will be a lot simpler |
Step 3: Depending on your computer's processor, QGIS may take a few second to a minute to launch. Congratulations! You have successfully downloaded, installed and launched QGIS on your computer.
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