FAQ

How do I report a bug or request a new feature?

Suggestions, comments, and bug reports can be sent to Rob Beiko. If reporting a bug, please provide as much information as possible and a simplified version of the data set which causes the bug. This will allow us to quickly resolve the issue.

Is there a list of known bugs or platform-specific problems?

A list of known issues can be found here.

Where can I go to find map data?

We recommend http://kiwi.cs.dal.ca/GenGIS/Data_sources as a starting point to find digital map data. There are many other sources online, and the addition of vector data support in version 2.1 means that a much wider range of datasets can be imported into GenGIS. Please contact us if you have questions about finding or using maps in GenGIS.

Why is my map file not loading?

We are aware of several problems with loading maps. Here are some suggestions to help troubleshoot and fix the problem, and please do contact us if you need help.

First, ensure that you are using the latest version of GenGIS. In particular, versions 2.1.0 and earlier had problems loading some of the Natural Earth maps exported by MapMaker, often giving Out of Memory or similar errors. Changes in 2.1.1 have fixed most of these problems.

Check the file size of the map you are loading. MapMaker-exported maps should work regardless of file size (up to a few hundred megabytes), but DEMs that are substantially larger than 10 MB may be too much for GenGIS to handle, depending on your system memory. If your map was exported from the ORNL DACC, you may need to reduce the resolution to get it to load successfully in GenGIS.

If you are having trouble loading or projecting a raster a vector file, you can check the integrity of the file by loading it in another GIS package. We use the excellent QGIS to test our input files. This will help to determine if the problem is with your map file or with GenGIS.

Why is my location file not loading?

A seemingly file location file may fail to load for a few reasons. By far the most common reason is line ending incompatibility, especially on Mac platforms. Text editors such as Notepad++, and commands such as 'dox2unix' allow you to change the line endings and fix this problem.

Since GenGIS expects comma-separated files, stray commas that do not delineate fields will invalidate the input.