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SOUTHERN LEYTE STATE UNIVERSITY

Geographic Information Systems – Technology Center

Geographical Information System I

Activity 05: Creating New GIS Datasets and Joining Tables

Objective:

 To learn how to create a new GIS dataset and joining tables.

Open QGIS.
Automatically it displays your recent projects.
Click ‘New’ tool to start a new project.
Set parameters as shown below.
In Menu Bar, click Project > Project Properties.
Click CRS tab.
Enable ‘on the fly’
Coordinate Reference System: WGS 84 / UTM zone 51N
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Click OK.

Click Add Vector Layer tool.

Browse the folder

C:\.....\MYDATA\VECTORS\AdminBndries_Geoportal\PHL_adm3_PSA_pn_2016June\

Add PHL_adm3_PSA_pn_2016June.shp.

Open the attribute table of PHL_adm3_PSA_pn_2016June

Click ‘Select features using by expression’ tool.

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Click Select. Click Close.

Open its attribute table.

Click ‘Move selection to top’ tool.

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Close the table.

Right-click PHL_adm3_PSA_pn_2016June

Save as SL_Munis.shp. Save in C:\....\OUTPUT\VECTORS\.

REMEMBER: Save only selected features.

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Click OK.
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Click ‘Deselect Features from All Layers’ tool ..

At this point let’s save the project.

In Menu bar, click Project > Save As > Act05_R08_SL_Munis.qgs. Save in

C:\…..\OUTPUT\PROJECT\
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Joining Tables

Let’s join the municipalities with population values, number of voters, and other data.

Get the population data from http://www.nscb.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/default.asp

(If you can’t access the Internet, get the data from Resource Person.)

Keyword to search: Southern Leyte

Click Search.
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Highlight the table and copy.

Open WPS Spreadsheets program in your Desktop.

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Paste it in WPS Spreadsheets.

Save in C:\.....\Desktop\SLSU_GIS\MYDATA\TABLES as SL_MuniTable.csv

The table needs to be cleaned and reformatted before joining with the attribute table of
SL_Munis.shp.
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Use spreadsheet functions, such as REPLACE, PROPER, MID, and TRIM, as may be needed. Replace
the headings, as shown.

The cleaned table may look like the one below.

As a final step, format the last three column as ‘General’ under the ‘Number’ tab.

[IMPORTANT: The column values for Voters, Popn_2010, and Area_ha must be numeric (integer).]

Open the attribute table of SL_Munis.shp in QGIS. Sort the column NAME_2 alphabetically.
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In QGIS, click ‘Add Delimited Text Layer’ tool .

The ‘Create a Layer from a Delimited Text File’ window opens.

Click Browse button and add SL_MuniTable.csv.

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Go to the folder C:\.....\Desktop\SLSU_GIS\MYDATA\TABLES

File format -- CSV

Geometry definition -- No geometry (attribute only table)

Click OK.
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Check the Type name. ‘Code’, ‘Inc_Clas’, ‘District’, ‘Voter’, ‘Popn_2010’, and ‘Area_ha’ must be
‘integer’

Now let’s join the tables of SL_Munis.shp and SL_MuniTable.csv.

Open the Layer Properties of SL_Munis.shp.

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Highlight ‘Joins’ tab.

Click the Add tool to open the ‘Add vector join’ window.

Join layer: SL_MuniTable

Join field: Name
Target field: Mun_Name

Click OK.

Open the attribute table of SL_Munis.shp

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SL_MuniTable attributes are now joined with SL_Munis.shp but the headings need to be changed.

Save the joined table as SL_Munis_join.shp in C:\.....\Desktop\SLSU_GIS\ OUTPUT\VECTORS

CRS --- WGS 84 / UTM zone 51N.

Add saved file to map.

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Click OK.

Remove the joined attributes in SL_Munis.

Right-click SL_Munis> Properties > Joins. Click the negative icon to remove the joined columns.

Click OK.

Open the attribute table of SL_Munis_join.

Click ‘Toggle editing mode’ tool .

Replace the headings:

SL_MuniTable_Code with Code

SL_MuniTable _ Inc_Clas with Inc_Clas
SL_MuniTable _ Cit_Clas with Cit_Clas
SL_MuniTable _ District with District
SL_MuniTable _ Voters with Voters
SL_MuniTable _ Popn_2010 with Popn_2010
SL_MuniTable _ Area_ha with Area_ha

Use the Field Calculator .

Click OK.

Do the same for other columns.

Save the edits using the ‘Save Edits’ tool , after you’re done with changing the names of the six
columns.
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Delete the old heading names. On the attribute table, click the ‘Delete Attributes’ tool .

Save the edits using the ‘Save Edits’ tool.

Click ‘Toggle Editing Mode’ tool.

Close the attribute table.

Click OK.

The joined table looks like the one below:

Close the table.

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The attributes of SL_MuniTable.csv are now joined to SL_Munis.shp in the new file called
SL_Munis_join.shp.

In QGIS Table of Contents, remove SL_MuniTable and SL_Munis.

Save project as SoLeyte_Join.qgs in the folder C:\.....\Desktop\SLSU_GIS\OUTPUT\PROJECT

End of Activity.