Aloha model in Qgis

[Lukas Hudak]

Hello, im making pollution model for one small city as school work and Im wondering how to export aloha file like shape file at Qgis 
I look at this http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/50813/how-can-i-import-aloha-pas-plume-file-into-qgis but   in ALOHA directory i dont have that pas file 

Can you help ? Or you know else better methods 

thanks... 

[GIS in Ecology]

Hi Lukas,

 

It sounds like you are having a problem exporting the .PAS file from ALOHA. I haven't used the software myself, but it seems that when your run ALOHA, the .PASfile it generates is only temporary and will disappear when you close the software. The way you would deal with this will depend on the version of the software you are using, but hopefully one of the following will help you generate a permanent version of the .PAS file which you can then work with (taken from http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/aloha_arcmap):

 

The import tool requires that you use a threat zone file with a .PAS suffix; the file must have no spaces in its name or pathway. The manner in which you obtain this file depends on which version of ALOHA you are using.

• ALOHA 5.4.2 or later: Use the Export Threat Zones option (in ALOHA's File menu) to save the threat zone displayed in ALOHA as a .PAS file. ALOHA will prompt you to select a name and location for the file.
• Earlier versions of ALOHA: Display a threat zone in ALOHA, then browse to the ALOHA program folder on your computer. A temporary "aloha_ftp.pas" file should be visible in this folder while the threat zone is displayed in ALOHA; if you don't see the file, make sure that you have write permissions for the ALOHA folder. It is recommended that you make a copy of the .PAS file and rename it. ALOHA deletes the "aloha_ftp.pas" file when it closes, but if you've saved the .PAS file with a different name, then you can import the threat zone into ArcMap even after ALOHA is closed.

If you follow these instructions, this should allow you to generate the .PAS file that you need (take special note of the bit at the beginning about not having any spaces in your folder or files names - the best thing is to save it in new folder you have made on your C: drive rather than in your documents folder or your desktop). You can then follow the instructions you found on GISStackExchange to convert it into a shapefile which you can use in QGIS. 

 

If these instructions don't work, then I would suggest that you download a free trial version of ArcGIS (from here http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis-for-desktop/free-trial), then use the ArcGS Import Tool to convert the .PAS file into GIS compatible format (instructions can be found here: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/oil-and-chemical-spills/chemical-spills/resources/aloha-arcmap-import-tools.html).

 

Once you have the data in ArcGIS, you can right-click on the name of the plume data layer in the TABLE OF CONTENTS window and select DATA> EXPORT DATA, and save it as a shapefile. You can then add this shapefile to QGIS and use it for your project. If you go down this route, you will have 60 days on the free trial to complete all the conversions from .PAS to shapefiles.

 

I hope this helps. If it doesn't, let me know and I will see if I can find another solution. If it does work, post back on this thread so that others know that this solution worked for you (in case they encounter the same problem as you did).

 

All the best,

 

Colin