Installing PlanetGIS

Your PlanetGIS user account#

You will be required to create and/or log in to a user account before you can download software or data.

If you have an existing user account, enter your email address and password, then click the Log in button to proceed.

Forgot your password, or unsure whether you have an account or what email you used before?

If you're unsure what email address to use, a good way to find out is to search your inbox for the last email with [PlanetGIS] in the subject. Any email found in the search results will be addressed to the email address you used to create your user account. If you don't find anything in your inbox, you can try reset password with your current email address or create a new account.

Enter your email address, and then click Reset password. If an account exists for the entered email address, the system will send you an email with a link to reset your password. Click on the link to log in to your account and change your password. If no such account exists, you will see a pop-up message similar to The email address user@domain.name was not found in our database. In this case, you can try a different email address or create a new account with that email address.

Many spam filters will block the reset link email. If you don't receive an email within a few minutes, let us know by sending us an email to the address that will be given when you click on Reset password.

Creating an account

To create a new account, click on or create an account and enter the requested information, which we need to manage your account and will not sell to third parties!

We recommend that you let your browser choose and store a password for your account. The last question is to confound nuissance accounts created by automated scripts, presumably for purposes of generating spam.

Once you click the Create account button, an email containing an activation link will be sent to the email address you provided. This email may be blocked by spam filters. If you don't receive an email within a few minutes, let us know by sending us an email to the address that was given after you clicked the Create account button. The act of sending us an email will likely whitelist our address for future messages, so you can try clicking Reset password which will send another email that will have a better chance of being delivered.

Downloading the installer#

All download links are located in the Downloads section under My account. The (free) software needed to open our maps is PlanetGIS Explorer:

Once you have clicked on the download link, the download progress and finally the downloaded file will appear in the top-right corner:

Firefox works similarly to Chrome, but on Edge you may need a few more steps.

Downloading with Edge Browser

Microsoft's Edge browser, though based on Chrome, has its default settings set for maximum paranoia. Edge will normally require you to confirm the download in such a way as to discourage you from doing so:

1. Place your mouse over the install file, which Microsoft deems as not being commonly downloaded, then click the More actions button.
2. Click Keep (or Report this file as safe, if you feel like doing a good deed).

You might then be presented with the following, since Microsoft needs you to repeat yourself:

3. Click Show more.
4. Click Keep anyway.

By now, the file should be downloaded and you will see the following:

5. Click Open file.

PlanetGIS Explorer#

The installer file for Explorer has an E in the file name, preceding the version number.

If you're installing PlanetGIS Explorer, there will be no request for further information, licence key, etc. After the UAC prompt (above), you will get the following from the installer, and simply need to click Install:

Explorer+ (plus)

If you have a full version of PlanetGIS installed (e.g., with a Solo or Specialist licence), PlanetGIS Explorer will automatically become a plus version with unlimited capturing cababilities (though without some of the advanced geometry manipulation tools found in the full version). With a Specialist licence present, it will also be able to participate in a data stream.

If you have an Operator licence, please see below for registration instructions.

Full version (with Solo/Specialist/Architect licence)#

The full version of PlanetGIS requires a software licence, which will determine what functionality will be available. After the UAC prompt, you will see the following:

The information that you enter here, will be shown on the splash screen every time you launch PlanetGIS:

User

You can enter anything in the User field, but it should obviously identify the user that will be using the software, or in certain cases the user's role or location, e.g., Reception.

Organisation

You have to enter your organisation's name as we have it for your licence key. This name is encoded into the licence key. Small changes (spaces, capitalisation and punctuation) don't matter, but it must otherwise match. For example, if the licence key was created for ACME CORP Limited you could enter ACME Corp, Limited and it will be accepted and displayed as you have entered it.

Licence key

It is best to copy-and-paste your licence key from an email or your user account page, but if you need to enter it manually, you can omit the dashes, enter letters in lowercase and an O will be accepted as a 0. The Next button will only be enabled once a valid licence key has been entered. If you see the following after clicking Next, the licence key is valid, but does not match the organisation name that you entered:

If you see a message stating The licence key is not valid for this edition of PlanetGIS, it means that you have entered an Operator licence key, but you are installing the full version, which needs a Solo, Specialist or Architect licence key.

Reinstalling/updating

Subsequent installs will have the information as previously entered, though you can change it.

If you have not registered the software (see next section), the installer will insist on registering the software before continuing:

Once you've clicked Yes, a registration window will open. The registration process is described in the next section.

Uninstalling#

It is not necessary to uninstall PlanetGIS before installing an update. To remove PlanetGIS from your computer, use the regular Windows Add or remove programs or Apps & features in your computer's settings.

Multiple versions

It is possible to run multiple versions of PlanetGIS on the same computer. When you install a new major version update, the previous version is not removed (you have to do it manually as described above).

A new major version will have an executable in the Program Files (x86)\Planet GIS folder with a different number. This number will be the first and second numbers of the version together, e.g., version 7.1 will have the number 71 in the executable's name. You can create shortcuts to each (or pin them to your task bar) and the Start menu will show each version in the Planet GIS group.

With different versions installed you need to be careful that you open some of your projects with the older version and others with the newer version. It is still common for users to have projects in 5.2, but also use maps downloaded from this website (which are currently version 7.1). Once a project is upgraded to a newer (major) version, older versions of the software will not be able to open the project. PlanetGIS will show a warning message before upgrading a project.

User account#

Registration requires a user account on planetgis.org. When a licence key is issued, it is usually attached to such a user account, which you can use to do the registration even if it belongs to a colleague. If you are multiple users using the same licence key, a better option would be for each user to create their own user account. A separate user account for each user is preferable because then:

• Passwords don't need to be shared;
• Each user will receive important update notifications; and
• When a user leaves your organisation, that user's account can be disabled.

If you create a new user account, it will initially not be linked to the organisation that owns the licence key. The registration will automatically link the user account to the licence key. If you have a separate user account which has been used before to place an order or generate a quotation, your account will already be linked to a organisation. In this case, please contact us to link your account.

Collected information#

Each registration will be listed on your user account licence keys page (click the Regs link next to the licence key). Providing descriptive information will help to make that list useful for future reference.

Install ID

PlanetGIS assigns a unique 5-digit number the first time it is run on a new device or user account. This number is stored in the Windows Registry and is used to identify the device.

Licence key

The licence key together with the Install ID provides a (nearly) unique identifier for each installation.

User

A name, role or location of the user of the software. This is the value that was entered when installing the software, but it can be changed by doing a new registration. Where multiple devices are required for a user's work, we recommend that you use the same user description for each registration.

Device

A short description of the device on which the registration is done. This is optional and simply extra information that helps to identify the device.

Registration#

To register an installation, click Help → Register software... in PlanetGIS' main menu:

Registering with your own account

In the example above, an email address was entered, and all that is still required is to enter the account's password. (You can click Reset password to receive a password reset email from our website, and then follow the link in the email to create a new password.)

If you don't have a user account yet, clicking on Create account will take you to planetgis.org and pre-enter your information into a sign-up form.

Registering with a colleague's account

If your organisation prefers to use a single account, use the second option, Log in with a different email address to enter an email address and password for your account on planetgis.org.

Manual registration

This option is only necessary if the device that needs to be registered does not have Internet access. If your firewall restricts access from PlanetGIS but not your browser, a shortcut method is to click on the Go to link, which will take your browser to the registration page and enter all the information for you (you'll just need to log in).

A completely manual method of registration is to go to planetgis.org/Account/Register (probably on a different device), log in and enter the licence key, install ID, and other information. Upon success, a registration key (not to be confused with the licence key) will be generated, which you must enter to complete the registration.