Version: 3.5
Language: nl
Date: 2026-03-26
Digital version available at: https://docs.aerius.nl/qgis/3.5/
The IMAER plugin for QGIS provides a set of tools for working with your AERIUS IMAER data.
The current functionality covers:
The plugin is regularly updated in the QGIS plugin repository, so the easiest way to install it is by using the Plugin Manager within QGIS. Currently you will need to enable 'experimental plugins' to find it. The most recent plugin requires QGIS version 3.16.x or higher.
In case you want to use another version of the plugin than the most current in the QGIS plugin repository, you can download the desired plugin form github code and install it with the Plugin Manager in QGIS ("Install from zip tab").
Of course you can also clone the code from the github repository and install it manually in QGIS.
If you meet any issues with this plugin, please file a bug report on the github issues page. You can also suggest ideas for improvements or enhancements.
This program is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. Either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Import Calculator result .gml files and add the results as QGIS vector layers.
Click the import button in the IMAER toolbar and browse to the downloaded IMAER GML file from Aerius Calculator. (Make sure you downloaded the "GML with calculation results".)
The data will be converted into a GeoPackage (.gpkg) file at the same location your GML file is placed. Make sure you have write access to that directory.
After conversion, the calculation results will be opened as vector layer(s) in QGIS. The layers appear in a layer group, which has the name of the imported .gml file. All layers get a style similar to the style used in the web interface.
You can use all standard QGIS functionality for viewing, analysing and editing the data.
An IMAER calculation result .gml file can hold up to 3 different
feature types: CalculationPoint, SubPoint and Receptor. Receptor
features are split into a point and a polygon (hexagon) layer. Hexagons
contain deposition results and points contain concentration results. For
convenience, the depositions are summarized in the field
depositions_nox_nh3_sum.
Layer names:
<Situation Name> - calculation_points<Situation Name> - sub_points<Situation Name> - receptor_points<Situation Name> - receptor hexagons
After editing the imported AERIUS Calculator results, the plugin can export the data back to IMAER GML format.
Select the layer with the (edited) Calculator results to enable the
export button in the IMAER toolbar. Clicking the button will save a new
GML file in the same directory as the source GML file used for the
import. The filename will be
<old_file_name>_modified.gml.
Currently there is no support for changing the file name. A second export operation will overwrite the existing file.
AERIUS Calculator provides downloading a PDF file which contains emission sources in a data block. This function helps you extracting that data from the PDF and save it to one or more GML files.
After pressing open, the plugin will save the extracted
data to a GML file with the same file name with a _0
postfix and .gml as extension. In case there are multiple
GML files present in the PDF, the postfix will be _1,
_2 and so on. A link to the file(s) will be displayed in
the message bar on top of your map. If anything goes wrong, an error
will be displayed there.
Convert your own data into IMAER GML data for use in AERIUS Calculator. This feature can turn data from any type of QGIS vector layer into emission sources, buildings and/or calculation points.
The the available fields in the interface are depending on your country setting.
The plugin simply attempts to generate the GML code based on your input data and plugin settings. There is no check for data validity! The easiest way to check validity is using the website. In general, leaving a field blank or having NULL values in your data will result in NULL values in the output. For optional parameters, this will simply not output anything. But in case of mandatory data it might result in errors.
Open your emission data as a regular vector layer in QGIS. The geometries can be points, lines or polygons. (And not multi-points, -lines or -polygons.)
Roads and Generic (for
generic emission sources).calcinput_20230623_130244.gml)
After pressing Save, the GML file will be generated. A link to the file will be displayed in the message bar on top of your map. If anything goes wrong, an error will be displayed there.
You can also generate other information into GML, such as buildings and calculation points.
Buildings can either be created from a (single) polygon layer or a point layer containing a diameter value (for circular buildings). Circulair buildings are not supported by NL Calculator.
The id field should contain the same integer value as used in the emission source pointing to it. The generated GML will automatically contain the right localId values referring to the buildings.
Those are typically stand alone GML files to upload to AERIUS Connect for calulating depositions at your peronally picked locations. The input must be a point layer.
Diurnal variation profiles are not created from a layer (as there is no geometry needed) but by hand from a semicolon separated value table.
The three values per hour of the day are for mon-fri ; saturday ; sunday. In total there should b 72 values (24h x 7d).
The id field should contain the same integer value as used in the emission source pointing to it.
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1.0Because picking all the fields is a lot of work, there's a way to
store the current field settings in a file. This is done with the
Save settings and Load settings buttons at the
bottom of the dialog.
Loading the settings will set the field names.
generate_gml_config.json which will be overwritten on every
save operation.
There are several ways of using the generated GML.
IMAER 5.1
Relate IMAER layers to one another by calculating the difference, sum or maximum values of the receptor's deposition values.
You will need at least 2 IMAER layers, loaded with the Import IMAER GML tool.
calculation type (difference, sum or
maximum).layer name input widget.
A new memory layer will be created, holding all receptors from the input layers. In case a receptor only exists in one of the layers, the calculation will use the value 0 for the missing receptor.
The generated memory layer will have a predefined, 2 color style showing positive or negative values. This style can of course be changed with standard QGIS functionality.
Output layers will have the same deposition fields as the IMAER layers so they can be used with this relate function as well. For example for summarizing more than 2 layers.
The relate functions are also available as algorithms in the processing toolbox. These can be used in a more generic way, for example combined with other algorithms in a model. And it's possible to call them from a Python script.
difference operation works on 2 layers, but the
sum and maximum can work on up to 5
layers.
Easily add an AERIUS Connect Open Data layer to your QGIS project.
In this dialog you can manage your own Receptor Sets in Connect. The dialog displays a list of uploaded data sets.
You can add a Receptor Set by uploading a GML file with CalculationPoints and a name to identify them. The GML should contain featureMembers like this:
<imaer:featureMember> <imaer:CalculationPoint gml:id="CP.1"> <imaer:identifier> <imaer:NEN3610ID> <imaer:namespace>NL.IMAER</imaer:namespace> <imaer:localId>CP.1</imaer:localId> </imaer:NEN3610ID> </imaer:identifier> <imaer:GM_Point> <gml:Point srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::28992" gml:id="CP.1.POINT"> <gml:pos>123456.0 456789.0</gml:pos> </gml:Point> </imaer:GM_Point> <imaer:label>Bossen & Duinen</imaer:label> </imaer:CalculationPoint> </imaer:featureMember>
Unfortunately, the plugin can not (yet) create these kind of files.
Delete.
Refresh button.After adding and removing Receptor Sets, a refresh should happen automatically. But in some occasions, like changes on the server or after network problems, you might want to refresh manually to make sure you are looking at the current data status.
In this dialog you can start calculation jobs in Connect. The dialog displays a an overview of all jobs with statuses.
The main purpose of this sending your emission GML file to the Connect API to start a calculation. The GML can be either created with the Generate Calculator Input functionality from this plugin or generated in any other way.
After picking the GML file it is recommended to run a validation
before starting a calculation. Just hit the Validate button
and wait for the result.
The validation result will be shown in a dialog like these:
In case of an error, you can selecting the text (CTRL-A) and copy (CTRL-C) it to the clipboard.
For starting a calculation you will need to set some input parameters:
Click the Calculate button for sending your data to
Connect and start the calculation.
In case everything is fine, a new row will appear in the jobs table. If not, something went wrong. Make sure your GML is valid.
This table is showing all the jobs on your account that are currently available on the Connect server.
The table will only be updated after running an action, not regularly at a certain time interval. This is to prevent the plugin to fire huge amounts of unnecessary requests to the Connect server.
Simply press Refresh to update the table content.
Cancel an initialized or running job by selecting it in the table and
pressing Cancel. Cancelled jobs will still be available on
the server.
Delete jobs by selecting one (or multiple) jobs in the table and
preessing Delete.
Completed jobs, showing a download link in the info column, can be
downloaded and added to your QGIS project by clicking
Download. This is similar to downloading it manually and
using the Import Calculator Result function from this plugin.
Some plugin configurations can be set in the Configuration dialog. Most of them are related to Connect.
The country where you are using AERIUS. Different countries use different versions and sub sets of IMAER which will reflect in the user interface.
Coordinate reference system your IMAER data should use.
This is the default local directory on your system where the plugin will download and save files to. Make sure you have write access to this directory.
These settings are only needed if you want to use the plugin for AERIUS Connect functionality (currently only available in NL). When the country is set to UK, the Connect settings are disabled.
Location of the Connect API URL. Should by default point to the current production URL.
Some examples:
Connect server version. The version is displayed on the Connect swagger page. Just visit the Server base URL with your web browser to find it.
The email address you want to use for Connect. This is also your account name, and the address that will receive notifications when your calculations are completed.
Connect API key that you will receive by e-mail after requesting it.
You can click the Request new API key button to get (a new)
one.
After receiving the new API key in your mailbox, simply copy the 32 character key to the configuration screen.
When saving the settings, the plugin will attempt to make a connection by firing a few requests. They will also update the content of the connect plugin dialogs.
In case you are running into connection problems, open the Debug/Developer panel in QGIS (F12) to inspect the internet traffic between QGIS and Connect.