<p>For the first question:</p>
<p>convert your xls file in a txt or csv file, and then use the "Delimited text - Add delimitex text layer" plugin to view the data. That you convert it in a shapefile.</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Ale</p>
<p><br /></p>
<blockquote>----Messaggio originale----<br /> Da: M.E.Dodd@open.ac.uk<br /> Data: 20/10/2009 10.48<br /> A: "'qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org'"<qgis-user@lists.osgeo.org><br /> Ogg: [Qgis-user] creating a point,     free basemaps and going past 180 degrees<br /> <br /> <!--      <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region" /><o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place" /><! [if !mso]> <mce:style><!   st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }  --> <!--[endif]--><!--      p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal     {margin:0cm;    margin-bottom:.0001pt;          font-size:12.0pt;       font-family:"Times New Roman";}  a:link, span.MsoHyperlink    {color:blue;    text-decoration:underline;}  a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed       {color:#606420;         text-decoration:underline;}  span.EmailStyle17          {mso-style-type:personal-compose;       font-family:Arial;      color:windowtext;}  @page Section1      {size:595.3pt 841.9pt;          margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;}  div.Section1      {page:Section1;}      @list l0          {mso-list-id:1205216255;        mso-list-type:hybrid;   mso-list-template-ids:-998091740 134807567 134807577 134807579 134807567 134807577 134807579 134807567 134807577 134807579;}  @list l0:level1   {mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt;     mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level2          {mso-level-tab-stop:72.0pt;     mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level3          {mso-level-tab-stop:108.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level4          {mso-level-tab-stop:144.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level5          {mso-level-tab-stop:180.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level6          {mso-level-tab-stop:216.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level7          {mso-level-tab-stop:252.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level8          {mso-level-tab-stop:288.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  @list l0:level9          {mso-level-tab-stop:324.0pt;    mso-level-number-position:left;         text-indent:-18.0pt;}  ol       {margin-bottom:0cm;}  ul        {margin-bottom:0cm;}  -> --> -->
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial">Three questions from someone newish to qgis:</span></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">how do you put point data on a map in qgis.  This seems to be the simplest thing to do in most other gis systems but the most  difficult in qgis or have I completely missed something.  E.g. I have a file of lat long coordinates or ordnance survey coordinates in an excel file and simply want to plot them out, how do I do that?  I have actually done it but only via another gis (then  saving and replotting the resulting vector format file in qgis) or via a .kml file again generated elsewhere.</span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">how to get hold of free basemap outline data e.g. countries of the world.  I have tried very many different sources and still  not found a nice set of data that is relatively easy to use.</span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">how to display and use maps that are not centred on the prime meridian and go past 180 degrees e.g. maps of Russia?</span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial">This is for a project to plot records of species in Russia i.e. plot the location of a sighting, seems straightforward enough but actually turns out to be very difficult.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial">Thanks</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial">Mike</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial"> </span></span></p>
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