Part 1—Download Software and Data

Step 1 – Download and Install My World GIS Software

Note: This chapter was retired in October 2022. The visualization tool (My World GIS) is no longer supported.
  1. Open the PASCO My World homepage. Scroll down the page, and click the Free Trial tab. 

  2. Select the version of software for your type of operating system or platform (Windows or Mac OS X).
  3. Click the word Download to begin downloading the installer to your computer.
  4. A My World GIS™ version 5.0 Trial Version Installer will download to your computer.
  5. Double click the installer app and follow the onscreen instructions to install My World GIS on your computer.
Note: You may want to return to the My World GIS website later and explore its resources.

Step 2 – Download the Tsunami Run-up Project File

  1. Right-click (PC) or control-click (Mac) the link below to download the project file to your computer. Choose the option that will download the file to your computer. "Download Linked File..." "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As..." are common browser commands to accomplish this task. This is a large data file, so it may take several minutes to download. It is not necessary to unzip (un-stuff) this file; My World GIS will automatically recognize the zipped file and open it. 
    Tsunami Runup.m3vz ( 11.8MB Nov8 10)
  2. Save this file in a place where you can easily locate it. If possible, store it in the Projects folder of the My World folders. The pathway to the folder is:
    Applications (or Programs) > My World GIS 4.x > data > Projects.
My World GIS can open a project file wherever it is on your computer. However, to make it available through the Data Library, you must place it inside the My World GIS 4.x > data > Projects folder. The default location for My World GIS software is in the Applications or Programs folder.

Step 3 – Download Global Tsunami Data

tsunamis from NOAA/NGDC
The NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) monitors tsunami activity all over the world. The NOAA/WDC Tsunami database contains a listing of several thousand historical tsunami source events and run-up locations from around the globe. These records range in date from 2000 B.C. to the present. These records have been gathered from a number of sources. More information about this database is available at the NOAA/WDC Historical Tsunami Database .
  1. Click this link for the NOAA/WDC Historical Tsunami Database. To learn more about the data, click on the Event Variable Definitions or Run-up Variable Definitions.
  2. Next, click on the Tsunami Source Event Search link. In the search window that opens, set the parameters for your search. Set the Source Date to Beginning in 1600 and Ending to 2010, or the present.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and set the Data Output Options: to Return All Selected Events in tab-delimited format for import into Excel. Click the Search Database button at the bottom of the page.
    1. Click on the Tsunami Source Event Search link to take you to the search database window. (Click on the image, below, for a larger view of this page)
      tsunami source search link

    2. Set the Source Date, Beginning and Ending dates to 1600 and 2010, respectively. 
      source date 1

    3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and set the Data Output Options: to Return All Selected Events in tab-delimited format for import into Excel. Click the Search Database button at the bottom of the page. 
      data output options

  4. A "results" file will be downloaded to your Downloads folder. Open this file in a text edit or word processing program, and re-save the file with a more appropriate, identifiable title such as "tsunami_source.txt". Keep the .txt extension.
  5. Repeat the same search and download data (steps numbered 2,3 and 4 above) with the NOAA/WDC Tsunami Run-up Events database. When you are finished you should have two downloaded files: Source Events and Run-up Events.

Tab separated values are a form of text file where a tab is inserted to break the data into a form of columns. The file extension .txt tells the computer that the file is a text file. Do NOT make any changes to the document. Just make sure that there is a .txt extension on the file name. My World GIS will read the data and translate it into a shapefile. It is also possible, but not necessary, to import this data into Excel if you would like to preview the data.

When you are done editing, the best place to save these two downloaded files is the My World data folder. Doing this will make them easier to locate in Part 2.

If you were unable to download and save these files, click on the links below and save them to your desktop, documents, or the My World data folder for use in the next part.