I want to find the area of a set of shapes in QGIS. I can do this step(Vector>Geometery Tools>Export add Geometry Columns or alternatively add feature $area) but I need the output to be in square meters or alternatively square kilometres.
I'm struggling to ascertain what projection I should be using, (I've tried a range, WGS 84 EPSG:4326, WGS 84 /UT< zone 59S EPSG:32759 & NZGD2000 / New Zealand Transverse Mercator 200 EPSG:2193 but at no stage have I got values that are fit for purpose i.e. in square meters or kilometers). The area I'm interested in is on the SE coast of New Zealand or http://gpsinformation.net/utm-zones.gif 59 G on this map.
The other possibility is i'm using/have used the correct the projection but have not set up QGIS correctly to measure area. My process is to set the project CRS > resave the project with the new CRS > add layers > change layers to the selected crs.