Installation guide for Python Geospatial packages

Before you start:

You will need to install Anaconda This is a Python distribution used for data science, more information here.

If you are part of another government department and using a networked laptop, please approach your IT team for how to install Anaconda Suite.

Once it is installed, open Anaconda Prompt (this can be done from the start menu).

The prompt should say “(base) C:>”. Base is the standard conda environment which behaves similarly to Python. The goal of this guide is to create a GeoPy environment which will support geospatial work in Python.

C:\ is the working directory, which in this case is the root directory of the system drive. If this is not “C:\”, type ‘c:’ to set the system drive to the working directory.
If you’re not confident working with the command line, the Codecademy course Learn the Command Line might be a good place to start.

Installing the packages:

Once you’re happy to continue, in the prompt type:

conda create -n geopy38 python=3.8

This will create a new virtual environment for python called GeoPy38, which is where we will install the geospatial packages.

This can potentially take a while (up to a few minutes). Getting a coffee might be a good use of this time and will help with future steps! ☕

Press y and enter when prompted. Please note that this process can fail with a 500 error. If this happens wait a little while and try again.

To activate the environment, type:

conda activate geopy38

If the steps until now have worked it will now say “(geopy38)” before the prompt, indicating that you are in the GeoPy environment. Next, type:

conda install pip

This could also take a little while as it’s a large install. This would be a good time to make use of that coffee from earlier. ☕

Now we can install the packages. Type each of these in sequence, followed by enter. (wait for each package to complete installation before moving on to the next one). You can also copy and paste from this list, one at a time:

pip install numpy==1.22.4

(It is possible that NumPy might not install correctly. If so, in Windows Explorer go to user\Anaconda3\envs\geopy38\Lib\site-packages and delete a file there called ~unpy. Try again and NumPy should install)

pip install pandas==2.0.3

pip install ipython==8.12.3

pip install ipykernel

pip install rtree==0.9.7

pip install gdal==3.2.2

pip install fiona==1.8.18

(It is possible that Fiona might not install correctly. Ignore any error messages and carry on, as the later packages come with their own version of Fiona when installed)

pip install pyproj==3.0.1

pip install shapely==1.7.1

pip install geopandas

pip install matplotlib

pip install mapclassify==2.4.2

pip install folium

python -m ipykernel install --user --name geopy38

Testing the installation & further activities:

Having done this GeoPy should be available for use on your PC. To test that it is working open Jupyter Notebook from your Start menu, then create a new Python notebook.

You can see if it has installed correctly by going into the Kernel menu -> Change kernel: if geopy38 is in this list then the environment has been set up correctly. To test if the packages have installed correctly, in a new geopy38 Python notebook type:

import geopandas as gpd

Press Ctrl and Enter. If that has imported with no error message, the installation within the Anaconda prompt has worked. You should be able to start doing Geospatial work in Python.