The Maxwell School
Syracuse University
Syracuse University
You can download Anaconda from the link below:
After the basic Anaconda installation, it will be necessary to upgrade a key module called spyder to work around a bug that affects plotting in the default version, and to install an additional module called geopandas. Please follow the steps below:
This is necessary to make sure that no Anaconda files are in use during the process because that could keep them from being updated.
Windows: Look in the Anaconda3 group in the Start Menu and click on the Anaconda Prompt icon. Alternatively, launch Anaconda Navigator and click on the CMD.exe Prompt tile.
Mac: Open a normal terminal window. An easy way is use Spotlight to search for "term".
Give the command:
conda update spyder -c conda-forge
Note that there is one dash before the "c" and then a space before conda-forge. This will update spyder to the latest version from Anaconda's conda-forge distribution channel, which contains the the most recent version of each package.
After you start the conda command, you'll see a message about solving the environment and there may be a long pause that may last for ten minutes or more. It will look like the process has frozen but it's actually still working. After it finishes, it should produce a bunch of new messages about changes that will be made, followed by a "Proceed?" prompt. Hit enter. There will be yet another raft of messages about changes.
It many be useful to know that the length of time the "solving" step takes differs a lot from one machine to another: it depends on your operating system, the speed of your computer, and the amounts of RAM and disk space you have. It might be a good time to take a break and do something else while it's running. If you want to make sure your computer hasn't hung, you can check using Task Manager on Windows or Activity Manager on a Mac and you should see a Python process using a lot of memory and a fair amount of CPU time.
If conda finds inconsistencies in your configuration that it can't fix, instead of a Proceed? prompt you'll see a message (possibly many lines long) explaining where it found the inconsistency. If that happens, send me a note and we'll set up a meeting to fix it.
While we're at it, we'll install geopandas, an advanced module we'll use later in the semester for geospatial analysis. Give the command:
conda install geopandas=0.14.4 -c conda-forge
Note that the command is install rather than update because geopandas is not installed by default. As before, there is one dash before the "c" and then a space before conda-forge, and the process may take some time to complete.
If you ran into problems with either the spyder update or the geopands installation, send me a message on Slack to let me know what happened and I'll help you get it sorted out. Resist the temptation to Google for solutions unless you're really familiar with Anaconda. There's a lot of bad advice out there, and in the past it has often led people to make things worse.