pysyncrosim 1.0.22

Python interface to SyncroSim

pysyncrosim

The Python interface to SyncroSim

Installation

pysyncrosim can be installed using either the conda or pip package managers. conda is a general package manager capable of installing packages from many sources, but pip is strictly a Python package manager. While the installation instructions below are based on a Windows 10 operating system, similar steps can be used to install pysyncrosim for Linux.

Before beginning the installation of pysyncrosim, make sure you have the latest release of SyncroSim installed.

Dependencies

pysyncrosim was tested and developed using Python 3.8 and SyncroSim 2.3.10. Because pysyncrosim uses rasterio for integrating spatial data, it also requires a C library dependency: GDAL >=2.3.

python>=3.8

pandas=1.3.2

numpy=1.21.2

rasterio>=1.2.6

Using conda

Follow these steps to get started with conda and use conda to install pysyncrosim.

1. Install conda using the Miniconda or Anaconda installer (in this tutorial we use Miniconda). To install Miniconda, follow this link and under the Latest Miniconda Installer Links, download Miniconda for your operating system. Open the Miniconda installer and follow the default steps to install conda. For more information, see the conda documentation.

2. To use conda, open the command prompt that was installed with the Miniconda installer. To find this prompt, type "anaconda prompt" in the Windows Search Bar. You should see an option appear called Anaconda Prompt (miniconda3). Select this option to open a command line window. All code in the next steps will be typed in this window.

3. You can either install pysyncrosim and its dependencies into your base environment, or set up a new conda environment (recommended). Run the code below to set up and activate a new conda environment called "myenv" that uses Python 3.8.

# Create new conda environment
conda create -n myenv python=3.8

# Activate environment
conda activate myenv

You should now see that "(base)" has been replaced with "(myenv)" at the beginning of each prompt.

4. Set the package channel for conda. To be able to install the dependencies for pysyncrosim, you need to access the conda-forge package channel. To configure this channel, run the following code in the Anaconda Prompt.

# Set conda-forge package channel
conda config --add channels conda-forge

5. Install pysyncrosim using conda install. Installing pysyncrosim will also install its dependencies: pandas, numpy, and rasterio.

# Install pysyncrosim
conda install pysyncrosim

pysyncrosim should now be installed and ready to use!

Using pip

Use pip to install pysyncrosim to your default python installation. You can install Python from https://www.python.org/downloads/. You can also find information on how to install pip from the pip documentation.

Install pysyncrosim using pip install. Installing pysyncrosim will also install its dependencies: pandas, numpy, and rasterio.

# Make sure you are using the latest version of pip
pip install --upgrade pip

# Install pysyncrosim
pip install pysyncrosim

Usage

Getting Started

For a basic usage example with the helloworldSpatial package, see the spatial_demo.py and input-raster.tif in the examples folder. To download the spatial_demo.py file, view the file on GitHub and select Raw. From the raw view, right-click and select Save As.... To run the spatial demo, you will also need to install the matplotlib Python package. You can install this package using the following code.

# Install matplotlib
conda install matplotlib

Running pysyncrosim in Spyder

If using conda, the spyder IDE is easy to install and straightforward to use.

1. First, install spyder either in your base environment or in your conda environment using the following code.

# Install spyder
conda install spyder

2. Open the IDE by typing spyder in the command prompt.

# Open spyder
spyder

Note: you may get a pop-up saying you have a missing dependency, rtree. You can safely ignore this warning.

3. Within the IDE, change the working directory to the directory containing your pysyncrosim scripts (e.g. spatial_demo.py and input-raster.tif)

4. Open and run your pysyncrosim scripts from the left-hand window. You can run scripts line-by-line in spyder by selecting the line(s) you want to run and pressing F9.

SyncroSim Package Development

If you wish to design SyncroSim packages using python and pysyncrosim, you can follow the Creating a Package and Enhancing a Package tutorials on the SyncroSim documentation website. Note that SyncroSim v2.3.10 is required to develop python-based SyncroSim packages.