Installing Geospatial Libraries

Mac Users

• Install either Xcode (available for free in the App Store) or the Command Line Tools for Xcode. You’ll need to have a (free) Apple ID.

• In your Mac menu bar go to System Preferences… -> Security & Privacy -> unlock the lock on the bottom left of panel -> select “Allow apps downloaded from”: Anywhere -> relock the lock

• Open Terminal by going to a Finder window -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal. You open new tabs in Terminal by pressing command+T.

• In Terminal

  • Run sudo xcodebuild -license, scroll to the bottom and type agree to agree to the licence.
  • Open a new tab and run xcode-select --install

• Install Macports as per the Quickstart instructions.

  • You have already completed steps 1 and 2.
  • To know what version of OS X you have click on the Apple icon on the top left of the menu bar -> About This Mac

• Install the gdal and geos geospatial libraries.

  • In Terminal open a new tab and run sudo port install gdal
  • In Terminal open a new tab and run sudo port install geos

• Install the rgdal package to interface the gdal geospatial library with R

  • Under Downloads select “Package Source”. It should be named rgdal_X.Y-Z.tar.gz where X,Y,Z denote the version number.
  • In Terminal open a new tab and run R CMD INSTALL ~/Downloads/rgdal_X.Y-Z.tar.gz where X,Y,Z are changed to match the name of the file you just downloaded

• Install the rgeos package to interface the geos geospatial library with R

  • Under Downloads select “Package Source”. It should be named rgeos_X.Y-Z.tar.gz where X,Y,Z denote the version number.
  • In Terminal open a new tab and run R CMD INSTALL ~/Downloads/rgeos_X.Y-Z.tar.gz where X,Y,Z are changed to match the name of the file you just downloaded

Windows Users

• Follow the instructions in Quick Start for OSGeo4W Users
• In R, run install.packages("rgeos", repos="https://R-Forge.R-project.org", type="source")

Linux Users

I’m going to assume you know what you’re doing!