Using GDAL in Python on Windows?

Question

I am trying to get GDAL running under the following environment:

• Win 10
• Miniconda3 (this is just Anaconda with fewer modules loaded by default)
• Python 3.6.6

I installed GDAL with conda install -c conda-forge gdal

When I try to import osgeo.gdal, I get this error:

(base) C:\Users\askov>conda activate geoprocessing
(geoprocessing) C:\Users\askov>python
Python 3.6.6 |Anaconda, Inc.| (default, Jun 28 2018, 11:27:44) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from osgeo import gdal
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
 File "C:\Users\askov\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\geoprocessing\lib\site-packages\osgeo\__init__.py", line 21, in <module>
 _gdal = swig_import_helper()
 File "C:\Users\askov\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\geoprocessing\lib\site-packages\osgeo\__init__.py", line 17, in swig_import_helper
 _mod = imp.load_module('_gdal', fp, pathname, description)
 File "C:\Users\askov\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\geoprocessing\lib\imp.py", line 243, in load_module
 return load_dynamic(name, filename, file)
 File "C:\Users\askov\AppData\Local\conda\conda\envs\geoprocessing\lib\imp.py", line 343, in load_dynamic
 return _load(spec)
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

I saw some articles (for example) suggesting I install GDAL from GIS Internals, which I did. The GIS Internals version I used was gdal-203-1900-x64-core.msi. I also updated the PATH, GDAL_DATA, and GDAL_DRIVER_PATH, but that had no effect. I checked those variables in my Conda environment, and they are different from the system settings. Even after I manually set them (via the DOS set command), I get the same result.

Another article suggested installing the krb5 module, which I installed via conda, with no change in the result.

How can I get gdal working in from a clean python environment (i.e.: not via QGIS or OSGeo4W)?

• David A: @Luke - Thanks for the tip, but I get the same result with conda create -c conda-forge -n gp "python=3" "gdal=2". The environment's path is super-long, and includes, in order, several conda folders (including the folder with the GDAL executables), QGIS and GIS-Internals folders. The GDAL_DATA env variable is <conda_path>\conda\conda\envs\gp\Library\share\gdal. The GDAL_DRIVER_PATH env variable is not set. Any suggestions on what to try next? Thanks!

Answer 1

Have you tried installing GDAL using the binary wheels from https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#gdal ?

On a normal python installation you would simply use pip to install it from command line:

cd "C:\Path\To\Python\Scripts"
pip install "insert gdal binary wheel name here"