Setting up ArcPy virtual environment with Pandas?

Question

Do I need to bounce back and forth between two virtual environments in order to run Pandas and ArcPy in the same script, while ensuring Pandas (or accidental updates to NumPy) doesn't break Arcpy?

I'm getting a new computer, and I want to set up my Python environments correctly from the start. As an example, below is a common script that I normally write/run in PyCharm. (Somehow I've managed to not break ArcPy by running everything in "C:\Python27\ArcGIS10.6" but I know that is wrong, so I am trying to fix it.)

import pandas as pd
import arcpy
myxls = r'C:\Users\name\path\myfile.xlsx'
tab = 'Sheet1'
xl = pd.ExcelFile(pts_in)
df = xl.parse(tab)
# do things here
out_csv = r'C:\Users\name\path\mynewfile.csv'
df.to_csv(out_csv, index=False, encoding='utf-8')
working = r'C:\Users\name\path\myshapefile.shp'
arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_management(out_csv, "Longitude", "Latitude", "pts_layer",
 spatial_reference=arcpy.SpatialReference(4326))
# then do other things

• Alex Tereshenkov: Your life would be a whole lot easier if you would run your arcpy script along with the pandas in the same environment (Esri ships pandas along with ArcGIS Desktop since version 10.4 if I recall right). However, there have been a few attempts to achieve what you are looking for at notesfromthelifeboat.com/post/arcpy-virtualenv and my.usgs.gov/confluence/display/cdi/…. Btw if you are able to use conda with ArcGIS Pro, it will be somewhat easier

Answer 1

ArcGIS 10.6 comes with pandas by default:

> pip list
cycler (0.10.0)
functools32 (3.2.3.post2)
future (0.15.2)
matplotlib (1.5.2)
mpmath (0.19)
nose (1.3.7)
numpy (1.9.3)
pandas (0.18.1)
pip (9.0.1)
pyparsing (2.1.4)
pyrocopy (0.8.0)
python-dateutil (2.5.3)
pytz (2016年6月1日)
pywin32 (224)
requests (2.11.1)
scipy (0.17.0)
setuptools (28.8.0)
six (1.10.0)
sympy (1.0)
virtualenv (16.0.0)
wheel (0.29.0)
xlrd (1.0.0)
xlwt (1.1.2)

So the following will "just work":

import arcpy
import pandas

If you want a simple virtualenv that can use arcpy and pandas but install other stuff without risking messing up your ArcGIS 10.6 python:

pip install virtualenv
virtualenv --system-site-packages C:\<path\to\env\dir>
C:\<path\to\env\dir>\Scripts\activate
pip install somerandompackage
python
Python 2.7.14 (v2.7.14:84471935ed, Sep 16 2017, 20:19:30) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import arcpy, pandas
>>> import somerandompackage
>>> arcpy
<module 'arcpy' from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.6\ArcPy\arcpy\__init__.pyc'>
>>> pandas
<module 'pandas' from 'c:\Python27\ArcGIS10.6\lib\site-packages\pandas\__init__.pyc'>
>>> somerandompackage
<module 'somerandompackage' from 'C:\<path\to\env\dir>\lib\site-packages\somerandompackage\__init__.pyc'>