Geospatial Python Crash Course

The following jupyter notebooks have been adapted from the Carpentries material Introduction to Geospatial Raster and Vector Data with Python.

These notebooks are designed to extend your skills through applied examples. A foundational understanding of geospatial data concepts is assumed. If you’re new to the topic, you should review Episodes 1–4 of the Carpentries lesson before working through this content.

A Comprehensive GIS Primer has also been developed, featuring curated resources and further reading. In addition to the materials listed below, the following GitHub repository provides ESRI-specific guidance and tutorials: https://github.com/tgiles-esri/CSU-Hackathon-Esri-Resources

Notebooks included

• usda_quickstats.ipynb – Explore and map agricultural data using the USDA Quick Stats API
• naip.ipynb – Access and work with NAIP imagery for analysis and model training
• landsat_merge.ipynb – Merge and process Landsat imagery using averaging techniques

Setup Guide

This guide walks you through setting up your local environment to run the Geospatial Python Crash Course repository.

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1. Open the Command Line

Windows

• Press Win + S and search for Command Prompt or PowerShell
• Click to open (Recommended: use Anaconda Prompt if you already have Anaconda installed)

Mac

• Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight Search
• Type Terminal and press Enter

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2. Clone the Repository

Navigate to the directory where you want the project stored, then run:

git clone https://github.com/GeospatialCentroid/geospatial-python-crash-course.git
cd geospatial-python-crash-course

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3. Install Conda (conda-forge)

If you do not already have Conda installed, install Miniconda:

Download Miniconda

• https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html

Follow the installer instructions for your operating system.

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Configure conda-forge (recommended)

After installation, open a new terminal and run:

conda config --add channels conda-forge
conda config --set channel_priority strict

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4. Create the Environment from environment.yml

Inside the cloned repository folder, run:

conda env create -f environment.yml

This will create a new environment with all required dependencies.

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5. Activate the Environment

conda activate geospatial-python-crash-course

(If the environment name differs, check environment.yml for the exact name.)

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6. Launch Jupyter Notebook

Start Jupyter Notebook with:

jupyter notebook

This will open a browser window. From there:

• Navigate to the project folder
• Open any .ipynb notebook to begin

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Troubleshooting Tips

• If conda is not recognized:

  • Restart your terminal
  • Ensure Conda was added to your system PATH during installation

• If environment creation fails:

  • Try updating conda:

    conda update -n base -c defaults conda

• If Jupyter does not open automatically:

  • Copy and paste the provided URL into your browser

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You're Ready!

You should now be able to run all notebooks in the repository and follow along with the crash course.