The rgdal package contains bindings from R to the GDAL (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) as well as the PROJ library. It is a dependency for numerous spatial statistics packages. Note that the binaries on the rgdal homepage are outdated — the most up-to-date version of the rgdal package can be found on CRAN.
Unsurprisingly, rgdal requires both the GDAL and PROJ framework to run. Both frameworks for Mac OS X are kindly maintained by William Kyngesburye and can be found here:
I recommend installing GDAL Complete as it contains both required frameworks in a neat little package.
At the time of writing, there are two versions of GDAL Complete:
- GDAL 1.7 Complete
- GDAL 1.6 Complete
Both should work for rgdal but note that currently, the stable Mac OS X version of Quantum GIS (QGIS 1.4) only runs with GDAL 1.6, so if you need to use QGIS as well, I would recommend installing GDAL 1.6. Â If you’ve installed GDAL 1.7, then you’ll have to use the developer’s release of QGIS.
(May 19, 2011 update: Install GDAL 1.8 Complete as it works for both standard and developer’s release of QGIS)
Next, assuming you installed GDAL above with the default paths, you’ll need to install the R package from source (get package source here) with modified arguments either with install.packages() or through the terminal:
R CMD INSTALL --configure-args='--with-gdal-config=/Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/unix/bin/gdal-config --with-proj-include=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/include --with-proj-lib=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/lib' rgdal_0.6-33.tar.gz
If you’re getting this error:
Error: package ‘rgdal’ is not installed for ‘arch=i386′
when trying to load the rgdal package, it is because your version of rgdal was not compiled for the 32-bit version of R. You’ll need to run the 64-bit version of R (R64.app on Macs).
You may also need to update the base version of the sp package as well as any other dependencies.
[...] my last post about installing the rgdal R package on Mac OS X, I had apparently glossed over the last step of compiling the R package from source. Â I [...]
Thanks for your help with this. I tried following your instructions, but keep getting the error that r cannot find the gdal-config file…? Any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
Kevin
errror in r:
* installing *source* package ‘rgdal’ …
gdal-config: gdal-config
Error: gdal-config not found
The gdal-config script distributed with GDAL could not be found.
If you have not installed the GDAL libraries, you can
download the source from http://www.gdal.org/
If you have installed the GDAL libraries, then make sure that
gdal-config is in your path. Try typing gdal-config at a
shell prompt and see if it runs. If not, use:
–configure-args=’–with-gdal-config=/usr/local/bin/gdal-config’ echo with appropriate values for your installation.
./configure: line 1311: gdal-config: command not found
ERROR: configuration failed for package ‘rgdal’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/2.11/Resources/library/rgdal’
The downloaded packages are in
‘/private/var/folders/PG/PG23sp8wH1i567wrrYEJYE+++TI/-Tmp-/RtmpYT3XfE/downloaded_packages’
Sounds like the GDAL library isn’t in your path. You will need to find where gdal-config is located and replace the –with-gdal-config argument with the correct path
I am having a problem with the rgdal installation. That is:
R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=’–with-gdal-config=/Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/unix/bin/gdal-config –with-proj-include=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/include –with-proj-lib=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/lib’ rgdal_0.6-28.tar.gz
* installing to library ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library’
* installing *source* package ‘rgdal’ …
gdal-config: /Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/unix/bin/gdal-config
checking for gcc… gcc -arch i386 -std=gnu99
checking for C compiler default output file name… configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log’ for more details.
ERROR: configuration failed for package ‘rgdal’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/rgdal’
Is this a problem of the compiler?
Thanks for help
@Simon – Did you figure this out?
I seem to have a fully functional install of rgdal on OS X 10.6.4 after jumping through a few hoops. As best I could tell from piecing together various posts, questions, and errors, as well as jumping back through my command history, the steps are as follows:
[Note that you'll need to be comfortable with the Terminal. If you're not, then find someone who is.]
1. Download the GDAL OS X install from kyngchaos
- http://www.kyngchaos.com/files/software/unixport/GDAL_Complete-1.7.dmg
(Looks like the basic page [for updates after 1.7 if you're reading this ages from now] is http://www.kyngchaos.com/software/frameworks)
- Install as per usual OS X install system
- Fire up the Terminal, then pico (or vi[m]) the .bash_login file
- Modify the PATH environment so that it reads:
export PATH=”/Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Programs:$PATH”
[This is what enables the subsequent steps to find gdal-config]
2. Download and install proj4 from source
- http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/wiki/WikiStart#Download
- Download source code version proj-4.7.0.tar.gz
- Fire up the Terminal
> cd ~/Downloads/
> tar -xzvf proj-4.7.0.tar.gz
> cd proj-4.7.0
> ./configure
> make && make test
> sudo make install
[ should install to /usr/local/lib by default]
3. Download and install rgdal from source
- http://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/rgdal_0.6-28.tar.gz
- Fire up the Terminal
> cd ~/Downloads/
> sudo R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=’–with-proj-include=/usr/local/lib’ rgdal_0.6-28.tar.gz
After all of this mucking about I was able to say:
> require(sp)
> require(rgdal)
And get a message indicating that GDAL was loaded successfully.
jon
@Jon’s solution is the only one that has worked for me. Note that there’s an R-interface to proj4 (http://www.rforge.net/proj4/) that’s not required by rgdal, but could be useful.
If you have homebrew (http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/) installed in /usr/local, then it is as easy as:
brew install gdal
R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=’–with-proj-include=/usr/local/lib’ rgdal_0.6-28.tar.gz
thats it.
then in R I get:
> require(rgdal)
Loading required package: rgdal
Loading required package: sp
Geospatial Data Abstraction Library extensions to R successfully loaded
Loaded GDAL runtime: GDAL 1.7.2, released 2010/04/23
Path to GDAL shared files: /usr/local/Cellar/gdal/1.7.2/share/gdal
Loaded PROJ.4 runtime: Rel. 4.7.1, 23 September 2009
Path to PROJ.4 shared files: (autodetected)
I tried the same with MacPorts instead of homebrew and it worked very well.
sudo port install gdal
R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=’–with-proj-lib=/opt/local/lib’ rgdal_0.7-1.tar.gz
[...] also posted his solution on the Computational Mathematics Blog. If there is a better way I would be interested in hearing about it for future [...]
I tried both of Jon’s approaches (the computational mathematics one and the macports) and got this error:
sudo R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=’–with-proj-include=/usr/local/lib’ rgdal_0.6-28.tar.gz
Password:
Error: evaluation nested too deeply: infinite recursion / options(expressions=)?
Execution halted
Any ideas? Thanks!
On Mac OSX 10.7.2, I am having a somewhat different error with:
R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=”–with-proj-lib=/opt/local/lib” rgdal_0.7-5.tar.gz
The procedure fails with:
** package ‘rgdal’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
gdal-config: gdal-config
checking for gcc… gcc-4.2 -arch x86_64 -std=gnu99
checking whether the C compiler works… no
configure: error: in `/private/var/folders/5w/z7w5t04s3ws7k7wsjlptlb1m00010j/T/RtmplCYkLC/R.INSTALL4297aadc/rgdal’:
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I solved my own problem, but I think it means something is broken somewhere. I added symbolic links mapping gcc-4.2 -> llvm-gcc-4.2 and gxx-4.2 -> llvm-gxx-4.2. Once I did this, everything worked. If this is a bug in the config scripts, who do I report it to?
Bill. I am having a similar problem. If I understand correctly, you simply made gcc-4.2 an alias for lllvm-gcc-4.2 (and the same for gxx)? This isn’t working for me but may be I misunderstood your solution.
FYI – this is the error I’m receiving.
** package ‘rgdal’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
gdal-config: gdal-config
checking for gcc… gcc-4.2 -arch x86_64 -std=gnu99
checking whether the C compiler works… no
configure: error: in `/private/tmp/RtmputaNi5/R.INSTALL47921e3a/rgdal’:
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
I’m having exactly the same problem. Did you solve it?
Phew. I had a lot of trouble this time, but maybe my way, a combination of several tidbits, will help someone.
First I was following these directions from elsewhere on the web :
—————————
1. Download the GDAL OS X install from kyngchaos
- http://www.kyngchaos.com/files/software/unixport/GDAL_Complete-1.7.dmg
(Looks like the basic page [for updates after 1.7 if you're reading this ages from now] is http://www.kyngchaos.com/software/frameworks)
- Install as per usual OS X install system
- Fire up the Terminal, then pico (or vi[m]) the .bash_login file
- Modify the PATH environment so that it reads:
export PATH=â€/Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Programs:$PATHâ€
[This is what enables the subsequent steps to find gdal-config]
2. Download and install proj4 from source
- http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/wiki/WikiStart#Download
- Download source code version proj-4.7.0.tar.gz
- Fire up the Terminal
> cd ~/Downloads/
> tar -xzvf proj-4.7.0.tar.gz
> cd proj-4.7.0
> ./configure
> make && make test
> sudo make install
[ should install to /usr/local/lib by default]
—————–
But the third step wouldn’t work for me. The additional configure-args suggested in this blog got me a step further, but then I had the exact same problem as Bill S. Per his recommendation I kluged some symbolic links I thought might help, but I had to add an additional one, for three total:
sudo ln -s llvm-gcc-4.2 /usr/bin/gcc-4.2
sudo ln -s llvm-gxx-4.2 /usr/bin/gxx-4.2
sudo ln -s llvm-g++-4.2 /usr/bin/g++-4.2
Finally, I reran the the command suggested in this blog and everything worked:
R CMD INSTALL –configure-args=’–with-gdal-config=/Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/unix/bin/gdal-config –with-proj-include=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/include –with-proj-lib=/Library/Frameworks/PROJ.framework/unix/lib’ ~/Downloads/rgdal_0.7-5.tar.gz
P.S. It may have helped that I first tried installing rgdal through the R gui (search CRAN sources, not binaries). Even though the installation ultimately failed for rgdal, it did install lots of other packages successfully.
Many thanks, Ryan and Bill,
This saved me. I had the same problem and only needed to provide two of the links:
sudo ln -s llvm-gcc-4.2 /usr/bin/gcc-4.2
sudo ln -s llvm-g++-4.2 /usr/bin/g++-4.2
to get rgdal to compile and install successfully.
(OS 10.7.3, R 2.14.0, rgdal_0.7-8)