I'm using ArcGIS 10 and would like to use various additional libraries that are not included in the delivered version of ArcGIS (esp. numpy and matplotlib).
First I tried to install them manually as described here: http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/users/installing.html
But because this seem not to work
I tried various different mailing lists and forums but so far it seems that this problem cannot be solved; see also my post here: matplotlib does not work in ArcGIS 10 and Eclipse (Python)
I'm wondering if it may work if I just install the distribution PYTHON(X,Y) which has all packages I need for development. (see http://www.pythonxy.com/)
Does anyone have experience and knows if I can just install another distribution simply on top of the existing version installed by ArcGIS 10 without loosing my ArcGIS Python functionalities. Maybe someone did even try this and installed the PYTHON(X,Y) distribution to use with ArcGIS already? What version would be best? The newest one runs with Python 2.6.6.
Best Answer
The safest thing is to use the ArcGIS installation whenever you want to use arcpy. But, installing other libraries into the ArcGIS installation can get hairy.
One solution is to use virtualenv. This way, you install all of the libraries you want but it doesn't put anything in the ArcGIS installation. It creates a virtual Python environment into which you install everything you want. It can then create links to your Python installation to use those binaries and libraries.
You can certainly install other Python installations alongside the ArcGIS one. If you want to use arcpy from it, you should use the same version (though, you can be guaranteed that everything will work right). You'll have to be careful with your environment paths and variables. virtualenv can useful in this situation, too.