===============================
Installing Geospatial libraries
===============================

.. _geolibs-list:

Geospatial libraries
====================

GeoDjango uses and/or provides interfaces for the following open source
geospatial libraries:

==============================  ====================================  ================================  =========================================================
Program                         Description                           Required                          Supported Versions
==============================  ====================================  ================================  =========================================================
:ref:`GEOS <geos-overview>`     Geometry Engine Open Source           Yes                               3.14, 3.13, 3.12, 3.11, 3.10
`PROJ`_                         Cartographic Projections library      Yes (PostgreSQL and SQLite only)  9.x, 8.x, 7.x, 6.x
:ref:`GDAL <gdal-overview>`     Geospatial Data Abstraction Library   Yes                               3.13, 3.12, 3.11, 3.10, 3.9, 3.8, 3.7, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3
:ref:`GeoIP <geoip2-overview>`  IP-based geolocation library          No                                2
`PostGIS`__                     Spatial extensions for PostgreSQL     Yes (PostgreSQL only)             3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2
`SpatiaLite`__                  Spatial extensions for SQLite         Yes (SQLite only)                 5.1, 5.0, 4.3
==============================  ====================================  ================================  =========================================================

Note that older or more recent versions of these libraries *may* also work
totally fine with GeoDjango. Your mileage may vary.

..
    Libs release dates:
    GEOS 3.10.0 2021-10-20
    GEOS 3.11.0 2022-07-01
    GEOS 3.12.0 2023-06-27
    GEOS 3.13.0 2024-09-06
    GEOS 3.14.0 2025-08-21
    GDAL 3.3.0 2021-05-03
    GDAL 3.4.0 2021-11-04
    GDAL 3.5.0 2022-05-13
    GDAL 3.6.0 2022-11-03
    GDAL 3.7.0 2023-05-10
    GDAL 3.8.0 2023-11-13
    GDAL 3.9.0 2024-05-10
    GDAL 3.10.0 2024-11-06
    GDAL 3.11.0 2025-05-09
    GDAL 3.12.0 2025-11-07
    GDAL 3.13.0 2026-05-08
    PostGIS 3.2.0 2021-12-18
    PostGIS 3.3.0 2022-08-27
    PostGIS 3.4.0 2023-08-15
    PostGIS 3.5.0 2024-09-25
    PostGIS 3.6.0 2025-09-02
    PROJ 9.0.0 2022-03-01
    PROJ 8.0.0 2021-03-01
    PROJ 8.0.0 2021-03-01
    PROJ 7.0.0 2020-02-25
    PROJ 6.0.0 2019-02-26
    SpatiaLite 4.3.0 2015-09-07
    SpatiaLite 5.0.0 2020-08-23
    SpatiaLite 5.1.0 2023-08-04

.. note::

    The GeoDjango interfaces to GEOS, GDAL, and GeoIP may be used
    independently of Django. In other words, no database or settings file
    required -- import them as normal from :mod:`django.contrib.gis`.

.. _PROJ: https://proj.org/
__ https://postgis.net/
__ https://www.gaia-gis.it/gaia-sins/


On Debian/Ubuntu, you are advised to install the following packages which will
install, directly or by dependency, the required geospatial libraries:

.. code-block:: console

    $ sudo apt-get install binutils libproj-dev gdal-bin

Please also consult platform-specific instructions if you are on :ref:`macos`
or :ref:`windows`.

.. _build_from_source:

Building from source
====================

When installing from source on UNIX and GNU/Linux systems, please follow
the installation instructions carefully, and install the libraries in the
given order. If using MySQL or Oracle as the spatial database, only GEOS
is required.

.. note::

    On Linux platforms, it may be necessary to run the ``ldconfig`` command
    after installing each library. For example:

    .. code-block:: shell

        $ sudo make install
        $ sudo ldconfig

.. note::

    macOS users must install `Xcode`_ in order to compile software from source.

.. _Xcode: https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

.. _geosbuild:

GEOS
----

GEOS is a C++ library for performing geometric operations, and is the default
internal geometry representation used by GeoDjango (it's behind the "lazy"
geometries). Specifically, the C API library is called (e.g., ``libgeos_c.so``)
directly from Python using ctypes.

First, download GEOS from the GEOS website and untar the source archive:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ wget https://download.osgeo.org/geos/geos-X.Y.Z.tar.bz2
    $ tar xjf geos-X.Y.Z.tar.bz2

Then step into the GEOS directory, create a ``build`` folder, and step into
it:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ cd geos-X.Y.Z
    $ mkdir build
    $ cd build

Then build and install the package:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
    $ cmake --build .
    $ sudo cmake --build . --target install

Troubleshooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can't find GEOS library
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When GeoDjango can't find GEOS, this error is raised:

.. code-block:: text

    ImportError: Could not find the GEOS library (tried "geos_c"). Try setting GEOS_LIBRARY_PATH in your settings.

The most common solution is to properly configure your :ref:`libsettings` *or*
set :ref:`geoslibrarypath` in your settings.

If using a binary package of GEOS (e.g., on Ubuntu), you may need to
:ref:`binutils`.

.. _geoslibrarypath:

``GEOS_LIBRARY_PATH``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If your GEOS library is in a non-standard location, or you don't want to
modify the system's library path then the :setting:`GEOS_LIBRARY_PATH`
setting may be added to your Django settings file with the full path to the
GEOS C library. For example:

.. code-block:: shell

    GEOS_LIBRARY_PATH = '/home/bob/local/lib/libgeos_c.so'

.. note::

    The setting must be the *full* path to the **C** shared library; in
    other words you want to use ``libgeos_c.so``, not ``libgeos.so``.

See also :ref:`My logs are filled with GEOS-related errors
<geos-exceptions-in-logfile>`.

.. _proj4:

PROJ
----

`PROJ`_ is a library for converting geospatial data to different coordinate
reference systems.

First, download the PROJ source code:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ wget https://download.osgeo.org/proj/proj-X.Y.Z.tar.gz

... and datum shifting files (download ``proj-datumgrid-X.Y.tar.gz`` for
PROJ < 7.x) [#]_:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ wget https://download.osgeo.org/proj/proj-data-X.Y.tar.gz

Next, untar the source code archive, and extract the datum shifting files in
the ``data`` subdirectory. This must be done *prior* to configuration:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ tar xzf proj-X.Y.Z.tar.gz
    $ cd proj-X.Y.Z/data
    $ tar xzf ../../proj-data-X.Y.tar.gz
    $ cd ../..

For PROJ 9.x and greater, releases only support builds using ``CMake`` (see
`PROJ RFC-7`_).

To build with ``CMake`` ensure your system meets the `build requirements`_.
Then create a ``build`` folder in the PROJ directory, and step into it:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ cd proj-X.Y.Z
    $ mkdir build
    $ cd build

Finally, configure, make and install PROJ:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ cmake ..
    $ cmake --build .
    $ sudo cmake --build . --target install

.. _PROJ RFC-7: https://proj.org/community/rfc/rfc-7.html#rfc7
.. _build requirements: https://proj.org/install.html#build-requirements

.. _gdalbuild:

GDAL
----

`GDAL`__ is an excellent open source geospatial library that has support for
reading most vector and raster spatial data formats. Currently, GeoDjango only
supports :ref:`GDAL's vector data <gdal_vector_data>` capabilities [#]_.
:ref:`geosbuild` and :ref:`proj4` should be installed prior to building GDAL.

First download the latest GDAL release version and untar the archive:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ wget https://download.osgeo.org/gdal/X.Y.Z/gdal-X.Y.Z.tar.gz
    $ tar xzf gdal-X.Y.Z.tar.gz

For GDAL 3.6.x and greater, releases only support builds using ``CMake``. To
build with ``CMake`` create a ``build`` folder in the GDAL directory, and step
into it:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ cd gdal-X.Y.Z
    $ mkdir build
    $ cd build

Finally, configure, make and install GDAL:

.. code-block:: shell

    $ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
    $ cmake --build .
    $ sudo cmake --build . --target install

If you have any problems, please see the troubleshooting section below for
suggestions and solutions.

__ https://gdal.org/

.. _gdaltrouble:

Troubleshooting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can't find GDAL library
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When GeoDjango can't find the GDAL library, configure your :ref:`libsettings`
*or* set :ref:`gdallibrarypath` in your settings.

.. _gdallibrarypath:

``GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If your GDAL library is in a non-standard location, or you don't want to
modify the system's library path then the :setting:`GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH`
setting may be added to your Django settings file with the full path to
the GDAL library. For example:

.. code-block:: shell

    GDAL_LIBRARY_PATH = '/home/sue/local/lib/libgdal.so'

.. rubric:: Footnotes
.. [#] The datum shifting files are needed for converting data to and from
       certain projections.
       For example, the PROJ string for the `Google projection (900913 or 3857)
       <https://spatialreference.org/ref/epsg/3857/>`_ requires the ``null``
       grid file only included in the extra datum shifting files. It is easier
       to install the shifting files now, than to debug a problem caused
       by their absence later.
.. [#] Specifically, GeoDjango provides support for the `OGR
       <https://gdal.org/user/vector_data_model.html>`_ library, a component of
       GDAL.
