virtualenv allows you to manage separate package installation for different projects. They essentially allow you to create a “virtual” isolated Python installation and install packages into that virtual installation. When you switch projects, you can simply create a new virtual environment and not have to worry about breaking the packages installed in the other environments. It is always recommended to use a virtual environment while developing Python applications (link).
Create some folder where you want to make your project and virtualenv available.
mkdir ./dev/envirocar/some_dir && cd ./dev/envirocar/some_dir
If virtualenv hasn't been installed before, you can install it via pip.
sudo pip3 install virtualenv
Create a new environment in the venv folder (second argument)
python3 -m venv venv
Activate the created virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
You can now check whether the environment has been activated by checking the destination of python. It should link to the created folder.
which python
Perform an update on pip.
pip install --upgrade pip
Install the python envoricar python package. This package will also install all necessary libraries such as Pandas or GeoPandas.
pip install envirocar-py --upgrade
Finally, add the virtualenv as a Jupyter kernel. In this way you can use the installed dependencies in venv in your Jupyter sessions.
ipython kernel install --user --name=envirocar
To ensure that the package is installed properly, the following command can be used.
jupyter kernelspec list
Now you can start a Jupyter notebook and select the created kernel envirocar as a new kernel for your Jupyter notebooks. To manage this, open your Jupyter notebook and click on Kernel -> Change Kernel -> envirocar.
Important: If you install any further dependencies, please make sure that you active this virtual environment before installing packages.