Installing the R source rgdal package

In order to install the R source rgdal package, you should first have
installed GDAL/OGR with all of their dependencies needed for the data
you need to access. There are many dependencies, not all of which need to
be met for every user, but which provide the flexibility needed by users
with special requirements. Note that both driver updates and new drivers
are made available in successive releases of GDAL/OGR, and that, for
special purposes, tracking the GDAL/OGR CVS changes can be very useful.

The main download source is:

http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadSource

PROJ.4 is available at:

http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/

but installing FWTools is a convenient way to get started (but will
be limited to the - extensive - range of drivers built into the binary
package):

http://fwtools.maptools.org/

If installing PROJ.4 from RPM binaries, note that four RPM files are
required: "proj", "proj-devel", "proj-epsg" and "proj-nad". The third and
fourth files, "proj-epsg" and "proj-nad", contain all of the support files
placed in /usr/share/proj, and are required for any use of "proj" itself.

Debian users appear to get the required files (libraries, binaries,
support files and headers) in the "proj" package, although package
lists for proj 4.6.* and etch-backports, lenny and sid omit NAD support
binaries, for example /usr/share/proj/conus, which if missing will
provoke a warning under ./configure. This only matters if grid datum
transformation is required (for example in North America), in which
case, until the Debian packagers re-insert the missing support files,
the resolution is to install proj (and the NAD files, a separate download)
from source, or to download just the source NAD files, and run nad2bin on
each required, placing the output files in /usr/share/proj, as described
in the nad2bin manual page.

For OSX users, either install PROJ.4 and GDAL/OGR from source, then
install the rgdal source package, or use the comprehensive frameworks
provided by William Kyngesburye:

http://www.kyngchaos.com/

Either simply install the GDAL framework and all of its dependencies,
then install the rgdal source package from the command line:

R CMD INSTALL --configure-args="" rgdal_*.tar.gz

with the correct configure-args for your platform, or install the GDAL
framework with dependencies first, then an rgdal binary from the same
site.

