Setting multiple GDAL environment variables when installing multiple versions

Question

I have set up GDAL v1.1.1 32bit to work with Python 2.7.18 32bit on windows 10 and everything including the bindings are working fine. Now I have found out that on this version of gdal it is not possible to use TILED=YES on GeoTIFFS as the version is too old.

I thus installed Python 3.7.8 64bit with GDAL 3.3.3. The problem is now though, that I have to set the environment variables GDAL_DATA and GDAL_DRIVER_PATH again.

Can I randomly name these variable names (e.g. GDAL_DATA_PY37) or do I have to register them somehow ?

Answer 1

You do not need to set the PATH, GDAL_DATA, GDAL_DRIVER_PATH again

You can use the following recipe. For this, you need to paste in a file with a name like gdal_37.bat. Each time you need some GDAL utility with specific version, run the bat before and it should work

PATH=C:\gdal\bin\;%PATH%
GDAL_DATA=C:\OSGeo4W\share\gdal
GDAL_DRIVER_PATH=C:\OSGeo4W\bin\gdalplugins

C:\gdal\bin\ (in PATH) should be replaced by path directory from your specific install where utilities like ogrinfo.exe are located

C:\OSGeo4W\share\gdal (in GDAL_DATA) should be replaced with the path directory where epsg.wkt or gt_datum.csv files reside.

C:\OSGeo4W\bin\gdalplugins should be replace with path where files like gdal_ECW_JP2ECW.dll are.

If you use something like Conda to install GDAL, you do not need to care about these annoying environment variables as it manages them for you behind the scenes.