GME has dependencies on three other software packages: R, StatConn, and ArcGIS. The recommended installation strategy is to install/upgrade these dependencies before installing GME. Use the table below to identify compatible versions of the software. If you are upgrading any of the dependencies, it is recommended that you use Control Panel to uninstall the old version first. See below for further details.
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Use the table below to determine if your version of ArcGIS is supported (note SP = Service Pack).
| ArcGIS | Download GME | R | StatConn DCOM |
| ArcGIS 9.3.1 | GME 0.3.4 Beta | R 2.11.0 | 3.1-2B6 |
| Pre-ArcGIS 9.3.1 | Not officially supported** | NA | NA |
Instructions:
1. Uninstall any prior versions of GME. If prior to GME 0.3.3, use the C:\Program Files\SpatialEcology\GME\gme_setup.exe program. If GME 0.3.3 or later, use Control Panel (Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features as it is called in Vista and Windows 7).
2. Identify which configuration applies to your system using the above table (at the moment your choices are limited). Install or update ArcGIS, R, and StatConn as required.
3. Download the zip file using the 'Download GME' link, unzip it, run setup.exe. (The .exe and .msi files must remain together, but you should install using the setup.exe program, not the gme.msi file). You must have administrator rights to run the setup.exe program (e.g. in Vista, right-click the setup program and select 'Run as Administrator').
Important changes to the GME installer (March 2010):
1. Users are now responsible for ensuring compatible versions of GME, ArcGIS, R and Statconn are installed on their system (see table below).
2. I now use standard Windows installer technology, so system administrators have many more options for the deployment of GME (e.g. silent, automated, deployment).
3. Although it is not recommended, you can try to run GME with other versions of ArcGIS than the version it is intended for.
4. You can uninstall GME via Control Panel -- Programs
5. The new installer should work with 64-bit operating system, but I have had limited opportunity to test this. Please email me if you continue to have problems.
ArcInfo and ArcEditor users: GME is compiled against an ArcView license, but also works fine with these other (higher) licenses.
**Installing GME with other versions of ArcGIS: GME is compiled against a particular version of ArcGIS, and it is recommended you use GME with only that version. However, although it is not recommended, you could try using GME with other versions of ArcGIS. If it is a version that is close to the supported version, it would probably run fine. But if you try to use it with more distant versions of ArcGIS there is a chance that some commands will generate errors, or, worse, will run but produce incorrect output. I strongly recommend you use caution when running any third party extension (including GME) with a version of ArcGIS other than the version it was compiled against.
Detailed Instructions
GME has two dependencies: the open source, statistical software R, and a program called StatConn, written by Thomas Baier and Dr Erich Neuwirth, that allows other software (such as GME) to communicate with R. It is recommended that you install this software yourself before running the GME installation program. Fortunately, Thomas Baier and Dr Erich Neuwirth have written a fantastic program that installs everything that is required.
Step 1: To install the required version of R and StatConn DCOM, go to the StatConn website, click the 'Download' link near the top, and download and run the 'RAndFriends' setup program. This installs everything that is required.
Step 2: Download and run the GME setup program from this website (see table above).
Step 3: Install required R libraries. It is recommended that you install the required R libraries as an Administrator. In Windws XP, log in with an administrative account and start R. In Vista or higher, log in with an administrative account and then right-click on the R icon and select Run As Administrator. Then copy and paste this text into R and press Enter:
install.packages(pkgs=c("deldir", "CircStats", "gplots","ks"), repos="http://cran.r-project.org")
If these libraries are not installed, GME will attempt to automatically install them as it needs them. However, to avoid possible problems (especially if you are using a proxy server to access the internet) it is still recommended that you install them yourself when you first install R.
Troubleshooting Installation
The installation program does not run
You must use the setup.exe program, not the gme.msi program, to install GME. The former performs a variety of checks on your system and helps you install missing components.
Problems with R
It is recommended that you uninstall any previous versions of R before installing a new version. You can uninstall any version of R using the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs interface (in Vista it is Control Panel, Programs and Features).
Please note that the most recent version of R may not be compatible with StatConn. Occasionally, particularly when there have been major structural changes to R as in the switch from version 2.7 to 2.8, there is a slight delay in the availability of an updated version of StatConn. So please check the StatConn website to ensure you are installing a version of R that is compatible with StatConnDCOM. Personally, I recommend you simply follow Step 1 above as it ensures compatibility.
To get the most recent version of R, go to the R website and click the 'CRAN' link on the left hand side (see picture below). Select a mirror site near you from the list, click the 'Windows' link on the next page, then the 'base' link on that page after that, and download the R installer called 'R-2.10.1-win32.exe' (note that the version number you see may be different than this example). When you run the R installation program keep an eye out for an option that says 'Save version number in registry'. By default this is checked. Please keep this option checked (in fact, if you install R to a location other than the default installation folder, then you MUST have this option checked or GME will not work).
Finally, install the required packages. (If you access the internet via a proxy server then see the help section below that describes how to configure R for use with a proxy server before proceeding). Open R, from the Packages menu select 'Install Packages', select a mirror near you, and from the long list of packages select the following: CircStats, ks, rscproxy, deldir, gplots. Press OK and R will install these packages for you.
Acquiring the R installer from the R website
Problems with StatConn
The authors of StatConn, Thomas Baier and Dr Erich Neuwirth, make this software available to you out of the goodness of their hearts. It is a very generous and useful contribution to the statistical community. If you have problems installing their software then you should first review the extensive material in their Wiki. If you fail to resolve your problem there, you could send an email their mailing list. It is not appropriate to email the authors of StatConnDCOM with installation questions if you have not first made a reasonable effort to discover the solution to your problem using these two sources of information. Also, please do not email them with GME questions as they are not responsible for GME.
It is highly recommended that you uninstall previous versions of StatConn (or the older 'R/Scilab (D)COM Server') using the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs interface before installing a new version.
Other issues
Windows Vista
I believe I have succeeded in making this installer work with Vista . After you download the installer right click it and select 'Run As Administrator' to start it.
Windows 7
GME and the installer is untested on Windows 7 because I do not have access to a system I can test. I would be interested in hearing from you about your experiences with GME on Windows 7.
64-bit OS
I have updated the installer in an attempt to make it compatible with 64-bit operating systems. If you have a 64-bit OS and have problems with the GME or the installer it would be very helpful to hear from you (I have no system I can test this on).
Registry problems
Two values are required in the registry for GME to function correctly. You may create these values manually using regedit if the installation program failed for some reason. The two values are both in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SpatialEcology\GME, and the values are: 1) InstallFolder (with a string containing the path to the installation folder where the SEGME.dll file is located), and 2) Version (a string representing the GME version (e.g. 0.1 for the first Beta release). (Note that on a 64-bit OS the registry locations is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SpatialEcology\GME).
There are numerous other registry entries associated with this extension that register its components with ArcGIS. These entries cannot be edited manually.
Uninstall GME.
From 0.3.3 onwards: you can uninstall using Control Panel where it is listed as "GME".
Older verions: To perform a manual uninstall, close down all ArcGIS programs, use Windows Explorer to browse to the folder containing the SEGME.dll, and double-click the file called uninstall.reg (you will be prompted about a registry change). Once that is done you can delete the 'GME' folder that contains the SEGME.dll and associated files. Note that it is very important that you remove the registry values using the uninstall.reg file before you delete the files.