NetCDF and matplotlib basemap with Python 3

14 September 2014

Ubuntu 14.04 does not have packages for NetCDF-Python or the Matplotlib Basemap Toolkit for Python 3. However, both can be installed from source without too much difficulty.

Install the prerequisite packages with

sudo apt-get install python3-matplotlib python3-dev libnetcdf-dev libgeos-dev libhdf5-dev

Download and extract NetCDF-Python and install it with
```
sudo python3 setup.py install
```
Download and extract Matplotlib Basemap Toolkit
If you try and install it, you will see the error
```
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lgeos
```
To avoid this, symlink the libgeos shared object
```
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libgeos-3.4.2.so /usr/lib/libgeos.so
```
Then install as before using
```
sudo python3 setup.py install
```

To check the installation, try import both libraries at the Python 3 prompt: