topic ArcGIS Pro (3.6.0) Package Manager - Installing PDAL in ArcGIS Pro Questions

ArcGIS Pro (3.6.0) Package Manager - Installing PDAL

dgreenin — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 16:53:39 GMT

Good Morning,

I am interested in installing PDAL from the ArcGIS Pro (3.6.0) Package Manager by using 'Add Packages' within a clone of the default conda environment (arcgispro-py3).

However, the installation fails due to dependency issues.

Please advise.

Reference Documentation:

https://pdal.org/en/2.9.2/

"PDAL is a C++ library for translating and manipulating point cloud data. It is very much like the GDAL library which handles raster and vector data."

Re: ArcGIS Pro (3.6.0) Package Manager - Installing PDAL

DanPatterson — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:17:01 GMT

from Download — Point Data Abstraction Library (PDAL)

It is strongly recommended that you make use of Conda’s environment management system and install PDAL in a separate environment (i.e., not the base environment). Instructions can be found on the Conda website.

and I wouldn't use a clone of arcgispro-py3, but create a separate environment because PDAL is only available on the conda-forge site and not the main channel.

When you create your environment I suspect python 3.13 should be the python version, then you can use

conda install conda-forge::python-pdal

as suggested in the forge site

Python Pdal | Anaconda.org

Re: ArcGIS Pro (3.6.0) Package Manager - Installing PDAL

dgreenin — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:16:29 GMT

@DanPatterson,

Thank you for your response!

I have not had success in utilizing a seperate environment (not cloning arcgispro-py3) within ArcGIS Pro.

Ultimately, I am interested in using PDAL within ArcGIS Pro Notebooks while also be able to call geoprocessing tools, geodatabases, arcpy, Python API etc.

Re: ArcGIS Pro (3.6.0) Package Manager - Installing PDAL

DanPatterson — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:21:40 GMT

Well, that leaves you cloning the arcgispro-py3 environment and trying

conda install -c conda-forge python-pdal --no-pin

to install from the conda-forge channel but ignore any pinned requirements. It might work, and if doesn't, just remove the arcgis-pro clone