ArcGIS Pro 2.2.3 as a replace of Anaconda distribution ?

[FranciscoCosta1]

Current setups:

-> Have Anaconda 3 (updated) 64bits in windows 10 and i use this for all purposes python with the "conda" command in CLI to manage all my environments (Python or Javascript ... but let's keep it Python for simplicity) and package in a clean way.
-> Have last version of ArcGIS Pro 2.2.3 (October 2018) which ships Python 3 and theoretically has its "conda" that can reproduce any environment with same flexibility as anaconda 3.

-> Have ArcGIS Desktop Python 2.7 32bits installed.

Have the following questions for gurus out here:

1. For developers who use Anaconda3 for machine learning, and not necessarily spatial projects, and have ArcGIS Pro 2.2.3 and ArcGIS Desktop with Python v2 32bits, how to make all work with each other ?
2. Does this still apply: installation - Getting ArcPy to work with Anaconda? - Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange  ?
3. Can ArcGIS Pro 2.2.3 conda completely replace Anaconda3 ? I mean if one needs a data science specific environment that does not use any spatial libs and requires for example machine learning like tensor flow we can always make a new environment with these packages righty?
4. If we use only the "conda" command in CLI to manage our Python envs will we break ArcGIS Pro ?
5. Since ArcGIS Desktop has python2, can we in the scenario of using ArcGIS Pro conda for all purposes python (even outside any spatial projects) create an environment specific for communicating with ArcGIS Desktop py2 despite it is 32bits and ArcGIS Pro is 64 bits ?
6. Done

[DanPatterson_Retired · Accepted solution]

iii  esri's distribution for ArcGIS Pro contains most (?) or what you get with a base Anaconda installation... they have added their own stuff to the package.  If you don't need the arcpy or the ArcGIS module, then you don't need to install ArcGIS pro.  If you need to have other incarnations cluttering up your system, you can make clones and install packages there that you don't need elsewhere.  You just need to make sure you 'activate' the right environment to get the right python and its packages.  Python 2.7? if you don't need arcmap, don't install a 2.7 Anaconda, arcmap has its own python install.

I have done conda installs in ArcGIS Pro but use their channel and avoid pip unless you have to.  You just cannot install anything through the ArcGIS Pro Package Manager... you have to use conda

[FranciscoCosta1]

For me using pip is a nono, if conda does not have my package i just have to check for more channels and edit .condarc - it works for most cases i work with.

Conda in most cases replaces pip and virtualenv, and it can be used for most programming languages, not even python,

Also, it can even build py2 32bits environments (so i think it's theoretically possible to connect ArcGIS Pro conda with ArcGIS Desktop conda according to feedback on slack community Using multiple Python engines (32Bit/64bit and 2.7/3.5) - Stack Overflow ). I'm marking Dan's answer as correct in the sence that i have my answer: Yes it can completely replace anaconda and it's advised even to replace it if you are going to use ArcGIS Pro for avoiding unwanted redundancies.

[ShaunWalbridge]

Francisco,

Dan gave you all the main details, and I think set you in the right direction already. Just to reiterate a few points:

Pro does ship with a full miniconda installation, and many additional dependencies that we either use internally or find that many of our customers use (Pro 2.2 ships with 78 packages at last count). If you do need the full set of packages that the Anaconda distribution provides, you can install the "anaconda" metapackage from within the Python backstage of Pro, and it'll pull in the full distribution set (or do the same from the command line). Using just command line conda will have no ill effects on ArcGIS Pro, if you don't update the environment that's driving the Pro application, then the environments will act in full isolation. At this time, the ArcPy package itself isn't available as a separate package, so typically the starting point is to clone the base "arcgispro-py3" environment (which contains ArcPy), then modify from there so you remain consistent with the dependencies of Pro. That said, if you're in fully isolated environments not driving Pro, you can feel free to experiment which is one of the great advantages of conda. Pro is all 64-bit, and that's also the case for the conda installation (a single conda installation is either 32- or 64- bit).

We don't currently support conda for the 10.x product, and have no immediate plans to do so. That said, there are third-party guides on how to get Anaconda talking to ArcGIS 10.x, such as this USGS site maintained by  Curtis Price‌: Using Anaconda modules from the ESRI python environment - USGS OEI/Enterprise GIS - myUSGS Confluenc...

Cheers,

Shaun

[FranciscoCosta1]

Very useful information Shaun! Thank you.