pyNITA_GUI is the python implementation of Noise Insensitive Trajectory Algorithm (NITA). Please refer to the Scientific Reports article for detailed description of NITA and its application. The below steps here will walk you through the installation procedure and package requirements necessary for pynita_GUI.

The Python installation instructions here are under Anaconda environment. Anaconda is a free open-source distribution for Python and R, most importantly it simplifies package management.

1. Download and unpack the git repository: You can either download as .zip file or use the git clone option if you are familiar using git.

2. Ananconda (Python distribution):

• a. Download and install Anaconda for your operating system (e.g., Windows/Mac/Linux) Link: https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/

  b. After installation, open Anaconda Navigator and follow the steps below to create a new environment for pynita_gui. The basic idea of creating a new environment is to have an exclusive setup for pynita_gui to function with necessary python packages.

  • Click “Environments” on the left panel
  • Click “+ Create” below to create a new environment.
  • Give a name (e.g., pynita_gui_py36)
  • Under Packages, select Python and from the drop-down, select 3.6 and press Create. Once created, you will see a arrow highlighted next to the environment (e.g., “pynita_gui_py36”)

  c. Install python packages required by pynita_gui

  • Click on the arrow next to “pynita_gui_py36” in Anaconda Navigator and select “open terminal”
  • From terminal, navigate to downloaded git folder

  d. Install python packages: List of packages necessary for pynita_GUI are listed in requirements.txt

  • Mac/Linux users: Type either,

       while read requirement; do conda install --yes $requirement; done < requirements.txt
       
       OR
       
       cat requirements.txt | while read PACKAGE; do pip install "$PACKAGE"; done
    

  • Windows users: Type,

      for /f %i in (requirements.txt) do conda install --yes %i
    

3. Compile C code:

• a. Mac/Linux users: From terminal, navigate to pynita_source/nita_funs/distance_funs folder and type, python setup.py build_ext --inplace to compile the “C” code

  b. Windows users: Unlike Mac/Linux, windows do not have an in-built C compiler. Download Visual Studio 2017 from here, https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/. Use the Community version, which is free. After installation, follow the instructions below,

  • i. Open the Visual Studio Installer

    ii. Under “Visual Studio Community 2017”, click “Modify”

    iii. Select Individual Components from the top bar. From the subsection listed below, select the following components (7 components) and click “Modify” (bottom right corner)

    • a. Compiler, build tools, and runtimes
      • C# and Visual Basic Roslyn compilers
      • VC++ 2017 version 15.9 v14.16 latest v141 tools (Note: Automatically adds another requirement, “Static analysis tools”) b. Development activities
      • C# and Visual Basic
      • Visual Studio C++ core features c. SDKs, libraries, and frameworks
      • Windows 10 SDK (10.0.17763.0)
      • Windows Universal C Runtime

  c. Once installation is complete, from terminal, navigate to pynita_source/nita_funs/distance_funs folder and type python setup.py build_ext --inplace to compile the “C” code

  Caution: The compiled “C” code in Mac/Linux/Windows is OS and Python version specific.

4. Install Spyder (python editor)

• a. Open Anaconda Navigator and select “Home”

  b. On the Applications listed, install “Spyder”

  c. Once installed, click Launch to open Spyder

5. Launch pynita_gui: – From Spyder, navigate to downloaded git folder and select “pynita_gui_main.py”. Click “Run” to launch pynita_gui

Note: Everytime you want to launch pynita_gui, remember to activate the environment (e.g., “pynita_gui_py36”) from Anaconda Navigator and then launch “Spyder”.