Getting Started

This page describes how to install and run PopulationSim with the provided example.

Installation

1. It is recommended that you install and use a conda package manager for your system. One easy way to do so is by using Anaconda 64bit Python 3, although you should consult the terms of service for this product and ensure you qualify (as of summer 2021, businesses and governments with over 200 employees do not qualify for free usage). If you prefer a completely free open source conda tool, you can download and install the appropriate version of Miniforge.

  1. If you access the internet from behind a firewall, then you will need to configure your proxy server. To do so, create a .condarc file in your Anaconda installation folder (i.e. C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3), such as:

proxy_servers:
  http: http://myproxy.org:8080
  https: https://myproxy.org:8080
ssl_verify: false

  1. Create and activate an Anaconda environment (basically a Python install just for this project)

conda create -n popsim python=3.8

# Windows
activate popsim

# Mac
conda activate popsim

  1. Get and install the PopulationSim package on the activated conda Python environment:

# best to use the conda version of pytables for consistency with activitysim
conda install pytables

pip install populationsim

ActivitySim

Note

PopulationSim is a 64bit Python 3 library that uses a number of packages from the scientific Python ecosystem, most notably pandas and numpy. It also relies heavily on the ActivitySim package.

The recommended way to get your own scientific Python installation is to install 64 bit Anaconda, which contains many of the libraries upon which ActivitySim depends + some handy Python installation management tools.

For more information on Anaconda and ActivitySim, see ActivitySim’s getting started guide.

Run Examples

There are four examples for running PopulationSim, three created using data from the Corvallis-Albany-Lebanon Modeling (CALM) region in Oregon and the other using data from the Metro Vancouver region in British Columbia.

  1. The example_calm set-up runs PopulationSim, where a synthetic population is created single-processed for the entire modeling region.

  2. The example_calm_mp set-up runs PopulationSim multi-processed, where a synthetic population is created for the entire modeling region by simultaneously balancing results using multiple processors on your computer, thereby reducing runtime.

  3. The example_calm_repop set-up runs PopulationSim in the repop mode, which updates the synthetic population for a small part of the region.

  4. The example_survey_weighting set-up runs PopulationSim for the case of developing final weights for a household travel survey. More information on the configuration of PopulationSim can be found in the Application & Configuration section.

Example_calm

Follow the steps below to run example_calm set up:

  • Open a command prompt in the example_calm folder

  • Run the following commands:

activate popsim
python run_populationsim.py

  • Review the outputs in the output folder

Example_calm_mp

Follow the steps below to run example_calm_mp multiprocessed set up:

  • Open a command prompt in the example_calm folder

  • In configs_mp\setting.yaml, set num_processes: 2 to a reasonable number of processors for your machine

  • Run the following commands:

activate popsim
python run_populationsim.py -c configs_mp -c configs

  • Review the outputs in the output folder

Example_calm_repop

The repop configuration requires outputs from a base run. Therefore, the base configuration must be run before running the repop configuration. Follow the steps below to run example_calm_repop set up:

  • Copy the pipeline.h5 file from the example_calm\output directory to example_calm_repop\output directory (all PopulationSim files are stored in pipeline.h5 file)

  • Open a command prompt in the example_calm_repop folder

  • Run the following commands:

activate popsim
python run_populationsim.py

  • Review the outputs in the output folder

Example_survey_weighting

Follow the steps below to run example_survey_weighting set up:

  • Open a command prompt in the example_survey_weighting folder

  • Run the following commands:

activate popsim
python run_populationsim.py

  • Review the outputs in the output folder