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Installation

Installing this toolbox requires two major steps. First, you must either download the toolbox or clone the project with git. Then, you can add the toolbox to an ArcGIS Pro project. You can also have ArcGIS Pro add the toolbox to new projects by default.

Warning

Do not rename or move any files inside the directory you download. This will break the tool and/or its metadata.

Prerequisites

This toolbox requires ArcGIS Pro 3.x and is designed to be run through the Pro user interface.

This toolbox works with GeMS Toolbox version 2.13.5 released on 4/14/2025.(1)

  1. Other versions will work with this toolbox, provided the following script specific versions are in the GeMS toolbox:

    • GeMS_CreateDatabase.py: 5/8/24
    • GeMS_CompactAndBackup.py: 8/21/23
    • GeMS_FixStrings.py: 10/5/23
    • GeMS_MakeTopology.py: 8/21/23

    You can check the above script versions by navigating to the Scripts folder in the GeMS Toolbox directory and opening the .py files in a text editor. The version string will appear after import statements. If you are unsure how to find this information, use the full toolbox version specified.

Downloading

  1. On the main page of the Template Geologic Map Databases project, click Releases.
  2. On the releases page, the most recent release is listed on top. Click onSourceCodeRelease.png underneath Assets.
  3. Save the zip file to a suitable location.
  4. Unzip the file.
  5. Refer to Adding the Toolbox in ArcGIS Pro below to add the tool to your Pro project.

Alternatively, Cloning

You need to have git installed on your computer to clone the project with the steps described below. There are many ways to use git to clone and keep your local copy up to date. The workflow below is just one example.

  1. In Windows File Explorer, navigate to a directory where you would like to save the tool.
  2. Right click and select Git Bash Here.
  3. In the git command prompt, copy and paste:
git clone https://code.usgs.gov/gmeg-mappers/template-geologic-map-databases

Note

To paste into Git Bash, press Shift+Ins on your keyboard. Ctrl+V does not work.

This will create a folder named template-geologic-map-databases in your selected directory. Now, you can now easily check for updates by performing a pull.

  1. In Windows File Explorer, navigate to the template-geologic-map-databases folder.
  2. Right click and select Git Bash Here.
  3. In the git command prompt, copy and paste: 
    git pull
  4. If there are updates, they will be downloaded, otherwise the command prompt will state that your copy is already up-to-date.
  5. Refer to Adding the Toolbox in ArcGIS Pro below to add the tool to your Pro project.

Adding the Toolbox in ArcGIS Pro

  1. Within an ArcGIS Pro project, in the Catalog Pane, right-click on Toolboxes.
  2. Click Add Toolbox.
  3. Navigate to the Symbology Management .pyt file and select it.
  4. The toolbox will display in your current project.

If you right-click on the toolbox within your project, you can either:

  • Add to Favorites: this will show the toolbox in the Favorites tab of the Catalog Pane for easy reference.

  • Add to New Projects: this also adds the tool to Favorites but additionally automatically adds it to new projects, saving a few clicks.

Warning

If you replace the toolbox in its existing directory with a new version while ArcGIS Pro is open, right-click the toolbox and click Refresh after waiting approximately 30 seconds. If the toolbox continues to reflect old files, restart ArcGIS Pro. This is a known limitation of ArcGIS Pro and Python toolboxes.