Resolve AttributeError: module 'fiona' has no attribute 'path'

Problem Statement

Users encounter the following error when attempting to load spatial data using GeoPandas and Fiona:

AttributeError: module 'fiona' has no attribute 'path'

This error typically occurs after updating dependencies when code that previously executed successfully suddenly fails. The problem is triggered by changes in the fiona library's API and compatibility issues with GeoPandas versions.

Common scenarios where this occurs:

import geopandas as gpd
import fiona

# Fails with AttributeError
countries = gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres"))

Cause of the Error

The error arises due to recent updates in the fiona package (versions 1.10.0 and above). Key changes include:

1. The path module was removed from fiona in version 1.10.0
2. Older versions of GeoPandas (below 0.14.4) depend on this fiona.path interface
3. Package managers may automatically install incompatible versions, breaking existing workflows

Recommended Solutions

1. Upgrade GeoPandas (Recommended)

Solution: Update to GeoPandas 0.14.4 or higher, where compatibility with Fiona v1.10+ was added:

pip install --upgrade geopandas==0.14.4

# Verify installed versions
pip show geopandas fiona

Name: geopandas
Version: 0.14.4
---
Name: fiona
Version: 1.10.0+

# Example after upgrade
import geopandas as gpd

countries = gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path("naturalearth_lowres"))

Why this works

GeoPandas 0.14.4 includes critical fixes for compatibility with newer Fiona releases:

• Removed dependencies on deprecated fiona.path API
• Added support for numpy 2.0 and pandas 3.0
• Handles Fiona's internal API changes gracefully

2. Downgrade Fiona to Compatible Version

If upgrading GeoPandas isn't immediately feasible, pin your Fiona version to 1.9.6:

pip install fiona==1.9.6

Python Version Compatibility

• Fiona 1.9.6 requires Python ≥3.8
• For Python 3.7 systems, use fiona==1.8.13 with geopandas==0.9.0

Alternative: Environment Management Tools

For Anaconda users:

1. Open Anaconda Navigator
2. Navigate to Environments → Installed
3. Search for "fiona"
4. Select Mark for specific version installation
5. Choose version 1.9.6 and apply changes

Deprecation Notice: Natural Earth Datasets

The geopandas.datasets.get_path() method was deprecated in geopandas v0.14.4 and removed in v1.0. Use this modern approach:

pip install geodatasets

from geodatasets import get_path

# Replacement for naturalearth_lowres
path = get_path("naturalearth_lowres")
gdf = gpd.read_file(path)

Complete Solution

Installation Commands

# Install compatible versions
pip install geopandas==0.14.4
pip install geodatasets  # For dataset access

Working Example

import geopandas as gpd
from geodatasets import get_path

# Access dataset through modern method
data_path = get_path("naturalearth_lowres")
gdf = gpd.read_file(data_path)

print(gdf.head())

Key takeaways:

1. Prefer upgrading to GeoPandas ≥0.14.4 for long-term compatibility
2. Use geodatasets instead of built-in datasets
3. Verify dependency versions regularly with pip list