Hardware and Software Requirements

LEAP requires a Windows PC with Microsoft Windows 7 or later, a minimum of 2 GB of RAM and a 1 GB of free disk space. Some features such as the Help system and Sankey Diagrams require the Microsoft Edge browser, which is installed by default on Windows 10 and later.

Two editions of LEAP are available: 32-bit and 64-bit.  Both have exactly the same functionality. The 32-bit edition is only required if you want to use LEAP and WEAP together. However, for most users we suggest you use the 64-bit edition, which can be used to build and run much larger LEAP models. The 64-bit edition of LEAP will only run on 64-bit versions of Windows, while the 32-bit edition of LEAP will run on either.  From Windows 11 onwards, all editions of Windows are 64-bit only.

When using maps, you will need to install the appropriate version of MapWinGIS (32-bit or 64-bit) to match the version of LEAP you are using.

The NEMO optimizing framework is 64-bit only but will work equally well with both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of LEAP.

In addition:

  • As with all standard Windows software, you must have administrative rights to install LEAP. However, you can run LEAP as a standard (non administrative) user once it is installed.

  • An Internet connection is required for tasks such as accessing help, downloading data from the LCDS, checking for updates, emailing data sets, creating language translations of your model (using Google Translate), and accessing additional data sets and plugins from the cloud.

  • LEAP can communicate directly with Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint but these are not required.

  • LEAP is designed as a single-user system. It is not intended as a multi-user system and we do not recommend running it from a shared network drive.

  • LEAP is not designed to be used directly on Apple, UNIX or Linux computers.  However, it is possible to run LEAP on an Apple Mac by first installing Windows on a Virtual Machine using VMWare Fusion, Parallells or similar apps.  LEAP can then be installed within that virtual copy of Windows.  For the latest Apple Macs with M series chips, you will need to install the ARM version of Windows.  LEAP has been tested to run properly in this environment.