diff a/pyproj/datadir.py b/pyproj/datadir.py
--- a/pyproj/datadir.py
+++ b/pyproj/datadir.py
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ def get_data_dir():
     str: The valid data directory.

     """
+    return "@proj@/share/proj"
     # to avoid re-validating
     global _VALIDATED_PROJ_DATA
     if _VALIDATED_PROJ_DATA is not None:
diff a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ INTERNAL_PROJ_DIR = os.path.join(CURRENT_FILE_PATH, "pyproj", BASE_INTERNAL_PROJ

 def check_proj_version(proj_dir):
     """checks that the PROJ library meets the minimum version"""
-    proj = os.path.join(proj_dir, "bin", "proj")
+    proj = "@proj@/bin/proj"
     proj_ver_bytes = subprocess.check_output(proj, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
     proj_ver_bytes = (proj_ver_bytes.decode("ascii").split()[1]).strip(",")
     proj_version = parse_version(proj_ver_bytes)
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ def get_proj_dir():
     """
     This function finds the base PROJ directory.
     """
+    return "@proj@"
     proj_dir = os.environ.get("PROJ_DIR")
     if proj_dir is None and os.path.exists(INTERNAL_PROJ_DIR):
         proj_dir = INTERNAL_PROJ_DIR
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ def get_proj_libdirs(proj_dir):
     """
     This function finds the library directories
     """
+    return ["@proj@/lib"]
     proj_libdir = os.environ.get("PROJ_LIBDIR")
     libdirs = []
     if proj_libdir is None:
@@ -77,6 +79,7 @@ def get_proj_incdirs(proj_dir):
     """
     This function finds the include directories
     """
+    return ["@proj@/include"]
     proj_incdir = os.environ.get("PROJ_INCDIR")
     incdirs = []
     if proj_incdir is None: