geoplot

Plot line in geographic coordinates

• 

Syntax

geoplot(lat,lon)

geoplot(lat,lon,LineSpec)

geoplot(lat1,lon1,...,latN,lonN)

geoplot(lat1,lon1,LineSpec1,...,latN,lonN,LineSpecN)

geoplot(tbl,latvar,lonvar)

geoplot(gx,___)

geoplot(___,Name,Value)

h = geoplot(___)

Description

Vector Data

geoplot(lat,lon) plots a line in a geographic axes with vertices at the latitude-longitude locations specified (in degrees) by the vectors lat and lon. The lat and lon inputs must be the same size. By default, geoplot draws a solid line, with no markers, using colors specified by the ColorOrder property of the geographic axes object.

geoplot(lat,lon,LineSpec) sets the style, marker symbol, and color for the line.

geoplot(lat1,lon1,...,latN,lonN) combines the plots specified by several sets of latitude-longitude locations.

geoplot(lat1,lon1,LineSpec1,...,latN,lonN,LineSpecN) combines the plots specified by several sets of latitude-longitude locations, with a separate LineSpec for each line.

Table Data

geoplot(tbl,latvar,lonvar) plots the variables latvar and lonvar from the table tbl. To plot one data set, specify one variable for latvar and one variable for lonvar. To plot multiple data sets, specify multiple variables for latvar, lonvar, or both. If both arguments specify multiple variables, they must specify the same number of variables. (Since R2022b)

Additional Options

geoplot(gx,___) plots in the geographic axes specified by gx instead of the current axes.

geoplot(___,Name,Value) specifies properties of the chart line using one or more name-value arguments.

h = geoplot(___) returns a column vector of Chart Line objects. Each object corresponds to a plotted line. Use h to modify the properties of the Chart line objects.

Note

Mapping Toolbox™ extends the functionality of the geoplot (MATLAB^®) function. It adds support for displaying points, lines, and polygons with coordinates in any supported geographic or projected coordinate reference system (CRS). For the geoplot (Mapping Toolbox) page, see geoplot (Mapping Toolbox).

Examples

Create Geographic Plot

Plot a straight line between two points on a map. Specify the endpoints of the line using the coordinates of Seattle and Anchorage. Specify latitude and longitude in degrees.

latSeattle = 47.62;
lonSeattle = -122.33;
latAnchorage = 61.20;
lonAnchorage = -149.9;

Plot the data on a map. Customize the appearance of the line using the line specification 'g-*'. Adjust the latitude and longitude limits of the map using geolimits.

geoplot([latSeattle latAnchorage],[lonSeattle lonAnchorage],'g-*')
geolimits([45 62],[-149 -123])

Add Text to Geographic Plot

Plot a straight line between two points on a map. Specify the endpoints of the line using the coordinates of Seattle and Anchorage. Specify latitude and longitude in degrees.

latSeattle = 47.62;
lonSeattle = -122.33;
latAnchorage = 61.20;
lonAnchorage = -149.9;

Plot the data using geoplot. Customize the appearance of the line using the line specification 'g-*'. Adjust the latitude and longitude limits of the map using geolimits.

geoplot([latSeattle latAnchorage],[lonSeattle lonAnchorage],'g-*')
geolimits([45 62],[-149 -123])

Identify Anchorage using the text function.

text(latAnchorage,lonAnchorage,'Anchorage');

Identify Seattle using the text function. Adjust the alignment of the text label by specifying properties of the Text object.

text(latSeattle,lonSeattle,'Seattle',...
    'HorizontalAlignment','right',...
    'VerticalAlignment','bottom');

Customize Individual Lines on Map

Specify the latitude and longitude coordinates of Seattle, Anchorage, and Point Barrow.

latSeattle = 47.62;
lonSeattle = -122.33;

latAnchorage = 61.20;
lonAnchorage = -149.9;

latPtBarrow = 71.38;
lonPtBarrow = -156.47;

Plot straight lines from Seattle to each of the other two cities. Draw a solid yellow line from Seattle to Anchorage and a dotted blue line between Seattle and Point Barrow. Adjust the latitude and longitude limits of the map using geolimits.

geoplot([latSeattle latAnchorage],[lonSeattle lonAnchorage],'y-',...
    [latSeattle latPtBarrow],[lonSeattle lonPtBarrow],'b:')
geolimits([44 73],[-149 -123])

Label each city on the map using the text function.

text(latAnchorage,lonAnchorage,'Anchorage');
text(latPtBarrow,lonPtBarrow,'Point Barrow');
text(latSeattle,lonSeattle,'Seattle',...
    'VerticalAlignment','bottom');

Plot Data from a Table

Since R2022b

A convenient way to plot data from a table is to pass the table to the geoplot function and specify the variables to plot.

Load a MAT file containing cyclone data into the workspace. Create a table using a subset of the data. The table includes latitude and longitude coordinates in the table variables Latitude and Longitude, respectively.

load cycloneTracks
tbl = cycloneTracks(cycloneTracks.ID == 1320,:);

Plot the latitude and longitude coordinates over a topographic basemap. Return the Line object as h.

h = geoplot(tbl,"Latitude","Longitude");
geobasemap topographic

Change the marker style and color of the plot by setting the Marker and Color properties.

h.Marker = ".";
h.Color = "m";

Use Chart Line Properties to Customize Appearance of the Line

Plot a straight line between two points on a map. Specify the endpoints of the line using the coordinates of Seattle and Anchorage. Specify latitude and longitude in degrees.

latSeattle = 47.62;
lonSeattle = -122.33;
latAnchorage = 61.20;
lonAnchorage = -149.9;

Plot the data using geoplot. Adjust the latitude and longitude limits of the map using geolimits. Customize the appearance of the line by specifying the LineWidth and Color properties.

geoplot([latSeattle latAnchorage],[lonSeattle lonAnchorage],...
    'LineWidth',2,'Color',[.6 0 0])
geolimits([45 62],[-149 -123])

Change Basemap Used in Geographic Plot

Plot a straight line between Seattle and Anchorage on a map. Specify the latitude and longitude coordinates in degrees.

latSeattle = 47.62;
lonSeattle = -122.33;
latAnchorage = 61.20;
lonAnchorage = -149.9;
geoplot([latSeattle latAnchorage],[lonSeattle lonAnchorage])

Change the latitude-longitude limits and the basemap.

geolimits([45 62],[-149 -123])
geobasemap colorterrain

Input Arguments

lat — Latitude coordinates in degrees

real, numeric, finite vector

Latitude coordinates in degrees, specified as a real, numeric, finite vector. The vector can contain embedded NaNs. lat must be the same size as lon.

Example: [43.0327 38.8921 44.0435]

Data Types: single | double

lon — Longitude coordinates in degrees

real, numeric, finite vector

Longitude coordinates in degrees, specified as a real, numeric, finite vector. The vector can contain embedded NaNs. lon must be the same size as lat.

Example: [-107.5556 -77.0269 -72.5565]

Data Types: single | double

LineSpec — Line style, marker, and color

string | character vector

Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string or character vector containing symbols. The symbols can appear in any order. You do not need to specify all three characteristics (line style, marker, and color). For example, if you omit the line style and specify the marker, then the plot shows only the marker and no line.

Example: "--or" is a red dashed line with circle markers

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]

tbl — Source table

table | timetable

Source table containing the data to plot, specified as a table or a timetable.

latvar — Table variables containing latitude coordinates

string array | character vector | cell array | pattern | numeric scalar or vector | logical vector | vartype()

Table variables containing the latitude coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable names: A string, character vector, or cell array. A pattern object.	"A" or 'A' — A variable called A ["A","B"] or {'A','B'} — Two variables called A and B "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — Variables named "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. A vector of numbers. A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.	3 — The third variable from the table [2 3] — The second and third variables from the table [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects variables of a specified type.	vartype("categorical") — All the variables containing categorical values

Regardless of variable names, the axis label on the plot is always Latitude.

The variables must contain numeric data of type single or double. The data must be in the range (–90, 90).

If latvar and lonvar both specify multiple variables, the number of variables must be the same.

Example: geoplot(tbl,["lat1","lat2"],"lon") specifies the table variables named lat1 and lat2 for the latitude coordinates.

Example: geoplot(tbl,2,"lon") specifies the second variable for the latitude coordinates.

Example: geoplot(tbl,vartype("numeric"),"lon") specifies all numeric variables for the latitude coordinates.

lonvar — Table variables containing longitude coordinates

string array | character vector | cell array | pattern | numeric scalar or vector | logical vector | vartype()

Table variables containing the longitude coordinates, specified using one of the indexing schemes from the table.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable names: A string, character vector, or cell array. A pattern object.	"A" or 'A' — A variable called A ["A","B"] or {'A','B'} — Two variables called A and B "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — Variables named "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. A vector of numbers. A logical vector. Typically, this vector is the same length as the number of variables, but you can omit trailing 0 or false values.	3 — The third variable from the table [2 3] — The second and third variables from the table [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects variables of a specified type.	vartype("categorical") — All the variables containing categorical values

Regardless of variable names, the axis label on the plot is always Longitude.

The variables you specify must contain numeric data of type single or double.

If latvar and lonvar both specify multiple variables, the number of variables must be the same.

Example: geoplot(tbl,"lat",["lon1","lon2"]) specifies the table variables named lon1 and lon2 for the longitude coordinates.

Example: geoplot(tbl,"lat",2) specifies the second variable for the longitude coordinates.

Example: geoplot(tbl,"lat",vartype("numeric")) specifies all numeric variables for the longitude coordinates.

gx — Target geographic axes

GeographicAxes object

Target geographic axes, specified as a GeographicAxes object.¹ You can modify the appearance and behavior of a GeographicAxes object by setting its properties. For a list of properties, see GeographicAxes Properties.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: h = geoplot(lat,lon,'Color','g')

Note

Property settings apply to all the lines in the plot. To set the properties of an individual line, retrieve the handle to the line in the geoplot return value h and use dot notation.

The name-value pairs listed here are only a subset. For a full list, see Line Properties.

Color — Line color

[0 0.4470 0.7410] (default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r' | 'g' | 'b' | ...

Line color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]	"#FF0000"
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]	"#00FF00"
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]	"#0000FF"
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]	"#00FFFF"
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]	"#FF00FF"
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]	"#FFFF00"
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]	"#000000"
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]	"#FFFFFF"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

Example: 'blue'

Example: [0 0 1]

Example: '#0000FF'

LineStyle — Line style

"-" (default) | "--" | ":" | "-." | "none"

Line style, specified as one of the options listed in this table.

Line Style	Description	Resulting Line
"-"	Solid line
"--"	Dashed line
":"	Dotted line
"-."	Dash-dotted line
"none"	No line	No line

LineWidth — Line width

0.5 (default) | positive value

Line width, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch. If the line has markers, then the line width also affects the marker edges.

The line width cannot be thinner than the width of a pixel. If you set the line width to a value that is less than the width of a pixel on your system, the line displays as one pixel wide.

Marker — Marker symbol

'none' (default) | 'o' | '+' | '*' | '.' | 'x' | ...

Marker symbol, specified as one of the markers in this table. By default, a chart line does not have markers. Add markers at each data point along the line by specifying a marker symbol.

Marker	Description	Resulting Marker
"o"	Circle
"+"	Plus sign
"*"	Asterisk
"."	Point
"x"	Cross
"_"	Horizontal line
"|"	Vertical line
"square"	Square
"diamond"	Diamond
"^"	Upward-pointing triangle
"v"	Downward-pointing triangle
">"	Right-pointing triangle
"<"	Left-pointing triangle
"pentagram"	Pentagram
"hexagram"	Hexagram
"none"	No markers	Not applicable

MarkerFaceColor — Marker fill color

"none" (default) | "auto" | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | "r" | "g" | "b" | ...

Marker fill color, specified as "auto", an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, a color name, or a short name. The "auto" option uses the same color as the Color property of the parent axes. If you specify "auto" and the axes plot box is invisible, the marker fill color is the color of the figure.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1], for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Therefore, the color codes "#FF8800", "#ff8800", "#F80", and "#f80" are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]	"#FF0000"
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]	"#00FF00"
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]	"#0000FF"
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]	"#00FFFF"
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]	"#FF00FF"
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]	"#FFFF00"
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]	"#000000"
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]	"#FFFFFF"
"none"	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	No color

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	"#0072BD"
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	"#D95319"
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	"#EDB120"
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	"#7E2F8E"
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	"#77AC30"
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	"#4DBEEE"
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	"#A2142F"

MarkerSize — Marker size

6 (default) | positive value

Marker size, specified as a positive value in points, where 1 point = 1/72 of an inch.

Output Arguments

h — Geographic plot

column vector of Line objects

Geographic plot, returned as a column vector of Line objects. Each object corresponds to a plotted line. Use h to modify the properties of the objects after they are created.

Tips

• Mapping Toolbox extends the functionality of the geoplot (MATLAB) function. It adds support for displaying points, lines, and polygons with coordinates in any supported geographic or projected coordinate reference system (CRS). For the geoplot (Mapping Toolbox) page, see geoplot (Mapping Toolbox).

• Plot 3-D geographic data using the Mapping Toolbox functions geoglobe (Mapping Toolbox) and geoplot3 (Mapping Toolbox).

• When you plot on geographic axes, the geoplot function assumes that coordinates are referenced to the WGS84 coordinate reference system. If you plot using coordinates that are referenced to a different coordinate reference system, then the coordinates may appear misaligned.

• You cannot plot data that requires Cartesian axes in a geographic axes.

• To plot additional data in the geographic axes, use the hold on command.

Version History

Introduced in R2018b

R2022b: Pass tables directly to geoplot

Create a plot by passing a table to the geoplot function followed by the variables you want to plot.

R2022b: Adding new plots to geographic axes does not reset basemap

When you plot into geographic axes by using functions such as geoplot or geoscatter, MATLAB does not reset the basemap. In R2022a and earlier releases, the basemap resets when you add new plots.

As a result, you can specify a basemap and then visualize data without using the hold function between commands. For example, this code creates a map using the streets basemap. Then it displays a plot over the basemap. In R2022b, the basemap does not reset. In R2022a and earlier releases, the basemap resets to the default streets-light.

lat = [35 -22 51 39 37 42 47 -33];
lon = [139 -43 0 116 23 -71 -122 18];
 
figure
geobasemap streets
geoplot(lat,lon,"m*")

This change does not affect existing code that sets the hold state to "on" between commands.

To reset the basemap when you add a new plot, use the cla reset syntax of the cla function before you create the plot. For example, to update the preceding code, use cla reset between the calls to geobasemap and geoplot.

lat = [35 -22 51 39 37 42 47 -33];
lon = [139 -43 0 116 23 -71 -122 18];
 
figure
geobasemap streets
cla reset
geoplot(lat,lon,"m*")

Alternatively, you can change the basemap to the default streets-light by using the geobasemap function. For more information about changing the basemap of geographic axes, see Access Basemaps for Geographic Axes and Charts.