GeographicBubbleChart Properties

Standalone geographic bubble chart appearance and behavior

GeographicBubbleChart properties control the appearance and behavior of a GeographicBubbleChart object. By changing property values, you can modify certain aspects of the chart. Use dot notation to query and set properties.

gb = geobubble(1:10,1:10);
v = gb.GridVisible; 
gb.GridVisible = "off";

Bubble Location

LatitudeData — Latitude coordinates in degrees

vector with elements in range [–90, 90] | []

Latitude coordinates in degrees, specified as a vector with elements in the range [–90, 90] or as an empty array ([]). The vector can contain NaN values. The sizes of LatitudeData and LongitudeData must match.

In most cases, the latitude limits of the chart do not extend outside of the range [–85, 85] degrees. The latitude limits can extend outside of this range when you set the MapCenter and ZoomLevel properties the chart. For more information, see Interact with Geographic Axes.

Data Types: single | double

LatitudeVariable — Table variable containing latitude coordinates

string scalar | character vector | pattern | numeric scalar | logical vector | vartype()

Table variable containing the latitude coordinates, specified using one of these indexing schemes.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. 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 [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

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

The variable you specify must contain numeric data of type single or double. The data must be in the range [–90, 90].

When you set this property MATLAB^® updates the LatitudeData property and sets the LatitudeData property to read-only.

LongitudeData — Longitude coordinates in degrees

vector | []

Longitude coordinates in degrees, specified as a vector or as an empty array ([]). The vector can contain NaN values. The sizes of LatitudeData and LongitudeData must match.

Data Types: single | double

LongitudeVariable — Table variable containing longitude coordinates

string scalar | character vector | pattern | numeric scalar | logical vector | vartype()

Table variable containing the longitude coordinates, specified using one of these indexing schemes.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. 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 [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

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

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

When you set this property MATLAB updates the LongitudeData property and sets the LongitudeData property to read-only.

Bubble Size

BubbleWidthRange — Minimum and maximum bubble diameters

[5 20] (default) | positive scalar | 1-by-2 vector of positive numbers

Minimum and maximum bubble diameters, specified as a positive scalar or as a 1-by-2 vector of positive numbers, where the second number is greater than the first. Specify a scalar when you want all the bubbles to have the same size. Specify the bubble diameters in points, where one point equals 1/72 of an inch. Values must be in the range [1, 100].

SizeData — Relative bubble sizes

[] (default) | scalar | vector

Relative bubble sizes, specified in one of these forms:

• Scalar — Use the same size for all the bubbles.

• Vector — Use a different size for each bubble. Specify SizeData as a vector the same length as LatitudeData.

SizeData can contain NaN values.

SizeLimits — Size limits

1-by-2 vector

Size limits, specified as a 1-by-2 vector of non-descending values or as an empty array ([]). This property determines how size data values map to the bubble widths, where:

• The first element specifies the size data value that maps to the smallest bubble.

• The second element specifies the size data value that maps to the largest bubble.

To create bubbles that are all the same size, specify the same value for each element.

For more information about controlling the sizes of bubbles, see Control Bubbles in Standalone Geographic Bubble Charts.

SizeVariable — Table variable containing bubble size data

table variable index

Table variable containing the bubble size data, specified using one of these indexing schemes.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. 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 [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

The variable you specify can contain any numeric type. When you set the SizeVariable property, MATLAB updates the SizeData property.

Bubble Color

BubbleColorList — List of bubble colors

three-column matrix of RGB triplets | color name | short name | vector of string scalars | cell array of character vectors

List of bubble colors, specified using one of these forms:

• A three-column matrix of RGB triplets whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. A convenient way to generate a three-column matrix of RGB triplets is to use a predefined colormap such as turbo or to return the colors of a predefined color palette by using the orderedcolors function.

• A color name such as "red", "green", or "blue".

• A short name such as "r", "g", or "b".

• A vector of string scalars that indicate color names or short names, such as ["red","green","blue"] or ["r","g","b"].

• A cell array of character vectors that indicate color names or short names, such as {'red','green','blue'} or {'r','g','b'}.

By default, the bubble chart selects colors from an ordered list of 7 standard colors. If the number of categories specified by ColorData is greater than 7, the bubble chart cyclically repeats the colors.

Data Types: cell | string | double

ColorData — Data controlling bubble color

categorical vector | []

Data that controls the bubble colors, specified as a categorical vector or as an empty array ([]). The geographic bubble chart assigns a color to each category using the colors stored in the BubbleColorList property. Bubbles associated with the same category have the same color on the map.

The size of ColorData must match the size of LatitudeData, except when you specify an empty array.

Geographic bubble charts display the category values in the color legend. The color legend can display unexpected formatting when the values contain TeX markup characters, for example underscores.

• To use a TeX markup character in regular text, edit the name of the category by using the renamecats function, and then insert the TeX escape character (\) before the character you want to include.

• MATLAB supports a subset of TeX markup for the text displayed in legends. For more information about using TeX markup, see Greek Letters and Special Characters in Chart Text.

Data Types: categorical

ColorVariable — Table variable containing bubble color data

table variable index

Table variable containing the bubble color data, specified using one of these indexing schemes.

Indexing Scheme	Examples
Variable name: A string scalar or character vector. A pattern object. The pattern object must refer to only one variable.	"A" or 'A' — A variable named A "Var"+digitsPattern(1) — The variable with the name "Var" followed by a single digit
Variable index: An index number that refers to the location of a variable in the table. 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 [false false true] — The third variable
Variable type: A vartype subscript that selects a table variable of a specified type. The subscript must refer to only one variable.	vartype("double") — The variable containing double values

The variable you specify must contain categorical values. When you set the ColorVariable property, MATLAB updates the ColorData property.

Labels

Title — Title of geographic bubble chart

'' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string scalar | string array | numeric value | categorical value

Title of the geographic bubble chart, specified as a character vector, a cell array of character vectors, a string scalar, a string array, a numeric value, or a categorical value. When you specify this property using a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the categories.

Alternatively, you can add a title by using the title function.

ColorLegendTitle — Title of color legend

'' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string scalar | string array | numeric value | categorical value

Title of the color legend, specified as a character vector, a cell array of character vectors, a string scalar, a string array, a numeric value, or a categorical value. When you specify this property using a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the categories.

SizeLegendTitle — Title of size legend

'' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string scalar | string array | numeric value | categorical value

Title of the size legend, specified as a character vector, a cell array of character vectors, a string scalar, a string array, a numeric value, or a categorical value. When you specify this property using a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the categories.

LegendVisible — Visibility of size and color legends

'on' (default) | 'off' | true | false

Visibility of the size and color legends, specified as 'on' or 'off' or the logical values 1 (true) or 0 (false).

Alternatively, you can toggle the visibility of the legends by using the legend function.

Data Types: char | string | logical

Font

FontName — Font name

supported font name | "FixedWidth"

Font name, specified as a supported font name or "FixedWidth". To display and print text properly, you must choose a font that your system supports. The default font depends on your operating system and locale.

To use a fixed-width font that looks good in any locale, use "FixedWidth". The fixed-width font relies on the root FixedWidthFontName property. Setting the root FixedWidthFontName property causes an immediate update of the display to use the new font.

FontSize — Font size used in geographic bubble chart

positive scalar

Font size used in the geographic bubble chart, specified as positive scalar. The default font size depends on the specific operating system and locale. The geographic bubble chart measures the font size in points, where one point equals 1/72 of an inch.

Map

Basemap — Map on which to plot data

'streets-light' (default) | 'streets-dark' | 'streets' | 'satellite' | 'topographic' | ...

Map on which to plot data, specified as one of the values listed in the table. Six of the basemaps are tiled data sets created using Natural Earth. Five of the basemaps are high-zoom-level maps hosted by Esri^®.

	'streets-light' (default) Map designed to provide geographic context while highlighting user data on a light background. Hosted by Esri.		'streets-dark' Map designed to provide geographic context while highlighting user data on a dark background. Hosted by Esri.
	'streets' General-purpose road map that emphasizes accurate, legible styling of roads and transit networks. Hosted by Esri.		'satellite' Full global basemap composed of high-resolution satellite imagery. Hosted by Esri.
	'topographic' General-purpose map with styling to depict topographic features. Hosted by Esri.		'landcover' Map that combines satellite-derived land cover data, shaded relief, and ocean-bottom relief. The light, natural palette is suitable for thematic and reference maps. Created using Natural Earth.
	'colorterrain' Shaded relief map blended with a land cover palette. Humid lowlands are green and arid lowlands are brown. Created using Natural Earth.		'grayterrain' Terrain map in shades of gray. Shaded relief emphasizes both high mountains and micro-terrain found in lowlands. Created using Natural Earth.
	'bluegreen' Two-tone, land-ocean map with light green land areas and light blue water areas. Created using Natural Earth.		'grayland' Two-tone, land-ocean map with gray land areas and white water areas. Created using Natural Earth.
	'darkwater' Two-tone, land-ocean map with light gray land areas and dark gray water areas. This basemap is installed with MATLAB. Created using Natural Earth.		'none' Blank background that plots your data with a latitude-longitude grid, ticks, and labels.

All basemaps except 'darkwater' require Internet access. The 'darkwater' basemap is included with MATLAB.

If you do not have consistent access to the Internet, you can download the basemaps created using Natural Earth onto your local system by using the Add-On Explorer. The five high-zoom-level maps are not available for download. For more about downloading basemaps and changing the default basemap on your local system, see Access Basemaps for Geographic Axes and Charts.

The basemaps hosted by Esri update periodically. As a result, you might see differences in your visualizations over time.

Alignment of boundaries and region labels are a presentation of the feature provided by the data vendors and do not imply endorsement by MathWorks^®.

Data Types: char | string

SourceTable — Source table

table | timetable

Source table containing the data to plot. Specify this property as a table or a timetable.

GridVisible — Visibility of grid lines

'on' (default) | 'off' | true | false

Visibility of the grid lines, specified as 'on' or 'off', or the logical values 1 (true) or 0 (false).

Alternatively, you can toggle the visibility of the grid lines by using the grid function.

Data Types: logical | char | string

LatitudeLimits — Latitude limits of map

two-element vector

This property is read-only.

Latitude limits of the map, returned as a two-element vector of the form [latmin latmax]. Each element is in the range [–90, 90] degrees.

Change the latitude limits by using the geolimits function.

The latitude limits do not change when you resize the chart by resizing the window, except to adapt to changes in the aspect ratio of the map.

Example: [-85 85]

Data Types: double

LongitudeLimits — Longitude limits of map

two-element vector

This property is read-only.

Longitude limits of map, returned as a two-element vector of the form [lonmin lonmax].

Change the longitude limits by using the geolimits function.

The longitude limits do not change when you resize the chart by resizing the window, except to adapt to changes in the aspect ratio of the map.

Example: [-100 100]

Data Types: double

MapCenter — Center point of map

two-element numeric vector

Center point of the map, specified as a two-element numeric vector of the form [center_latitude center_longitude], where center_latitude is the latitude in degrees and center_longitude is the longitude in degrees. The latitude value must be in the range (–90, 90).

Data Types: single | double

MapLayout — Layout of map

'normal' (default) | 'maximized'

Layout of the map, including the insets and decorations, specified as 'normal' or 'maximized'.

Value	Description	Illustration
'normal'	Map is inset from the edges of the chart, as defined by its OuterPosition property. The axes labels, ticks, and tick labels are visible. The title is visible, when specified. Legends, when present, appear outside and to the right of the map.
'maximized'	Map fills the entire space, as defined by the OuterPosition property. The axes labels, ticks, and tick labels are hidden. The title is hidden, even when specified. The grid is hidden, even when the GridVisible property has a value of 'on'. Legends, when present, appear within the map, toward the upper-right corner.

Data Types: char | string

ScalebarVisible — Visibility of scale bar

'on' (default) | 'off' | true | false

Visibility of the scale bar on the map, specified as 'on' or 'off', or the logical values 1 (true) or 0 (false).

Data Types: logical | char | string

ZoomLevel — Zoom level

numeric scalar in range [0, 25]

Zoom level of the map, specified as a numeric scalar in the range [0, 25]. The value is a base 2 logarithmic map scale. Increasing the ZoomLevel value by 1 doubles the map scale.

Data Types: single | double

Position

PositionConstraint — Position to hold constant

"outerposition" | "innerposition"

Position property to hold constant when adding, removing, or changing decorations, specified as one of the following values:

• "outerposition" — The OuterPosition property remains constant when you add, remove, or change decorations such as a title or an axis label. If any positional adjustments are needed, MATLAB adjusts the InnerPosition property.

• "innerposition" — The InnerPosition property remains constant when you add, remove, or change decorations such as a title or an axis label. If any positional adjustments are needed, MATLAB adjusts the OuterPosition property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

OuterPosition — Outer size and location

[0 0 1 1] (default) | four-element vector

Outer size and location, including the labels and legends, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. By default, MATLAB measures the values in units normalized to the parent container. To change the units, set the Units property. The default value of [0 0 1 1] includes the whole interior of the container.

• The left and bottom elements define the distance from the lower-left corner of the container to the lower-left corner of the geographic bubble chart.

• The width and height elements are the dimensions of the geographic bubble chart, including a margin for the surrounding labels and legends.

This figure shows the areas defined by the OuterPosition values (blue) and the InnerPosition values (red).

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

InnerPosition — Inner size and location

four-element vector

Inner size and location, excluding the labels and legends, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. By default, MATLAB measures the values in units normalized to the parent container. To change the units, set the Units property.

• The left and bottom elements define the distance from the lower-left corner of the container to the lower-left corner of the geographic bubble chart.

• The width and height elements are the dimensions of the geographic bubble chart, excluding the labels and legends.

This figure shows the areas defined by the OuterPosition values (blue) and the InnerPosition values (red).

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

Position — Inner and location, excluding labels and legends

four-element vector

Size and location, excluding the labels and legends, specified as a four-element vector of the form [left bottom width height]. This property is equivalent to the InnerPosition property.

Note

Setting this property has no effect when the parent container is a TiledChartLayout object.

Units — Position units

'normalized' (default) | 'inches' | 'centimeters' | 'points' | 'pixels' | 'characters'

Position units, specified as one of these values.

Units	Description
'normalized' (default)	Normalized with respect to the container, which is typically the figure or a panel. The lower left corner of the container maps to (0,0), and the upper right corner maps to (1,1).
'inches'	Inches
'centimeters'	Centimeters
'characters'	Based on the default UIControl font of the graphics root object: Character width = width of letter x. Character height = distance between the baselines of two lines of text.
'points'	Typography points. One point equals 1/72 of an inch.
'pixels'	Pixels. Starting in R2015b, distances in pixels are independent of your system resolution on Windows® and Macintosh systems: On Windows systems, a pixel is 1/96 of an inch. On Macintosh systems, a pixel is 1/72 of an inch. On Linux® systems, the size of a pixel is determined by your system resolution.

When specifying the units using a name-value argument during object creation, you must set the Units property before specifying the properties that you want to use these units, such as OuterPosition.

Layout — Layout options

empty LayoutOptions array (default) | TiledChartLayoutOptions object | GridLayoutOptions object

Layout options, specified as a TiledChartLayoutOptions or GridLayoutOptions object. This property is useful when the chart is either in a tiled chart layout or a grid layout.

To position the chart within the grid of a tiled chart layout, set the Tile and TileSpan properties on the TiledChartLayoutOptions object. For example, consider a 3-by-3 tiled chart layout. The layout has a grid of tiles in the center, and four tiles along the outer edges. In practice, the grid is invisible and the outer tiles do not take up space until you populate them with axes or charts.

This code places the chart c in the third tile of the grid.

c.Layout.Tile = 3;

To make the chart span multiple tiles, specify the TileSpan property as a two-element vector. For example, this chart spans 2 rows and 3 columns of tiles.

c.Layout.TileSpan = [2 3];

To place the chart in one of the surrounding tiles, specify the Tile property as "north", "south", "east", or "west". For example, setting the value to "east" places the chart in the tile to the right of the grid.

c.Layout.Tile = "east";

To place the chart into a layout within an app, specify this property as a GridLayoutOptions object. For more information about working with grid layouts in apps, see uigridlayout.

If the chart is not a child of either a tiled chart layout or a grid layout (for example, if it is a child of a figure or panel) then this property is empty and has no effect.

Visible — State of visibility

'on' (default) | on/off logical value

Visibility of the geographic bubble chart, specified as 'on' or 'off', or as numeric or logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). A value of 'on' is equivalent to true, and 'off' is equivalent to false. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState.

Parent/Child

Parent — Parent container

Figure object | Panel object | Tab object | TiledChartLayout object | GridLayout object

Parent container, specified as a Figure, Panel, Tab, TiledChartLayout, or GridLayout object.

HandleVisibility — Visibility of object handle

"on" (default) | "off" | "callback"

Visibility of the object handle in the Children property of the parent, specified as one of these values:

• "on" — Object handle is always visible.

• "off" — Object handle is invisible at all times. This option is useful for preventing unintended changes by another function. Set HandleVisibility to "off" to temporarily hide the handle during the execution of that function.

• "callback" — Object handle is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command line, but permits callback functions to access it.

If the object is not listed in the Children property of the parent, then functions that obtain object handles by searching the object hierarchy or querying handle properties cannot return it. Examples of such functions include the get, findobj, gca, gcf, gco, newplot, cla, clf, and close functions.

Hidden object handles are still valid. Set the root ShowHiddenHandles property to "on" to list all object handles regardless of their HandleVisibility property setting.

Version History

Introduced in R2017b

R2023b: Some basemaps have improved appearance at high zoom levels

The "streets-light", "streets-dark", "streets", and "topographic" basemaps hosted by Esri have an improved visual appearance at high zoom levels. For example, this image compares a basemap at zoom level 21 in R2023a with the same basemap and zoom level in R2023b.

The basemaps can also have different appearances at other zoom levels. For example, this image compares a basemap at zoom level 15 in R2023a with the same basemap and zoom level in R2023b.

R2020a: ActivePositionProperty is not recommended

Starting in R2020a, setting or getting ActivePositionProperty is not recommended. Use the PositionConstraint property instead.

There are no plans to remove ActivePositionProperty at this time, but the property is no longer listed when you call the set, get, or properties functions on the chart object.

To update your code, make these changes:

• Replace all instances of ActivePositionProperty with PositionConstraint.

• Replace all references to the "position" option with the "innerposition" option.