Add Python Basemap Toolkit to the disc

[darkblueb]

​http://matplotlib.org/basemap/users/installing.html

seems to rely on all of our existing tools.. if this is useful to Climate Scientists then I am for it...

It already might be present, I will check later today.

[darkblueb]

moved to 7.5 due to popular request

[darkblueb]

basemap -- ask advice from Iris team, who uses SO many packages

[hamish]

​http://matplotlib.org/basemap/users/intro.html

The matplotlib basemap toolkit is a library for plotting 2D data on maps in Python. It is similar in functionality to the matlab mapping toolbox, the IDL mapping facilities, GrADS, or the Generic Mapping Tools. PyNGL and CDAT are other libraries that provide similar capabilities in Python.

Basemap does not do any plotting on it\u2019s own, but provides the facilities to transform coordinates to one of 25 different map projections (using the PROJ.4 C library). Matplotlib is then used to plot contours, images, vectors, lines or points in the transformed coordinates. Shoreline, river and political boundary datasets (from Generic Mapping Tools) are provided, along with methods for plotting them. The GEOS library is used internally to clip the coastline and polticial boundary features to the desired map projection region.

Basemap provides facilities for reading shapefiles.

Basemap is geared toward the needs of earth scientists, particular oceanographers and meteorologists. I originally wrote Basemap to help in my research (climate and weather forecasting), since at the time CDAT was the only other tool in python for plotting data on map projections. Over the years, the capabilities of Basemap have evolved as scientists in other disciplines (such as biology, geology and geophysics) requested and contributed new features.

screenshots:

​https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=Matplotlib+Basemap

[hamish]

(M_map + Octave is another toolbox along these same lines)

​http://www2.ocgy.ubc.ca/~rich/map.html

[darkblueb]

disk cost of adding Basemap python-mpltoolkits.basemap python-mpltoolkits.basemap-data appears to be 247,736K when installed on the 9,779,769K filesystem, representing a 2.5 percent increase on disk, uncompressed.

Basemap is useful for demos, and, no user has requested it (that I have heard).

[kalxas]

Ticket retargeted after milestone closed

[kalxas]

Ticket retargeted after milestone closed