Mapping Toolbox

Create 2D and 3D Map Displays

Mapping Toolbox provides a broad set of visualization functions to combine vector and raster data and produce customized 2D and 3D map displays. The map displays can be simple or sophisticated, and can be tuned to your application. You can readily combine data sets of different scales and modalities in the same display. For example, you can display images and data grids in their correct positions—regardless of cell size, pixel size, or area covered—and then overlay vector map features.

Function-level access to map display capabilities in the toolbox enables automatic creation of frequently used map displays. For example, you can use batch mode processing to examine a geospatial time-series data set and create an animated display that shows how the data changes over time. Functionality in MATLAB enables you to save animated map figures to a movie or GIF file.

With the visualization functions in the toolbox, you can:

• Create scatter, line, polygon, quiver, comet, and stem plots
• Annotate your map with a scale ruler, north arrow, contour labels, and legends
• Customize map markers, colors, and line styles
• Vary transparency for polygons and raster data sets
• Control latitude-longitude grid and meridian and parallel labels
• Apply special colormaps for contour maps, terrain, bathymetry grids, and political maps
• Control lighting, shading, and perspective

Map display of eastern Massachusetts town borders and hydrology with a scale ruler, north arrow, and an inset map of the Northeast United States. Image courtesy of Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS).

Overlay of raster and vector data layers for Concord, Massachusetts. Data courtesy of Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS).