Geographic Polar Plot

Polar plot with vertical reference axis and direction changes clockwise, like a compass rose.

You are now following this Submission

This function, named polargeo.m, is based on MATLAB's polar plotting function. The polar function has been modified so that the reference axis is oriented vertically instead of horizontally and the direction (bearing, angle) values change from 0 to 360 degrees in a clockwise manner. Thus the polar plot is oriented in a geographic sense, with the reference pointing to True North. This function is extremely useful for plotting geographically referenced data, for example, the range (distance) and true bearing (direction) of an aircraft from a stationary radar site.
Lines 120, 155 and 156 in the polar function were modified (sine terms were changed to cosine terms and cosine terms were changed to sine terms).

Cite As

Mark Labrecque (2026). Geographic Polar Plot (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/1690-geographic-polar-plot), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

General Information

MATLAB Release Compatibility

  • Compatible with any release

Platform Compatibility

  • Windows
  • macOS
  • Linux
Version Published Release Notes Action
1.0.0.0

no update notes as of 10 April 2016.