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(ax,___)

geoplot(___,Name,Value)

h = geoplot(___)

Description

Vector Data

geoplot(lat,lon) plots a line in geographic coordinates. Specify latitude coordinates in degrees using lat, and specify longitude coordinates in degrees using lon. If the current axes is not a geographic or map axes, or if there is no current axes, then the function plots the line in a new geographic axes.

geoplot(lat,lon,LineSpec) creates the plot using the specified line style, marker symbol, and color.

geoplot(lat1,lon1,...,latN,lonN) plots pairs of latitude and longitude coordinates using multiple lines on the same axes.

geoplot(lat1,lon1,LineSpec1,...,latN,lonN,LineSpecN) specifies the line style, marker symbol, and color for each line. You can specify LineSpec for some lines and omit it for others. For example, geoplot(lat1,lon1,"o",lat2,lon2) specifies markers for the first line but not for the second 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(ax,___) displays the plot in the axes specified by ax. Specify the axes as the first argument in any of the previous syntaxes.

geoplot(___,Name,Value) specifies properties of the chart line using one or more name-value arguments. The properties apply to all the plotted lines. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

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 plot after creating it. For a list of properties, see Line Properties.

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 Line Plot

Load a MAT file containing coordinates for the perimeter of the contiguous United States. The variables within the MAT file, uslat and uslon, specify latitude and longitude coordinates, respectively, in degrees. Display the coordinates over a topographic basemap.

load usapolygon.mat
geoplot(uslat,uslon)
geobasemap topographic

Plot Multiple Lines in Geographic Coordinates

Load a MAT file containing coordinates for each contiguous US state. Extract the coordinates for Indiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

load usastates.mat

lat1 = usastates(12).Lat;
lon1 = usastates(12).Lon;

lat2 = usastates(40).Lat;
lon2 = usastates(40).Lon;

lat3 = usastates(46).Lat;
lon3 = usastates(46).Lon;

Display the state outlines using three lines. Zoom out by changing the geographic limits.

geoplot(lat1,lon1,lat2,lon2,lat3,lon3)
geolimits([33.5 42.2],[-93.0 -75.5])

Specify Line Style, Color, and Marker

Specify the latitude and longitude coordinates of several points along a highway in Germany. Display the points as a line over the streets basemap using a black dashed line with circle markers.

lat = [48.915 48.907 48.901 48.893 48.887 48.881 48.875 48.869 48.865];
lon = [10.192 10.188 10.182 10.171 10.166 10.165 10.167 10.173 10.184];

geoplot(lat,lon,"k--o")
geobasemap streets

Specify Line Width, Marker Size, and Marker Color

Specify the latitude and longitude coordinates of several points along the Mississippi River.

lat = [32.30 33.92 35.17 36.98 37.69 38.34];
lon = [-91.05 -91.18 -90.09 -89.11 -89.52 -90.37];

Create a line plot from the data. Use the LineSpec option to specify a dashed green line with square markers. Use name-value arguments to specify the line width, marker size, and marker colors.

geoplot(lat,lon,"--gs",LineWidth=2, ...
    MarkerSize=10,MarkerEdgeColor="b", ...
    MarkerFaceColor=[0.5 0.5 0.5])

Zoom out by adjusting the latitude and longitude limits of the plot. Then, change the basemap to a terrain basemap.

geolimits([31.6 38.8],[-97 -83])
geobasemap grayterrain

Add Text to Geographic Plot

Specify the geographic coordinates and names of several places in Boston.

lat = [42.3501 42.3598 42.3626 42.3668 42.3557];
lon = [-71.0870 -71.0662 -71.0789 -71.0801 -71.0662];
n = [" BACK BAY"," BEACON HILL"," BROAD CANAL"," EAST CAMBRIDGE"," FLAGSTAFF HILL"];

Plot the locations using black star markers over the topographic basemap. Zoom out of the plot by adjusting the limits.

geoplot(lat,lon,"k*")
geobasemap topographic
geolimits([42.3456 42.3694],[-71.0977 -71.0489])

Display the place names at the same locations.

text(lat,lon,n)

Plot Data from 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";

Input Arguments

lat — 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].

Create breaks in the lines using NaN values. For example, this code plots the first two elements, skips the third element, and then plots another line using the last two elements.

geoplot([10 20 NaN 30 40],[10 20 NaN 30 40])

The sizes of lat and lon must match.

Example: [43.0327 38.8921 44.0435]

Data Types: single | double

lon — Longitude coordinates in degrees

vector

Longitude coordinates in degrees, specified as a vector.

Create breaks in the lines using NaN values. For example, this code plots the first two elements, skips the third element, and then plots another line using the last two elements.

geoplot([10 20 NaN 30 40],[10 20 NaN 30 40])

The sizes of lat and lon must match.

Example: [-107.5556 -77.0269 -72.5565]

Data Types: single | double

LineSpec — Line style, marker, and color

string scalar | character vector

Line style, marker, and color, specified as a string scalar 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 named A ["A","B"] or {'A','B'} — Two variables named 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 named A ["A","B"] or {'A','B'} — Two variables named 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.

ax — Target axes

GeographicAxes object | MapAxes object

Target axes, specified as a GeographicAxes object¹ or MapAxes (Mapping Toolbox) object. If you do not specify this argument, then the geoplot function plots into the current axes, provided that the current axes is a geographic or map axes object.

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.

Example: geoplot(lat,lon,LineWidth=2) plots a line with a line width of 2 points.

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

Example: geoplot(lat,lon,"LineWidth",2) plots a line with a line width of 2 points.

Note

Use name-value arguments to specify values for the properties of the Line objects created by this function. The properties listed here are only a subset. For a full list, see Line Properties.

Property settings apply to all lines in the plot. To set the properties of an individual line, get a handle to the line by specifying the output argument h. Then, use dot notation to set properties for an individual line.

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 string scalar or character vector 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 the 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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default.
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

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 string scalar or character vector 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 the 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

This table lists the default color palettes for plots in the light and dark themes.

Palette	Palette Colors
"gem" — Light theme default Before R2025a: Most plots use these colors by default.
"glow" — Dark theme default

You can get the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for these palettes using the orderedcolors and rgb2hex functions. For example, get the RGB triplets for the "gem" palette and convert them to hexadecimal color codes.

RGB = orderedcolors("gem");
H = rgb2hex(RGB);

Before R2023b: Get the RGB triplets using RGB = get(groot,"FactoryAxesColorOrder").

Before R2024a: Get the hexadecimal color codes using H = compose("#%02X%02X%02X",round(RGB*255)).

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

• Plot 3-D geographic data using 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 might appear misaligned.

• The geoplot function uses colors and line styles based on the ColorOrder and LineStyleOrder properties of the axes. The function cycles through the colors with the first line style. Then, it cycles through the colors again with each additional line style.

• Plotting data that requires Cartesian axes into a geographic axes or map axes is not supported.

• To plot additional data into the 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.