Beyond the Mouse Lecture 9: GMT 1
November 7
Instructor: Jeff Freymueller
x7286 Elvey 413B jfreymueller@alaska.eduTA: Shanshan Li
Last Updated: November 7, 2017
This lecture introduces you to the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT), which you can use to create postscript files of maps with your data on them. GMT is a collection of Unix programs each of which filling a different need in the task of creating a neat looking (and scalable, after all it's postscript) map. Those tools are best orchestrated in shell scripts. They gain their power from many command line options that sometimes seem a little odd (read: complex). Yes, there is a learning curve to climb up, but that's why we have this lecture and lab!
Dr. Bernie Coakley from the Department of Geosciences developed the material for this lecture.
Lecture
Lecture Downloads
Three files used in the lecture are provided for download here. The first is a file that stores some default parameters that you want to make sure are set. The other two are scripts that make the example maps:
- gmt.plot.parameters: a file with some default plotting parameters, used by one script.
- test.gmt.tcsh: a script to make the Celsius-ahrenheit example plot.
- Alaska.gmt.tcsh: a script to make the Alaska map example.
Lab
Additional Ressources
- The GMT website: http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu
- Eric Calais at Purdue University has a nice 7 session GMT course with examples and additional datasets
- Paul Wessel celebrates GMT's 20th anniversary with a HD format (720p, 776MB) talk on the origin, use, capabilities, and future of GMT. (smaller (243MB) non-HD version here).
Dr. Jeffrey T. Freymueller
Professor of Geophysics
Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320