PSCOAST(1) Generic Mapping Tools PSCOAST(1)NAMEpscoast - To plot land-masses, water-masses, coastlines, borders, and
rivers
SYNOPSISpscoast-Jparameters -Rwest/east/south/north[r] [
-Amin_area[/min_level/max_level][+r|l][ppercent] ] [ -B[p|s]parameters
] [ -C[l|r/]fill ] [ -Dresolution[+] ] [
-Eazim/elev[+wlon/lat[/z]][+vx0/y0] ] [ -Gfill|c ] [ -Iriver[/pen] ] [
-Jz|Zparameters ] [ -K ] [
-L[f][x]lon0/lat0[/slon]/slat/length[m|n|k][+lla‐
bel][+jjust][+ppen][+ffill][+u] ] ] [ -O ] [ -Nborder[/pen] ] [ -O ] [
-P ] [ -Q ] [ -Sfill|c ] [
-T[f|m][x]lon0/lat0/size[/info][:w,e,s,n:][+gint[/mint]] ] [
-U[just/dx/dy/][c|label] ] [ -V ] [ -W[level/]pen ] [ -X[a|c|r][x-
shift[u]] ] [ -Y[a|c|r][y-shift[u]] ] [ -Zzlevel ] [ -ccopies ] [
-bo[s|S|d|D[ncol]|c[var1/...]] ] [ -m[flag] ]
DESCRIPTIONpscoast plots grayshaded, colored, or textured land-masses [or water-
masses] on maps and [optionally] draws coastlines, rivers, and politi‐
cal boundaries. Alternatively, it can (1) issue clip paths that will
contain all land or all water areas, or (2) dump the data to an ASCII
table. The data files come in 5 different resolutions: (f)ull, (h)igh,
(i)ntermediate, (l)ow, and (c)rude. The full resolution files amount
to more than 55 Mb of data and provide great detail; for maps of larger
geographical extent it is more economical to use one of the other reso‐
lutions. If the user selects to paint the land-areas and does not
specify fill of water-areas then the latter will be transparent (i.e.,
earlier graphics drawn in those areas will not be overwritten). Like‐
wise, if the water-areas are painted and no land fill is set then the
land-areas will be transparent. A map projection must be supplied.
The PostScript code is written to standard output.
-J Selects the map projection. Scale is UNIT/degree, 1:xxxxx, or
width in UNIT (upper case modifier). UNIT is cm, inch, or m,
depending on the MEASURE_UNIT setting in .gmtdefaults4, but this
can be overridden on the command line by appending c, i, or m to
the scale/width value. When central meridian is optional,
default is center of longitude range on -R option. Default
standard parallel is the equator. For map height, max dimen‐
sion, or min dimension, append h, +, or - to the width, respec‐
tively.
More details can be found in the psbasemap man pages.
CYLINDRICAL PROJECTIONS:
-Jclon0/lat0/scale (Cassini)
-Jcyl_stere/[lon0/[lat0/]]scale (Cylindrical Stereographic)
-Jj[lon0/]scale (Miller)
-Jm[lon0/[lat0/]]scale (Mercator)
-Jmlon0/lat0/scale (Mercator - Give meridian and standard paral‐
lel)
-Jo[a]lon0/lat0/azimuth/scale (Oblique Mercator - point and
azimuth)
-Jo[b]lon0/lat0/lon1/lat1/scale (Oblique Mercator - two points)
-Joclon0/lat0/lonp/latp/scale (Oblique Mercator - point and
pole)
-Jq[lon0/[lat0/]]scale (Cylindrical Equidistant)
-Jtlon0/[lat0/]scale (TM - Transverse Mercator)
-Juzone/scale (UTM - Universal Transverse Mercator)
-Jy[lon0/[lat0/]]scale (Cylindrical Equal-Area)
CONIC PROJECTIONS:
-Jblon0/lat0/lat1/lat2/scale (Albers)
-Jdlon0/lat0/lat1/lat2/scale (Conic Equidistant)
-Jllon0/lat0/lat1/lat2/scale (Lambert Conic Conformal)
-Jpoly/[lon0/[lat0/]]scale ((American) Polyconic)
AZIMUTHAL PROJECTIONS:
-Jalon0/lat0[/horizon]/scale (Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area)
-Jelon0/lat0[/horizon]/scale (Azimuthal Equidistant)
-Jflon0/lat0[/horizon]/scale (Gnomonic)
-Jglon0/lat0[/horizon]/scale (Orthographic)
-Jglon0/lat0/altitude/azimuth/tilt/twist/Width/Height/scale
(General Perspective).
-Jslon0/lat0[/horizon]/scale (General Stereographic)
MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTIONS:
-Jh[lon0/]scale (Hammer)
-Ji[lon0/]scale (Sinusoidal)
-Jkf[lon0/]scale (Eckert IV)
-Jk[s][lon0/]scale (Eckert VI)
-Jn[lon0/]scale (Robinson)
-Jr[lon0/]scale (Winkel Tripel)
-Jv[lon0/]scale (Van der Grinten)
-Jw[lon0/]scale (Mollweide)
NON-GEOGRAPHICAL PROJECTIONS:
-Jp[a]scale[/origin][r|z] (Polar coordinates (theta,r))
-Jxx-scale[d|l|ppow|t|T][/y-scale[d|l|ppow|t|T]] (Linear, log,
and power scaling)
-R west, east, south, and north specify the Region of interest, and
you may specify them in decimal degrees or in
[+-]dd:mm[:ss.xxx][W|E|S|N] format. Append r if lower left and
upper right map coordinates are given instead of w/e/s/n. The
two shorthands -Rg and -Rd stand for global domain (0/360 and
-180/+180 in longitude respectively, with -90/+90 in latitude).
Alternatively, specify the name of an existing grid file and the
-R settings (and grid spacing, if applicable) are copied from
the grid.
OPTIONS
No space between the option flag and the associated arguments.
-A Features with an area smaller than min_area in km^2 or of hier‐
archical level that is lower than min_level or higher than
max_level will not be plotted [Default is 0/0/4 (all features)].
Level 2 (lakes) contains regular lakes and wide river bodies
which we normally include as lakes; append +r to just get river-
lakes or +l to just get regular lakes (requires GSHHS 2.0.1 or
higher). Finally, append +ppercent to exclude polygons whose
percentage area of the corresponding full-resolution feature is
less than percent (requires GSHHS 2.0 or higher). See GSHHS
INFORMATION below for more details.
-B Sets map boundary annotation and tickmark intervals; see the
psbasemap man page for all the details.
-C Set the shade, color, or pattern for lakes and river-lakes
[Default is the fill chosen for "wet" areas (-S)]. Optionally,
specify separate fills by prepending l/ for lakes and r/ for
river-lakes, repeating the -C option as needed. (See SPECIFYING
FILL below).
-D Selects the resolution of the data set to use ((f)ull, (h)igh,
(i)ntermediate, (l)ow, and (c)rude). The resolution drops off
by 80% between data sets [Default is l]. Append + to automati‐
cally select a lower resolution should the one requested not be
available [abort if not found].
-E Sets the viewpoint's azimuth and elevation (for perspective
view) [180/90]. For frames used for animation, you may want to
append + to fix the center of your data domain (or specify a
particular world coordinate point with +wlon0/lat[/z]) which
will project to the center of your page size (or specify the
coordinates of the projected view point with +vx0/y0).
-G Select filling or clipping of "dry" areas. Append the shade,
color, or pattern (see SPECIFYING FILL below); or use -Gc for
clipping [Default is no fill].
-I Draw rivers. Specify the type of rivers and [optionally] append
pen attributes [Default pen: width = 0.25p, color = black, tex‐
ture = solid]. (See SPECIFYING PENS below).
Choose from the list of river types below. Repeat option -I as
often as necessary.
1 = Permanent major rivers
2 = Additional major rivers
3 = Additional rivers
4 = Minor rivers
5 = Intermittent rivers - major
6 = Intermittent rivers - additional
7 = Intermittent rivers - minor
8 = Major canals
9 = Minor canals
10 = Irrigation canals
a = All rivers and canals (1-10)
r = All permanent rivers (1-4)
i = All intermittent rivers (5-7)
c = All canals (8-10)
-Jz Sets the vertical scaling (for 3-D maps). Same syntax as -Jx.
-K More PostScript code will be appended later [Default terminates
the plot system].
-L Draws a simple map scale centered on lon0/lat0. Use -Lx to
specify x/y position instead. Scale is calculated at latitude
slat (optionally supply longitude slon for oblique projections
[Default is central meridian]), length is in km [miles if m is
appended; nautical miles if n is appended]. Use -Lf to get a
"fancy" scale [Default is plain]. Append +l to select the
default label which equals the distance unit (km, miles, nauti‐
cal miles) and is justified on top of the scale [t]. Change
this by giving your own label (append +llabel). Change label
justification with +jjustification (choose among l(eft),
r(ight), t(op), and b(ottom)). Apply +u to append the unit to
all distance annotations along the scale. If you want to place
a rectangle behind the scale, specify suitable +ppen and/or
+ffill parameters. (See SPECIFYING PENS and SPECIFYING FILL
below).
-N Draw political boundaries. Specify the type of boundary and
[optionally] append pen attributes [Default pen: width = 0.25p,
color = black, texture = solid]. (See SPECIFYING PENS below).
(See SPECIFYING PENS below).
Choose from the list of boundaries below. Repeat option -N as
often as necessary.
1 = National boundaries
2 = State boundaries within the Americas
3 = Marine boundaries
a = All boundaries (1-3)
-O Selects Overlay plot mode [Default initializes a new plot sys‐
tem].
-P Selects Portrait plotting mode [Default is Landscape, see gmtde‐
faults to change this].
-Q Mark end of existing clip path. No projection information is
needed. However, you must supply -Xa and -Ya settings if you
are using absolute positioning.
-S Select filling or clipping of "wet" areas. Append the shade,
color, or pattern (see SPECIFYING FILL below); or use -Sc for
clipping [Default is no fill].
-T Draws a simple map directional rose centered on lon0/lat0. Use
-Tx to specify x/y position instead. The size is the diameter
of the rose, and optional label information can be specified to
override the default values of W, E, S, and N (Give :: to sup‐
press all labels). The default [plain] map rose only labels
north. Use -Tf to get a "fancy" rose, and specify in info what
you want drawn. The default [1] draws the two principal E-W, N-
S orientations, 2 adds the two intermediate NW-SE and NE-SW ori‐
entations, while 3 adds the eight minor orientations WNW-ESE,
NNW-SSE, NNE-SSW, and ENE-WSW. For a magnetic compass rose,
specify -Tm. If given, info must be the two parameters dec/dla‐
bel, where dec is the magnetic declination and dlabel is a label
for the magnetic compass needle (specify - to format a label
from dec). Then, both directions to geographic and magnetic
north are plotted [Default is geographic only]. If the north
label is * then a north star is plotted instead of the north
label. Annotation and two levels of tick intervals for geo‐
graphic and magnetic directions are 10/5/1 and 30/5/1 degrees,
respectively; override these settings by appending
+gints[/mints]. Color and pen attributes are taken from
COLOR_BACKGROUND and TICK_PEN, respectively, while label fonts
and sizes follow the usual annotation, label, and header font
settings.
-U Draw Unix System time stamp on plot. By adding just/dx/dy/, the
user may specify the justification of the stamp and where the
stamp should fall on the page relative to lower left corner of
the plot. For example, BL/0/0 will align the lower left corner
of the time stamp with the lower left corner of the plot.
Optionally, append a label, or c (which will plot the command
string.). The GMT parameters UNIX_TIME, UNIX_TIME_POS, and
UNIX_TIME_FORMAT can affect the appearance; see the gmtdefaults
man page for details. The time string will be in the locale set
by the environment variable TZ (generally local time).
-V Selects verbose mode, which will send progress reports to stderr
[Default runs "silently"].
-W Draw shorelines [Default is no shorelines]. Append pen
attributes [Defaults: width = 0.25p, color = black, texture =
solid] which apply to all four levels. To set the pen for each
level differently, prepend level/, where level is 1-4 and repre‐
sent coastline, lakeshore, island-in-lake shore, and lake-in-
island-in-lake shore. Repeat -W as needed. When specific level
pens are set, those not listed will not be drawn [Default draws
all levels; but see -A]. (See SPECIFYING PENS below).
-X -Y Shift plot origin relative to the current origin by (x-shift,y-
shift) and optionally append the length unit (c, i, m, p). You
can prepend a to shift the origin back to the original position
after plotting, or prepend r [Default] to reset the current
origin to the new location. If -O is used then the default (x-
shift,y-shift) is (0,0), otherwise it is (r1i, r1i) or (r2.5c,
r2.5c). Alternatively, give c to align the center coordinate (x
or y) of the plot with the center of the page based on current
page size.
-Z For 3-D projections: Sets the z-level of the coastlines
[Default is the bottom of the z-axis].
-bo Selects binary output. Append s for single precision [Default
is d (double)]. Uppercase S or D will force byte-swapping.
Optionally, append ncol, the number of desired columns in your
binary output file.
-c Specifies the number of plot copies. [Default is 1].
-m Dumps a single multisegment ASCII (or binary, see -bo) file to
standard output. No plotting occurs. Specify any combination
of -W, -I, -N. Optionally, you may append the flag character
that is written at the start of each segment header ['>'].
SPECIFYING PENS
pen The attributes of lines and symbol outlines as defined by pen is
a comma delimetered list of width, color and texture, each of
which is optional. width can be indicated as a measure (points,
centimeters, inches) or as faint, thin[ner|nest], thick[er|est],
fat[ter|test], or obese. color specifies a gray shade or color
(see SPECIFYING COLOR below). texture is a combination of
dashes `-' and dots `.'.
SPECIFYING FILL
fill The attribute fill specifies the solid shade or solid color (see
SPECIFYING COLOR below) or the pattern used for filling poly‐
gons. Patterns are specified as pdpi/pattern, where pattern
gives the number of the built-in pattern (1-90) or the name of a
Sun 1-, 8-, or 24-bit raster file. The dpi sets the resolution
of the image. For 1-bit rasters: use Pdpi/pattern for inverse
video, or append :Fcolor[B[color]] to specify fore- and back‐
ground colors (use color = - for transparency). See GMT Cook‐
book & Technical Reference Appendix E for information on indi‐
vidual patterns.
SPECIFYING COLOR
color The color of lines, areas and patterns can be specified by a
valid color name; by a gray shade (in the range 0-255); by a
decimal color code (r/g/b, each in range 0-255; h-s-v, ranges
0-360, 0-1, 0-1; or c/m/y/k, each in range 0-1); or by a hexa‐
decimal color code (#rrggbb, as used in HTML). See the gmtcol‐
ors manpage for more information and a full list of color names.
EXAMPLES
To plot a green Africa with white outline on blue background, with per‐
manent major rivers in thick blue pen, additional major rivers in thin
blue pen, and national borders as dashed lines on a Mercator map at
scale 0.1 inch/degree, use
pscoast -R-30/30/-40/40 -Jm 0.1i -B 5 -I 1/1p,blue -I 2/0.25p,blue -N
1/0.25p,- -W 0.25p,white -G green -S blue -P > africa.ps
To plot Iceland using the lava pattern (# 28) at 100 dots per inch, on
a Mercator map at scale 1 cm/degree, run
pscoast -R-30/-10/60/65 -Jm 1c -B 5 -Gp 100/28 > iceland.ps
To initiate a clip path for Africa so that the subsequent colorimage of
gridded topography is only seen over land, using a Mercator map at
scale 0.1 inch/degree, use
pscoast -R-30/30/-40/40 -Jm 0.1i -B 5 -Gc -P -K > africa.ps
grdimage -Jm 0.1i etopo5.grd -C colors.cpt -O -K >> africa.ps
pscoast-Q -O >> africa.ps
pscoast will first look for coastline files in directory
$GMT_SHAREDIR/coast If the desired file is not found, it will look for
the file $GMT_SHAREDIR/coastline.conf. This file may contain any num‐
ber of records that each holds the full pathname of an alternative
directory. Comment lines (#) and blank lines are allowed. The desired
file is then sought for in the alternate directories.
GSHHS INFORMATION
The coastline database is GSHHS which is compiled from two sources:
World Vector Shorelines (WVS) and CIA World Data Bank II (WDBII). In
particular, all level-1 polygons (ocean-land boundary) are derived from
the more accurate WVS while all higher level polygons (level 2-4, rep‐
resenting land/lake, lake/island-in-lake, and island-in-lake/lake-in-
island-in-lake boundaries) are taken from WDBII. Much processing has
taken place to convert WVS and WDBII data into usable form for GMT:
assembling closed polygons from line segments, checking for duplicates,
and correcting for crossings between polygons. The area of each poly‐
gon has been determined so that the user may choose not to draw fea‐
tures smaller than a minimum area (see -A); one may also limit the
highest hierarchical level of polygons to be included (4 is the maxi‐
mum). The 4 lower-resolution databases were derived from the full res‐
olution database using the Douglas-Peucker line-simplification algo‐
rithm. The classification of rivers and borders follow that of the
WDBII. See the GMT Cookbook and Technical Reference Appendix K for
further details.
BUGS
The options to fill (-C -G -S) may not always work if the Azimuthal
equidistant projection is chosen (-Je|E). If the antipole of the pro‐
jection is in the oceans it will most likely work. If not, try to
avoid using projection center coordinates that are even multiples of
the coastline bin size (1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 degrees for f, h, i, l, c,
respectively). This projection is not supported for clipping.
The political borders are for the most part 1970s-style but have been
updated to reflect more recent border rearrangements in Europe and
elsewhere. Let us know if you find something out of date.
Some users of pscoast will not be satisfied with what they find for the
Antarctic shoreline. In Antarctica, the boundary between ice and ocean
varies seasonally and inter-annually. There are some areas of perma‐
nent sea ice. In addition to these time-varying ice-ocean boundaries,
there are also ice grounding lines where ice goes from floating on the
sea to sitting on land, and lines delimiting areas of rock outcrop.
For consistency's sake, we have used the World Vector Shoreline
throughout the world in pscoast, as described in the GMT Cookbook Ap‐
pendix K. Users who need specific boundaries in Antarctica should get
the Antarctic Digital Database, prepared by the British Antarctic Sur‐
vey, Scott Polar Research Institute, World Conservation Monitoring Cen‐
tre, under the auspices of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic
Research. This data base contains various kinds of limiting lines for
Antarctica and is available on CD-ROM. It is published by the Scien‐
tific Committee on Antarctic Research, Scott Polar Research Institute,
Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ER, United Kingdom.
SEE ALSOgmtcolors(5), gmtdefaults(1), GMT(1), grdlandmask(1), psbasemap(1)GMT 4.5.14 1 Nov 2015 PSCOAST(1)
