The matplotlib basemap toolkit is a library for plotting 2D data on maps in Python. It is similar in functionality to the matlab mapping toolbox, the IDL mapping facilities, GrADS, or the Generic Mapping Tools. PyNGL and CDAT are other libraries that provide similar capabilities in Python.
Homepage: http://matplotlib.github.com/basemap/
Basemap does not do any plotting on its own, but provides the facilities to transform coordinates to one of 25 different map projections (using the PROJ4 C library). Matplotlib is then used to plot contours, images, vectors, lines or points in the transformed coordinates. Shoreline, river and political boundary datasets (from Generic Mapping Tools) are provided, along with methods for plotting them. The GEOS library is used internally to clip the coastline and political boundary features to the desired map projection region.
Basemap provides facilities for reading shape files.
Basemap is geared toward the needs of earth scientists, particularly oceanographers and meteorologists. The author originally wrote Basemap to help in his research (climate and weather forecasting), since at the time CDAT was the only other tool in python for plotting data on map projections. Over the years, the capabilities of Basemap have evolved as scientists in other disciplines (such as biology, geology and geophysics) requested and contributed new features.
Deprecation Notice: As seen at the home page, "Basemap is deprecated in favor of the Cartopy project." See here for more information.
