GRASS and GMT

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GMT (The Generic Mapping Tools)

GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) is a Free software package for creating publication quality cartography.

GMT homepage: http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu

Importing from GMT

Old style binary grd

  • Import using r.in.bin with the -h flag.
Note: (in case you missed it) r.in.bin -h was written to be used with the old style GMT grd format.

New style NetCDF grd

  • r.in.gdal should be used for the new NetCDF GMT grd format directly.
See the GDAL netCDF driver page.
  • If you wish to use the r.in.bin -h method with the a NetCDF based grd file you will need to reformat the GMT grid into the old format:
grdreformat in.grd out.grd=bf

Importing CPT color tables

  • Import GMT style .cpt color table files with the r.cpt2grass script on the Add-ons page.
For a large collection of GMT .cpt files see http://sview01.wiredworkplace.net/pub/cpt-city/

Exporting GRASS maps to GMT


(Supplied by the GRASS Users Group of Davis, California)

Currently there are several *.out.GMT permutations on the Add-ons page, in several different languages (bash, python, etc.), and each of which with relative pros/cons. An effort to unify these approaches would save much of the current difficulties in moving complex raster+vector data into a GMT-friendly format. A simple road map toward this goal is outlined below.


Proper conversion of GRASS raster color data into GMT compatible CPT files

David Finlayson's r.out.gmt.py does a nice job of this. Once we decide on an optimal language to implement the routines in this may need translation.

Proper conversion of GRASS raster data to GMT compatible binary grids

A combination of r.out.bin | xyz2grd can accomplish this. Several attempts at generalizing this procedure have been proposed: r.out.gmt.py, r.out.gmt (Hamish and Dylan), r.out.gmt.sh (Dylan, based Hamish's work).

Proper conversion of GRASS vector data to GMT compatible ascii files

There is currently an effort (with some funding!), see some of the chatter on the GRASS and GMT mailing lists: GRASS-list GMT-help

Automatic conversion of symbology data stored in a gis.m or QGIS saved state to GMT options

Ideas expressed on various mailing list, haven't seem much since. It should be a relatively simple excercise in XML parsing to convert symbology stored in a QGIS project file into something that GMT can use.

General approach

Since GMT relies on a sequence of specialized programs to "build-up" a postscript file, some thought must be put into how the conversion should take place. As usual, form should follow function- maximum flexibility, robustness, and accuracy being primary objectives. However, a simple means of creating high quality 2D maps would be a tremendous (I think) addition to the GRASS toolset. Especially since this is something frequently cited by critics. --DylanBeaudette 02:47, 10 December 2006 (CET)

1. should we continue down the well troden path of single-use, highly efficient programs for the various conversion steps: i.e v.out.GMT, r.out.GMT, etc.?

2. should there be a unified approach to the process: something akin to ps.map - GMT.map ?

Tutorials

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