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title: PyGMT AGU 2021 Fall Meeting Abstract

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# PyGMT AGU 2021 Fall Meeting Abstract

## Session

[IN030 - Open-source software, notebooks, and FAIR software](https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm21/prelim.cgi/Session/122569)

## Title (300 characters):

PyGMT: An open-source Python library for geospatial processing, analysis, and visualization

## Authors (self-added with affiliation):

Jones, Meghan (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)
Grund, Michael (Innoplexia GmbH)
Schlitzer, Will (Unaffiliated)
Leong, Wei Ji (Antarctic Research Centre)
Tian, Dongdong (Michigan State University)
Yao, Jiayuan (Nanyang Technological University)
Uieda, Leonardo (University of Liverpool, UK)

## Description (2000 characters):

PyGMT is an open-source Python package for geospatial data processing, analysis, and visualization. PyGMT is designed to integrate smoothly with scientific Python packages (e.g., NumPy, pandas, xarray, GeoPandas), support rich display in Jupyter notebooks, and improve access to the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) by providing a user-friendly interface to the GMT C API. Here, we showcase PyGMT’s strengths in supporting Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) workflows for processing geospatial data and producing publication quality maps and figures. We provide an overview of the features available in PyGMT, including plotting methods, operations on tabular data (e.g., data gridding), and operations on grids (e.g., grid filtering) as well as outline PyGMT’s development process, including testing, versioning, and archival. We will use an online notebook to share a few common use-cases for PyGMT, including gridding geospatial tabular data, plotting the gridded data using one of 30+ map projections with GMT’s fast generation of a directional gradient grid for illumination, and adding map embellishments such as insets, scale bars, and legends. The growing PyGMT team strives to nurture a welcoming community that supports and values contributions of all forms, including documentation, code, teaching, helping newcomers, and outreach. We will discuss PyGMT’s approach to fostering our community and our future plans, including simplifying the syntax, improving the integration with ObsPy, and supporting animations.

## Image (Optional):

## Plain language summary (Optional, 200 words):

Processing and plotting spatial data are essential tasks across many scientific disciplines. PyGMT is a Python package designed to help scientists accomplish these tasks. PyGMT provides a Python interface to the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software, which is a command line toolbox for processing data, generating publication-quality figures, and making animations. PyGMT is able to support a remarkable number of features by leveraging GMT’s 30+ years of continuous development. At the same time, PyGMT brings a fresh perspective to GMT by following the guiding principles of the Python language, supporting interactive computing, and allowing access to GMT’s features while using other popular Python packages, such as xarray, pandas, and NumPy.

## Requested presentation format:

## Online or in-person presentation:

## Previously submitted material:

The following conference presentations were submitted about the development of PyGMT (previously “GMT/Python”). The proposed 2021 AGU Fall Meeting presentation will highlight the latest developments of the PyGMT package.

“Remote Online Sessions for Emerging Seismologists (ROSES): Unit 8 - PyGMT”. 2020. Liam Toney. Presented at ROSES 2020. url: https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/lesson/728

“PyGMT: Accessing the Generic Mapping Tools from Python”. 2019. Leonardo Uieda and Paul Wessel. Presented at AGU 2019. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.11320280

“Building an object-oriented Python interface for the Generic Mapping Tools”. 2018. Leonardo Uieda and Paul Wessel. Presented at SciPy 2018. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.6814052

“Integrating the Generic Mapping Tools with the Scientific Python Ecosystem”. 2018. Leonardo Uieda and Paul Wessel. Presented at AOGS Annual Meeting 2018. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.6399944

“Bringing the Generic Mapping Tools to Python”. 2017. Leonardo Uieda and Paul Wessel. Presented at SciPy 2017. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.7635833

“A modern Python interface for the Generic Mapping Tools”. 2017. Leonardo Uieda and Paul Wessel. Presented at AGU 2017. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.5662411
