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%matplotlib inline
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import tilemapbase
tilemapbase.start_logging()
tilemapbase.init(create=True)
The following example is motivated by Issue 14. It uses the location of my current office in Preston, UK.
The original problem, asked in the issue, is what to do about a very detailed background, which is obscuring the information being overlayed. I offer here two possible solutions:
Firstly, we change the "width" parameter. This has the effect of changing the "zoom" (which could also be set manually) and forces the use of the different sized tiles.
Another option is to use the ability to pass keyword arguments to the plot method. Using this, we see the alpha to 0.5 which has the effect of making the background less visible.
A final option is to experiment with using a different tile set.
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my_office = ( -2.709622, 53.761523)
degree_range = 0.003
extent = tilemapbase.Extent.from_lonlat(my_office[0] - degree_range, my_office[0] + degree_range,
my_office[1] - degree_range, my_office[1] + degree_range)
extent = extent.to_aspect(1.0)
extent
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t = tilemapbase.tiles.build_OSM()
The original version with a "width" roughly corresponding to pixel size.
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fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 8), dpi=100)
ax.xaxis.set_visible(False)
ax.yaxis.set_visible(False)
plotter = tilemapbase.Plotter(extent, t, width=600)
plotter.plot(ax, t)
x, y = tilemapbase.project(*my_office)
ax.scatter(x,y, marker=".", color="black", linewidth=20)
None
We use a larger width which has the effect of using more "zoomed in" tiles. There is less "detail", but also of course the text size etc. becomes much smaller.
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fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 8), dpi=100)
ax.xaxis.set_visible(False)
ax.yaxis.set_visible(False)
plotter = tilemapbase.Plotter(extent, t, width=1200)
plotter.plot(ax, t)
x, y = tilemapbase.project(*my_office)
ax.scatter(x,y, marker=".", color="black", linewidth=20)
None
Now we use a smaller width. This probably introduces more detail.
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fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 8), dpi=100)
ax.xaxis.set_visible(False)
ax.yaxis.set_visible(False)
plotter = tilemapbase.Plotter(extent, t, width=300)
plotter.plot(ax, t)
x, y = tilemapbase.project(*my_office)
ax.scatter(x,y, marker=".", color="black", linewidth=20)
None
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fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 8), dpi=100)
ax.xaxis.set_visible(False)
ax.yaxis.set_visible(False)
plotter = tilemapbase.Plotter(extent, t, width=300)
plotter.plot(ax, t, alpha=0.5)
x, y = tilemapbase.project(*my_office)
ax.scatter(x,y, marker=".", color="black", linewidth=20)
None
Finally, we experiment with changing tile set used. For some reason, I cannot get tab complete to work from the base tilemapbase.tiles but support is only current for either Carto or Stamen variants, so just type tilemapbase.tiles.C or .S and then tab complete to see the options.
Stamen_Watercolour is very stylised, but might be useful for a background??
Carto_Light gives a similar effect to using OpenStreetMap tiles with alpha=0.5
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t = tilemapbase.tiles.Stamen_Watercolour
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fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 8), dpi=100)
ax.xaxis.set_visible(False)
ax.yaxis.set_visible(False)
plotter = tilemapbase.Plotter(extent, t, width=300)
plotter.plot(ax, t)
x, y = tilemapbase.project(*my_office)
ax.scatter(x,y, marker=".", color="black", linewidth=20)
None
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t = tilemapbase.tiles.Carto_Light
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fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 8), dpi=100)
ax.xaxis.set_visible(False)
ax.yaxis.set_visible(False)
plotter = tilemapbase.Plotter(extent, t, width=300)
plotter.plot(ax, t)
x, y = tilemapbase.project(*my_office)
ax.scatter(x,y, marker=".", color="black", linewidth=20)
None
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