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addCustomBasemap

Add custom basemap

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Syntax

addCustomBasemap(basemapName,URL)
addCustomBasemap(basemapName,mbtilesFilename)
addCustomBasemap(___,Name,Value)

Description

example

addCustomBasemap(basemapName,URL) adds the custom basemap specified by URL to the list of basemaps available for use with mapping functions. basemapName is the name you choose to call the custom basemap. Added basemaps remain available for use in future MATLAB® sessions.

You can use custom basemaps with several types of map displays, for example, web maps created using the webmap function, geographic globes created using the geoglobe function, and geographic axes created using the geoaxes function.

example

addCustomBasemap(basemapName,mbtilesFilename) adds the custom basemap specified by mbtilesFilename, an MBTiles file containing a tile set of raster data. You can use the basemap in future MATLAB sessions, provided the MBTiles file is still on the same path as when you add it.

Web maps do not support custom basemaps created from MBTiles files.

example

addCustomBasemap(___,Name,Value) specifies name-value arguments that set additional parameters of the basemap.

Examples

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Open Live Script

Display locations on a geographic bubble chart using a basemap from OpenStreetMap®.

Define the name that you will use to specify your custom basemap.

name = 'openstreetmap';

Specify the website that provides the map data. The first character of the URL indicates which server to use to get the data. For load balancing, the provider has three servers that you can use: a, b, or c.

url = 'a.tile.openstreetmap.org';

Create an attribution to display on the map that gives credit to the provider of the map data. Web map providers might define specific requirements for the attribution.

copyright = char(uint8(169));
attribution = copyright + "OpenStreetMap contributors";

Add the custom basemap to the list of basemap layers available.

addCustomBasemap(name,url,'Attribution',attribution)

Plot the locations over the map using a geographic bubble chart. You can specify your custom basemap when you create the geographic bubble chart.

lat = [42.3501 42.3515 42.3598 42.3584 42.3529];
lon = [-71.0870 -71.0926 -71.0662 -71.0598 -71.0662];
gb = geobubble(lat,lon,'Basemap','openstreetmap');
gb.BubbleWidthRange = 25;
gb.MapLayout = 'maximized';
gb.ZoomLevel = 14;

Display the route of a glider in 2-D and 3-D using a topographic basemap from the USGS National Map.

Before adding the basemap, specify the location of the map tiles. To do this, specify the URL of the National Map ArcGIS REST Services Directory. Then, add the path to the map tiles from the USGS Topo basemap service.

url = "https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/ArcGIS/rest/services";
fullurl = url + "/USGSTopo/MapServer/tile/${z}/${y}/${x}";

Specify a name for the basemap and attribution text to display with it. 

nm = 'usgstopo';
att = 'Credit: US Geological Survey';

Finally, add the USGS Topo basemap.

addCustomBasemap(nm,fullurl,'Attribution',att)

Plot the path of a glider over the basemap. To do this, import latitude, longitude, and geoid height values.

trk = gpxread('sample_mixed','FeatureType','track');
lat = trk.Latitude;
lon = trk.Longitude;
h = trk.Elevation;

Display the path in 2-D using geographic axes. Specify the basemap using the geobasemap function and the name of the basemap. Use the basemap name given when you created it.

geobasemap usgstopo
geoplot(lat,lon,'r')

A line plotted over a topographic map.

Display the path in 3-D using a geographic globe. Specify the basemap using the 'Basemap' name-value pair argument. By default, the view is directly above the path. Tilt the view by holding Ctrl and dragging.

uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif,'Basemap','usgstopo');
geoplot3(g,lat,lon,h,'r')

A 3-D line plotted over a region with topographic imagery.

Open Live Script

Display the route of a glider on a web map using a basemap from OpenTopoMap.

Define the name that you will use to specify your custom basemap.

name = "opentopomap";

Specify the website that provides the map data. The first character of the URL indicates which server to use to get the data. For load balancing, the provider has three servers that you can use: a, b, or c.

url = "a.tile.opentopomap.org";

Create an attribution to display on the map that gives credit to the provider of the map data. Web map providers might define specific requirements for the attribution.

copyright = char(uint8(169));
attribution = [ ...
      "map data:  " + copyright + "OpenStreetMap contributors,SRTM", ...
      "map style: " + copyright + "OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA)"];

Define the name that will appear in the Layer Manager to represent your custom basemap.

displayName = "Open Topo Map";

Add the custom basemap to the list of available basemap layers.

addCustomBasemap(name,url,"Attribution",attribution, ...
                          "DisplayName",displayName)

Open a web map. Specify the custom basemap using the name you defined when you added it. Then, read glider data into the workspace and plot it over the basemap.

webmap opentopomap
trk = readgeotable("sample_mixed.gpx","Layer","tracks");
wmline(trk,"LineWidth",2)

Open Live Script

Plot the path of a glider over a variety of maps that are available from the USGS National Map site. Viewing data over several maps can help you determine which map provides the best background.

Read in the glider path track data.

GT = readgeotable("sample_mixed.gpx","Layer","tracks");

Specify the custom basemap URL. The USGS National Map supports several tiled web maps. For this example, insert the word BASEMAP into the URL string. In this way, you can replace the word BASEMAP with the name of one of the maps supported by the USGS National Map.

baseURL = "https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/ArcGIS/rest/services";
usgsURL = baseURL + "/BASEMAP/MapServer/tile/${z}/${y}/${x}";

Specify a list of the names of USGS basemaps that you want to use. These names will be inserted into the URL in place of BASEMAP.

basemaps = ["USGSImageryOnly" "USGSImageryTopo" "USGSTopo" "USGSHydroCached"];

Specify a list of display names that you can use with each map. Use display names that are the same as those used by webmap so that webmap does not contain duplicate maps.

displayNames = ["USGS Imagery" "USGS Topographic Imagery" ...
       "USGS Shaded Topographic Map" "USGS Hydrography"];
maxZoomLevel = 16;

Create a map attribution to give credit to the provider of the map data.

attribution = "Credit: U.S. Geological Survey";

Create a loop in which you use each basemap with the geoplot function, plotting the glider data on each of the USGS basemaps.

for k =1:length(basemaps)
   basemap = basemaps(k);
   name = lower(basemap);
   url = replace(usgsURL,"BASEMAP",basemap);
   displayName = displayNames(k);
   addCustomBasemap(name,url,"Attribution",attribution, ...
         "DisplayName",displayName,"MaxZoomLevel",maxZoomLevel)

   figure
   geobasemap(basemap)
   geoplot(GT,"r","LineWidth",5);
   title(displayName)
end

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type line.

Open Live Script

Create a basemap from an MBTiles file containing USGS Imagery.

Add the USGS Imagery basemap to the list of basemaps available for use. The addCustomBasemap function uses the attribution and maximum zoom level contained in the file.

basemap = "usgsimagery";
mbtilesFilename = "usgsimagery.mbtiles";
addCustomBasemap(basemap,mbtilesFilename)

Read worldwide land areas into the workspace as a geospatial table. Create a subtable containing only Australia.

GT = readgeotable("landareas.shp");
australia = GT(GT.Name == "Australia",:);

Display the outline of Australia over the USGS Imagery basemap.

figure
geoplot(australia,"LineWidth",2,"FaceColor","none")
geobasemap usgsimagery

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type polygon.

Input Arguments

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Name used to identify basemap programmatically, specified as a string scalar or character vector.

Example: 'openstreetmap'

Data Types: string | char

Parameterized map URL, specified as a string scalar or character vector. A parameterized URL is an index of the map tiles, formatted as ${z}/${x}/${y}.png or {z}/{x}/{y}.png, where:

  • ${z} or {z} is the tile zoom level.

  • ${x} or {x} is the tile column index.

  • ${y} or {y} is the tile row index.

Example: 'https://hostname/${z}/${x}/${y}.png'

Data Types: string | char

Name of an MBTiles file containing a tile set of raster data, specified as a character vector or string scalar. You must include the extension .mbtiles. The form of mbtilesFilename depends on the location of your file.

  • If the file is in your current folder or in a folder on the MATLAB path, then specify the name of the file, such as "myFile.mbtiles".

  • If the file is not in the current folder or in a folder on the MATLAB path, then specify the full or relative path name, such as "C:/myfolder/myFile.mbtiles" or "dataDir/myFile.mbtiles".

Data Types: char | string

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: addCustomBasemap(basemapName,URL,"Attribution",attribution)

Attribution of the custom basemap, specified as a string scalar, string array, character vector, or cell array of character vectors. To create a multiline attribution, specify a string array or nonscalar cell array of character vectors.

When you create a custom basemap from a URL, the default attribution is 'Tiles courtesy of DOMAIN_NAME_OF_URL', where DOMAIN_NAME_OF_URL is the domain name from the URL input argument. If the host is 'localhost', or if URL contains only IP numbers, specify the attribution as an empty string ("").

When you create a custom basemap from an MBTiles file with an attribution in the metadata, the addCustomBasemap function gets the attribution from the file. If the file does not contain an attribution, the default attribution is an empty string.

Example: "Credit: U.S. Geological Survey"

Data Types: string | char | cell

Display name of the custom basemap, specified as a string scalar or character vector.

The webmap function uses this name in the Layer Manager. The addToolbarMapButton function uses this name in the basemap picker.

Example: "OpenStreetMap"

Data Types: string | char

Maximum zoom level of the basemap, specified as an integer in the range [0, 25].

When you create a custom basemap from an MBTiles file with the maximum zoom level in the metadata, the addCustomBasemap gets the maximum zoom level from the file.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

Map is deployable using MATLAB Compiler, specified as a numeric or logical 0 (false) or 1 (true).

To deploy a map application that uses a custom basemap, set IsDeployable to true. If you create the custom basemap from an MBTiles file, then you must include the file in the deployed application package, unless you deploy the application to the same computer you used to compile the application or if the file is on a network file system that the application can access from a different computer. You must set this argument whether you use the addCustomBasemap function in your application or outside your application.

Data Types: logical

Limitations

The addCustomBasemap function does not support adding custom basemaps from vector map tiles.

Tips

  • You can find tiled web maps from various vendors, such as OpenStreetMap®, the USGS National Map, Mapbox, DigitalGlobe, Esri® ArcGIS Online, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI), and HERE Technologies. Abide by the map vendors terms-of-service agreement and include accurate attribution with the maps you use.

  • To access a list of available basemaps, press Tab before specifying the basemap in your plotting function. This image shows a sample list of available basemaps, including several custom basemaps from the USGS National Map.

    Plotting function in MATLAB with list of available basemaps to select from

Version History

Introduced in R2018b

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See Also

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