Visualize Density Using Geographic Density Plots

Load Data

Load a table containing cell tower data for California. Each table row represents a cell tower. The table variables include data about the cell towers, such as the latitude and longitude coordinates and the tower heights. Extract the latitude and longitude coordinates from the table.

load cellularTowers.mat
lat = cellularTowers.Latitude;
lon = cellularTowers.Longitude;

Visualize Using Scatter Plot

Create a scatter plot from the latitude and longitude coordinates. Note that the scatter plot does not clearly represent the cluster of towers in the region surrounding San Francisco.

geoscatter(lat,lon,".")

Visualize Using Density Plot

Create a density plot from the coordinates by using the geodensityplot function. By default, the plot visualizes the density of the points by varying the transparency. Regions with high density are more opaque, and regions with low density are more transparent.

figure
geodensityplot(lat,lon)

By default, the density plot uses equal weights for all the data points. Extract the tower heights from the table. Then, create a new density plot that weights the points using the tower heights. The new density plot emphasizes the areas with the tallest towers.

height = cellularTowers.ALLSTRUC;
figure
geodensityplot(lat,lon,height)

By default, the density plot uses the data points to automatically select a radius of influence for each point. Create a new density plot that specifies the radius of influence, in meters, for each point.

radius = 50000;
figure
geodensityplot(lat,lon,height,Radius=radius)

By default, the density plot uses one color. Create a new density plot that uses varying colors by setting the FaceColor name-value argument to "interp". Then, change the colormap. Note that the new density plot visualizes the density of the points using both transparency and color.

figure
geodensityplot(lat,lon,height,Radius=radius,FaceColor="interp")
colormap turbo