This archive contains answers to questions sent to Unidata support through mid-2025. Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated. For the most up-to-date information on the use of NSF Unidata software and data services, please consult the Software Documentation first.
The supplied bounds tables in $GEMTBL/bounds do not provide international metadata for filling those regions individually. The source distribution contains the README file in $GEMPAK/utilities/bounds/README.maptobnd which provides information about creating a bounds file from a VG plotted map file. Otherwise, if you have a shapefile, it can be converted into a bound file using shpcv with the -b option (see shpcv -help for more info). Steve Chiswell Unidata User Support On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 10:50, Stonie R. Cooper wrote: > You may want to use GMT (free, as in free beer) from U of HI to create your > background map, then plot your navigated image without maps, set the color > black as transparent on the resulting gempak image, and then use imagemagick > to overlay the gempak image on the GMT created basemap. > > Stonie > > On Thursday 04 August 2005 16:27, Christopher McIntyre wrote: > > Anybody?? Help! > > Thanks, > > - Chris > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden] > > On Behalf Of Christopher McIntyre > > Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 5:42 AM > > To: address@hidden > > Subject: making filled areas outside the US > > > > Everybody, > > > > Thanks for your responses. A few more things for all you experts--I think > > it's fairly simple, but I can't seem to find the right combo of commands... > > > > 1) I have a simple black-background map with white lines for political > > borders...I want to fill (colorize) the interior [land] of all of the > > political border shapes just leaving the water black. I was able to use > > commands like the following to fill in, for example, the > > great lakes and California, but it doesn't work for countries other than > > the US? > > > > MAP=3//1 > > $mapfil = hipowo.cia > > BND = great_lakes/4 + state_bnds|<STATE>CA/13 > > > > However, I'd like to be able to do things like make a map of: > > - the world with every country filled in solid white, water bodies in > > black. - the Caribbean with just Cuba filled in solid white, but other > > countries only outlined in white. > > > > Any idea how to do that? > > > > 2) One other pitfall is that MAP and BND write on TOP the data, but I'd > > like it to be below the data. I saw a reference in the tutorial about doing > > filled overlays, but no matter what I changed, nothing seemed to work. > > Here's the excerpt from: > > http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/software/gempak/tutorial/overlay.html: > > > > "When using filled areas as overlays, a COLOR of 0 will prevent the > > filled area from blocking out graphics beneath for the value associated > > with that COLOR. In many cases you will want to use filled areas as the > > base image with other values plotted on top." > > > > Exactly which variable's "color" setting is that referring to? LINE? MAP? > > BND? Or am I missing something? > > > > Thanks in advance, > > Chris