Summary
GMT is a free, open source collection of ~60 UNIX tools that allow users to manipulate (x,y) and (x,y,z) data sets (including filtering, trend fitting, gridding, projecting, etc.) and produce Encapsulated PostScript File(EPS) illustrations ranging from simple x-y plots through contour maps to artificially illuminated surfaces and 3-D perspective views in black and white, gray tone, hachure ... patterns, and 24-bit color. GMT supports 25 common map projections plus linear, log, and power scaling, and comes with support data such as coastlines, rivers, and political boundaries.

GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) software developed by scientists at University of Hawaii and NOAA. Mercator, equidistant cylindrical, polar stereographic, lambert azimuthal equal-area, azimuthal equidistant, and orthographic projections can be made. Political boundaries, rivers, bathymetry, and topography can be displayed on maps along with tectonic features such as faults and ridges. Specific Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) and Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) sites can also be displayed. Once you enter your desired parameters, a full-color (or b/w if you want) map will be presented as a .gif image or for download in Postscript or Adobe Illustrator format. Step-by-step instructions are provided.

(Summary adapted from the GMT home page.)

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Service Citation

Originators: Paul Wessel Title: GMT - The Generic Mapping Tools Release_Date: 2003-05-01 Provider: SOEST, University of Hawaii Edition: Version 3.4.3 URL: http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/

Service Keywords

DATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATION >GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS >DESKTOP GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Science Keywords

HUMAN DIMENSIONS >BOUNDARIES >ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS HUMAN DIMENSIONS >BOUNDARIES >POLITICAL DIVISIONS SOLID EARTH >TECTONICS >PLATE BOUNDARIES SOLID EARTH >TECTONICS >FAULTS SOLID EARTH >TECTONICS >FOLDS SOLID EARTH >TECTONICS >STRESS LAND SURFACE >TOPOGRAPHY >CONTOURS LAND SURFACE >TOPOGRAPHY >LANDFORMS LAND SURFACE >TOPOGRAPHY >TOPOGRAPHICAL RELIEF OCEANS >BATHYMETRY/SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY >SEAFLOOR TOPOGRAPHY SOLID EARTH >GEOMAGNETISM >MAGNETIC ANOMALIES

ISO Topic Category

BOUNDARIES ELEVATION OCEANS GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

Quality
Known bugs: Plotting maps with topography and/or bathymetry
contours with a Lambert Azimuthal projection results in a map
where only the area specified in the input form gets the
contours. http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/gmt/gmt_bugs.html

Performance of OMC depends on internal processing time and ratio
in a given ... situation. Internal processing (map generation,
postscript conversion) takes 15 to 30 seconds on a SparcStation
10. Plotting magnetic lineations and fracture zones may cost 20
seconds each. There might still be some chances for optimizing
the cgi-script, but I guess they would be hard to notice. The
time for transmission of the map to your browser cannot be
generalized. The server log tells us, load is smallest around
7.00 MET

Use Constraints
The GMT package is available via anonymous ftp from several
servers; they all contain the same files as the main server in
Hawaii. Because of file sizes you are strongly encouraged to use
the server closest to you. We distribute a Bourne shell script
(install_gmt) that automatically will ftp the required archives
from the ftp ... site you choose. For users with a slow
Internet-connection and users who desire large amounts of
supplemental data sets to use with GMT: See the GMT Companion
CD-ROM product distributed by Geoware.

Here this data set is only used to illustrate the relief of the
area mapped: the contours are not annotated. The deviation of
the contours from the "real world" might reach tens to hundreds
of meters. It is not intended to give serious morphological
information (e.g. for navigational purposes).

Ancillary Keywords

GIS Geographic Information Systems Interactive Mapping NGDC Map-projection

Service Provider

UHI/SOEST/GMT > Generic Mapping Tools, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii Service Organization URL: http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/ Service Provider Personnel Name: PAUL WESSEL Phone: (808) 956-4778 Fax: (808) 956-5154 Email: pwessel at hawaii.edu Contact Address: School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology University of Hawai'i at Manoa 1680 East-West Road, POST 802 City: Honolulu Province or State: HI Postal Code: 96822 Country: USA

Distribution Media

Distribution_Media: Electronic (Internet)

Personnel

TYLER B. STEVENS Role: SERF AUTHOR Phone: (301) 614-6898 Fax: 301-614-5268 Email: Tyler.B.Stevens at nasa.gov Contact Address: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Global Change Master Directory City: Greenbelt Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20771 Country: USA PAUL WESSEL Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT Phone: (808) 956-4778 Fax: (808) 956-5154 Email: pwessel at hawaii.edu Contact Address: School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology University of Hawai'i at Manoa 1680 East-West Road, POST 802 City: Honolulu Province or State: HI Postal Code: 96822 Country: USA WALTER H.F. SMITH Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT Phone: 301-713-2857 x126 Fax: 301-713-4598 Email: walter at amos.grdl.noaa.gov Contact Address: NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry E/OC2, SSMC3, Room 3620 1315 East West Highway City: SILVER SPRING Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20910 Country: USA

Related URL

Link: VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE Description: All maps are created by Generic Mapping Tools. Link: GET SERVICE > GET SOFTWARE PACKAGE Description: Get the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software.

Publications/References
Wessel, P., and W. H. F. Smith, 1995 The Generic Mapping Tools
(GMT) version 3.0 Technical Reference & Cookbook,
SOEST/NOAA.

Wessel, P., and W. H. F. Smith, 1995 New Version of the Generic
Mapping Tools Released, EOS Trans. AGU, 76, p. 329.

Wessel, P., and W. H. F. Smith, 1995 New Version of the ... Generic
Mapping Tools Released,Copyright 1995 by the American Geophysical Union.

E.Tittel, M.Gaither, S.Hassinger & M.Erwin (1995):
Foundations of World Wide Web Programming with HTML and CGI. -
IDG Books Worldwide Inc., Foster City CA, USA: 648 pp.

R.L.Schwarz (1995): Einf?hrung in Perl. - O'Reilly/Internationl
Thomson Verlag, Bonn: 258 pp.

Creation and Review Dates

SERF Creation Date: SERF Last Revision Date: 2008-08-07

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