# What is your favorite mapping package?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question, plotting, geo, gmt\
**Created:** [October 27, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509 "2021-10-27T19:57:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@leon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/leon)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/1 "2021-10-27T19:57:30Z")

</div>

My requirements are:

- Capable of plotting filled contours in the ocean
- Land areas can be filled with the color of my choice
- I can choose different mapping projections.
- There are lots of sample codes available

I’m sure a log of the available mapping packages can do that. I wonder what will be the best one?

Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rafael.guerra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rafael.guerra/32/216610_2.png) [@rafael.guerra](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rafael.guerra)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/2 "2021-10-27T20:34:42Z")

</div>

GMT.jl ticks all the boxes, except perhaps the last one (_with the simpler syntax in Julia_).  
The mother [GMT library](https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/dev/gallery.html) ticks them all. Linking also this [GMT6 overview article](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2019GC008515).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 8:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/3 "2021-10-27T20:54:23Z")

</div>

Hi. GMT.jl looks like a Swiss knife. You may also take a look at GeoDatasets.jl, Shapefile.jl, Makie.jl (and its derivatives).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/4 "2021-10-27T21:05:19Z")

</div>

@leon do your tests with the packages of your choice (several of mentioned ones are not mapping packages) and tell us back your opinion.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@leon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/leon)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/5 "2021-10-27T22:00:58Z")

</div>

Many thanks for the recommendations!

It seems that GMT is a good choice. I’m surprised that no one has converted the M\_map package into Julia:  
[https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/~rich/map.html](https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/~rich/map.html)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/6 "2021-10-27T22:03:29Z")

</div>

M\_map runs in Matlab. It uses Matlab’s (now Java) plotting libs.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 10:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/7 "2021-10-27T22:11:26Z")

</div>

I have to admit that I am very curious about opinion of Julia Geo Community about [kepler.gl](https://kepler.gl/). Do you think that it might be possible to use it explicitly with Julia in any foreseeable future? I just took a quick look at it, I understand its not as versatile as GMT.jl, however, I have to admit that I was impressed by its abilities and particularly its ease of use.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@leon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/leon)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/8 "2021-10-27T23:13:43Z")

</div>

One thing I love M\_map is because it has sample code for each type of maps, so it is super easy to use.

I wonder if anyone knows if GMT has such sample Julia codes available? It seems that the sample codes in the GMT library are not in Julia?  
[https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/dev/gallery/ex17.html#example-17](https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/dev/gallery/ex17.html#example-17)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2021, 11:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/9 "2021-10-27T23:24:18Z")

</div>

I have to admit that I would definitely be thrilled to have the ability to study GMT.jl examples in detail as well.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/10 "2021-10-28T00:13:41Z")

</div>

Guys, it’s not so difficult to find them. See the documentation/gallery. For example here  
[https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/GMT.jl/dev/gallery/tables/](https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/GMT.jl/dev/gallery/tables/)  
and several other examples nearby.  
[https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/GMT.jl/dev/proj\_examples/](https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/GMT.jl/dev/proj_examples/)

There is also the [historical collection](https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/GMT.jl/dev/gallery/historic/) but I’m not sure it all works. I lost the scripts file and possibly many examples (that are here more complex) may need re-work.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@leon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/leon)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/11 "2021-10-28T00:39:02Z")

</div>

That’s awesome! Many thanks for sharing.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 12:55am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/12 "2021-10-28T00:55:35Z")

</div>

Thank you @joa-quim! I am really new to GMT.jl. Actually, I have never used it, however, several times I briefly familiarized myself with the documentation. I was not aware you are so close to it. Heaving the opportunity, may I ask you a short and a very general question? My aim is to produce about 15k plots a day consisting of i) a map in Mercator projection, ii) heatmap generated with the use of netCDF file, iii) lines of points encoded in a gpx / kml file and maybe in the future iv) additional layer with geotiff rasters. Is GMT a right tool?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/13 "2021-10-28T01:18:19Z")

</div>

Yep, sure. Just not sure what is `gpx`. All the rest should be trivial tasks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/14 "2021-10-28T01:26:30Z")

</div>

Great. This might not be immediately, however, I will definitely give it a try. Many thanks!

> [@joa-quim](#):
>
> Just not sure what is `gpx`

GPX , or GPS Exchange Format, is an [XML schema] designed as a common [GPS] data format for software applications. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS\_Exchange\_Format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_Exchange_Format)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/15 "2021-10-28T01:32:56Z")

</div>

Ah, I knew the `gpx` sounded vaguely familiar. And if GDAL can read/decode it then so should GMT.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/16 "2021-10-28T17:46:53Z")

</div>

> [@joa-quim](#):
>
> And if GDAL can read/decode it then so should GMT.

I guess GDAL is another Swiss knife, and GPX is a very popular format so I am not expecting any problems in this field. I just installed GMT.jl and was able to prepare the first plots.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/17 "2021-10-28T18:09:43Z")

</div>

Cool, let me take the risk (several things may go wrong) of suggesting these commands. If you have a GDAL built with _expat_ (you do if you installed GMT.jl on Windows), do

```julia
data = gmtread("/path/to/gpx");
imshow(data)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rafael.guerra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rafael.guerra/32/216610_2.png) [@rafael.guerra](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rafael.guerra)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/18 "2021-10-28T19:54:56Z")

</div>

> [@j\_u](#):
>
> GMT.jl looks like a Swiss knife

… and the authors [acknowledge it here](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d866/3df662b6f8af6097379263363d26817307f9.pdf#page=4)! 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![j\_u](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/j_u/32/219081_2.png) [@j\_u](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/j_u)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/19 "2021-10-29T00:40:47Z")

</div>

> [@rafael.guerra](#):
>
> and the authors [acknowledge it here](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d866/3df662b6f8af6097379263363d26817307f9.pdf#page=4)

You guys make me smiling. 😉

So far, I have been using `Gadfly` to prepare statistical plots and `CairoMakie` to do quasi geo plotting in a sense that I plotted my geo data. However, my plots were missing coastlines and there was no proper reference to latitues and longitudes. Despite it, the plots were very helpful with understanding the subject. I also used `kepler.gl` to do a little more interactive analysis especially in reference to GPX data. I really like the ease of use of `GMT.jl` in relation to plotting coastalines and geo referenced netCDF data. This is my understanding after some very preliminary tests.

> [@joa-quim](#):
>
> If you have a GDAL built with _expat_ (you do if you installed GMT.jl on Windows), do
> 
> ```julia
> data = gmtread("/path/to/gpx");
> imshow(data)
> 
> ```

I installed GMT and GMT.jl according to the info from my post: [https://discourse.julialang.org/t/errors-associated-with-using-gmt/70393/18](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/errors-associated-with-using-gmt/70393/18)

Im on:  
`NAME="Ubuntu", VERSION="20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa)" over SSH.`  
and

```julia
Julia Version 1.8.0-DEV.829
Commit d71b77d7b6 (2021-10-27 00:39 UTC)
JULIA_EDITOR = "/home/username/.vscode-server/bin/[...]/node"

```

My Julia env consits of:

```julia
Status `~/data/geo_gmt/Project.toml`
  [5752ebe1] GMT v0.38.0
  [6099a3de] PythonCall v0.4.2 `https://github.com/cjdoris/PythonCall.jl.git#master`

```

My Conda env consists of:

```julia
Status /home/username/data/geo_gmt/PythonCallDeps.toml
Conda channels:
  conda-forge
  nasa-ames-stereo-pipeline
Conda packages:
  gmt =6.2

```

In:

```julia
/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/bin
shell> gmt --version
6.2.0

shell> gdal-config --version
3.3.2

shell> gdal-config --libs
-L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lgdal

shell> gdal-config --dep-libs
-lcrypto -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -ltiledb -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lpoppler -ljson-c -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lfreexl -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lgeos_c -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lwebp -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lkmlbase -lkmldom -lkmlengine -lkmlxsd -lkmlregionator -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lexpat -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lxerces-c -lpthread -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lopenjp2 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lnetcdf -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lhdf5 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lmfhdf -ldf -lgif -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lgeotiff -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lpng -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lcfitsio -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lpq -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lzstd -llzma -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lsqlite3 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lproj -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lsqlite3 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -ltiff -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -ljpeg -ldeflate -lz -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lpthread -lm -lrt -ldl -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lspatialite -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib64 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -ldap -ldapserver -ldapclient -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lcurl -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lxml2 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lz -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -llzma -lpthread -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -liconv -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -licui18n -licuuc -licudata -lm -ldl -lpthread -luuid -lpcre -lLerc -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lcurl -liconv -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lxml2 -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lkea -L/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/lib -lhdf5_cpp -lhdf5

shell> gdal-config --cflags
-I/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/include

shell> gdal-config --datadir
/home/username/data/geo_gmt/conda_env/share/gdal

shell> gdal-config --ogr-enabled
yes

shell> gdal-config --gnm-enabled
yes

shell> gdal-config --formats
derived gtiff hfa mem vrt aaigrid adrg aigrid airsar arg blx bmp bsb cals ceos ceos2 coasp cosar ctg dimap dted elas envisat ers esric fit gff gsg gxf hf2 idrisi ilwis ingr iris iso8211 jaxapalsar jdem kmlsuperoverlay l1b leveller map mrf msgn ngsgeoid nitf northwood pds prf r raw rmf rs2 safe saga sdts sentinel2 sgi sigdem srtmhgt stacta terragen tga til tsx usgsdem xpm xyz zmap rik ozi eeda plmosaic rda wcs wms wmts daas ogcapi rasterlite mbtiles grib pdf tiledb webp dods openjpeg netcdf kea hdf5 hdf4 gif png pcraster fits jpeg pcidsk postgisraster

```

**Problem 1:**  
When:

```julia
fname = "path/to/netCDF4";
G = gmtread(fname, grd=true);
imshow(G, region=:global, projection=:Mollweide, frame=:ag, title="my title", figsize=15, colorbar=true, coast=true)

```

The image seems to be plotteing correctly, saved to /home/username/tmp/GMTjl\_tmp.png (its possible to open this file and to see the plot), however, I am getting:

```julia
ERROR: LoadError: IOError: could not spawn `xdg-open /home/username/tmp/GMTjl_tmp.png`: no such file or directory (ENOENT)
Stacktrace:
  [1] _spawn_primitive(file::String, cmd::Cmd, stdio::Vector{Any})
    @ Base ./process.jl:102
  [2] #702
    @ ./process.jl:115 [inlined]
  [3] setup_stdios(f::Base.var"#702#703"{Cmd}, stdios::Vector{Any})
    @ Base ./process.jl:199
  [4] _spawn
    @ ./process.jl:114 [inlined]
  [5] run(::Cmd; wait::Bool)
    @ Base ./process.jl:443
  [6] run
    @ ./process.jl:442 [inlined]
  [7] showfig(d::Dict{Symbol, Any}, fname_ps::String, fname_ext::String, opt_T::String, K::Bool, fname::String)
    @ GMT ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/common_options.jl:3291
  [8] finish_PS_module(::Dict{Symbol, Any}, ::Vector{String}, ::String, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::GMTgrid{Float32, 2}, ::Vararg{Any})
    @ GMT ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/common_options.jl:3428
  [9] grdimage(cmd0::String, arg1::GMTgrid{Float32, 2}, arg2::Nothing, arg3::Nothing; first::Bool, kwargs::Base.Pairs{Symbol, Any, NTuple{8, Symbol}, NamedTuple{(:show, :colorbar, :region, :frame, :title, :coast, :projection, :figsize), Tuple{Bool, Bool, Symbol, Symbol, String, Bool, Symbol, Int64}}})
    @ GMT ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/grdimage.jl:126
 [10] imshow(arg1::GMTgrid{Float32, 2}; kw::Base.Pairs{Symbol, Any, NTuple{7, Symbol}, NamedTuple{(:region, :projection, :frame, :title, :figsize, :colorbar, :coast), Tuple{Symbol, Symbol, Symbol, String, Int64, Bool, Bool}}})
    @ GMT ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/imshow.jl:88
 [11] top-level scope
    @ ~/data/geo_gmt/geo_gmt.jl:105
in expression starting at /home/username/data/geo_gmt/geo_gmt.jl:105

```

**Problem 2:**  
When:

```julia
data = "/path/to/gpx"
imshow(data)

```

I am getting

```julia
ERROR 4: `/path/to/gpx' not recognized as a supported file format.
grdinfo (gmtapi_import_grid): Not a supported grid format [/path/to/gpx]
[Session GMT (2)]: Error returned from GMT API: GMT_GRID_READ_ERROR (18)
[Session GMT (2)]: Error returned from GMT API: GMT_GRID_READ_ERROR (18)
ERROR: LoadError: BoundsError: attempt to access 0-element Vector{GMTdataset} at index [1]
Stacktrace:
 [1] getindex(A::Vector{GMTdataset}, i1::Int64)
   @ Base ./array.jl:921
 [2] snif_GI_set_CTRLlimits(G_I::String)
   @ GMT ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/imshow.jl:133
 [3] imshow(arg1::String, x::Vector{Float64}, y::Vector{Float64}; kw::Base.Pairs{Symbol, Union{}, Tuple{}, NamedTuple{(), Tuple{}}})
   @ GMT ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/imshow.jl:45
 [4] imshow (repeats 3 times)
   @ ~/.julia/packages/GMT/TPV4a/src/imshow.jl:36 [inlined]
 [5] top-level scope
   @ ~/data/geo_gmt/geo_gmt.jl:116
in expression starting at /home/username/data/geo_gmt/geo_gmt.jl:116

```

Similar errors I am getting when trying to plot the same data that is encoded in gpx when using csv, json, geojson, kml, txt files.

I also tried gdal-config --version 3.3.1 from conda\_channels = [“nasa-ames-stereo-pipeline”]. In this case, there were some conflicts when trying to install GMT 6.2.0 and there seems to be no support for gpx in this GDAL version as well.

Is there any GDAL version at Conda that is supporting gpx? How complicated / difficult is the build process? I’ve been using Linux for about 1 year. I have done only a few builds with cmake of Fortran and Go software. This is a hobby project, I can not commit all my time, however, should you be willing to provide some advice, I would be very interested to try to make it work. Also pls be informed that I might not reply immediately to your potential messages as I have some due answers to prepare also on this forum. However, I would really appreciate some additional info!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 1:02am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-mapping-package/70509/20 "2021-10-29T01:02:26Z")

</div>

**Problem 1:** With one exception, GMT produces PostScript only that is automatically converted into raster formats by the `psconvert` program. Next, each OS calls the program that automatically displays the figs. In Linux it’s `xdg-open`, and that normally _comes_ with Linux. It seems that it’s not your case. You will have to install it.

**Problem 2:** `imshow` is a convenient function that parses input and calls the `grdimage` or `grdview` modules for grids/images and in a lesser extent, the `plot` command for vector data. This later ability needs further improvements, specially when you pass the file name instead of the data. Please try as I said: `data = gmtread("/path/to/gpx"); imshow(data)` but be aware that the full control for line plots is provided by the `plot` function.

See this [GADM](https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org/GMT.jl/dev/gallery/GADM/gadm/) example. Data comes in geopackage format.

EDIT: I remembered that `gpx` may not be an automatically detected format (by extension) so you probably will need to do

```julia
data = gmtread("/path/to/gpx", ogr=true);

```

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