GMT — The Complete Guide: Publication-Quality Maps and Sections From a Script
GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) is a long-established set of tools for processing geodata and producing publication-quality maps, sections and plots. Work is done with commands in a script, so when new data arrives you run it again and get the same map, updated.
GMT (Generic Mapping Tools)
GMT team
Command-line toolkit for processing geodata and producing publication-quality maps and plots, with Python and Julia interfaces.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Topographic and bathymetric maps — shading, contours and colour bars.
- Data processing and gridding — turning scattered points into a grid and working with it.
- Survey points and sections — marking boreholes and stations, and profiles along a line.
- Animations — map sequences for data that changes over time.
- Python, Julia and MATLAB — PyGMT and other interfaces to plug it into existing code.
Who it suits
Engineers, geologists and researchers who prepare maps for reports and papers and want consistent, reproducible output. There is no graphical interface, so it takes some learning. For interactive work with layers a desktop GIS is better, and GMT complements it for the final graphics. The licence is LGPL-3.0, free for any use.
Related tools
For a full desktop GIS — QGIS. For converting and processing raster and vector data — GDAL. For general scientific plots — gnuplot.
QGIS
QGIS.org
Open-source GIS for spatial analysis, layer work and map production.
Get it from the vendor
GDAL
OSGeo
Command-line tools and a library to convert, reproject, clip and process geodata — DEMs, GeoTIFF, Shapefile and more.
Get it from the vendor
gnuplot
gnuplot Project
Publication-quality plotting driven from scripts.
Get it from the vendor
GRASS GIS
OSGeo
GIS with strong raster and terrain analysis — catchments, slope, visibility and elevation models.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
GMT is the tool for anyone who produces many maps and wants them all to look professional and update in a single run. The time spent learning the commands pays off quickly.