[ncl-talk] shapefile woes

Fri Jun 3 13:22:10 MDT 2016

Hi Matt,

Rick is out for a few days, so I'll try to help.

You didn't indicate what the new problem was, but it looks to me like your
code is working now.  I had to replace the "USA_adms2.shp" with
"USA_adm2.shp", and then I turned off NCL's map outlines so the plot was
cleaner.

Since you provided the south-dakota shapefiles,  I went ahead and added
these, using the script you provided earlier.  It's important to use a
unique variable name every time you call gsn_add_shapefile_polyline.

I drew the USA outlines in blue, and SD roads in red so you could see the
difference.

See attached.

--Mary

On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 10:52 AM, Matt Flournoy <mflournoy37 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Rick,
>
> The path may have been the original issue and why I wasn't getting a file
> extension error, because NCL couldn't find the file in the first place. So
> that's relatively embarrassing. But now I'm sure I have the correct path.
> I've attached the shapefiles that I'm using. USA_adm_shp.zip contains the
> shapefiles with USA county borders, and south-dakota-latest.shp.zip
> contains shapefiles with South Dakota road networks.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt
>  USA_adm_shp.zip
> <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjU3NJc2C4dTFVBMWowREw4LVU/view?usp=drive_web>
> 
>  south-dakota-latest.shp.zip
> <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxjU3NJc2C4dTFg1SFZTT2c3UXM/view?usp=drive_web>
> 
>
> On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 9:05 AM, Rick Brownrigg <brownrig at ucar.edu> wrote:
>
>> That's odd -- what has changed to now introduce the file-extension
>> error?  In any case, are you able to send me the shapefiles in question so
>> that I can check it out -- perhaps they are corrupt or something?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 3, 2016 at 7:18 AM, Matt Flournoy <mflournoy37 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Rick,
>>>
>>> Thanks! I'm absolutely sure it's the correct path, and I now get a file
>>> extension error as well:
>>>
>>> ---
>>>
>>> fatal:["FileSupport.c":4159]:(/home/matt.flournoy/PECAN/overview/July06/new_shp/USA_county_shps/USA_adms2.shp)
>>> has no file extension, can't determine type of file to open
>>>
>>> (0) Error: gsn_add_shapefile_polylines: Can't open shapefile
>>> '/home/matt.flournoy/PECAN/overview/July06/new_shp/USA_county_shps/USA_adms2.shp'
>>>
>>> (0)       No shapefile information will be added.
>>>
>>> ---
>>>
>>> The .shp, .shx, and .dbf files are all in the same directory
>>> (.../USA_county_shps/), and all of them have the "USA_adm2" prefix.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Matt
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Rick Brownrigg <brownrig at ucar.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Matt,
>>>>
>>>> The error says "...can't open shapefile...", so I'm not sure its a
>>>> projection issue. Are you absolutely positive you've got the correct path?
>>>> And you have the requisite 3 files at that path -- the .shp, the .shx, and
>>>> the .dbf file,  all with the same "USA_adm2" prefix.
>>>>
>>>> Rick
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Matt Flournoy <mflournoy37 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Kacie!!
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for the suggestions. I tried gsn_add_shapefile_polygons, but
>>>>> got the same error as when I used polylines. I'm not sure how to check the
>>>>> map projections for the shapefiles, but I'll look into that.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>> Matt
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 3:37 PM, Kacie Shourd <Kacie.Shourd at dri.edu>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Matty (<3),
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I’ve never plotted shapefiles in NCL before, so bear with me. Looking
>>>>>> at your code, I would suggest you try using gsn_add_shapefile_polygons like
>>>>>> you use gsn_add_shapefile_polylines. Similar to how you are attempting to
>>>>>> add the road polylines, try to add the polygons in this way as well?? The
>>>>>> map you are calling in the create_SD_map function you have defined doesn’t
>>>>>> draw these as far as I can tell.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Another thing to check would be that your map projections are
>>>>>> matching between the shapefiles and the map you have called using NCL.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hopefully this helps, or someone else can guide you further.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kacie
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kacie N. Shourd
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 드림
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Graduate Research Assistant
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Desert Research Institute
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kacie.Shourd at dri.edu
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Work: (775) 674-7049
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *From:* ncl-talk-bounces at ucar.edu [mailto:ncl-talk-bounces at ucar.edu] *On
>>>>>> Behalf Of *Matt Flournoy
>>>>>> *Sent:* Thursday, June 02, 2016 12:59 PM
>>>>>> *To:* ncl-talk at ucar.edu
>>>>>> *Subject:* [ncl-talk] shapefile woes
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm trying to plot a simple map of a few counties and roads in South
>>>>>> Dakota using NCL 6.3.0. To do this, I've downloaded USA county shapefiles
>>>>>> (from "http://www.gadm.org/country") and SD road network shapefiles
>>>>>> (from "http://download.geofabrik.de/north-america.html"). Then, I
>>>>>> use gsn_add_shapefile_polylines to add the USA counties to an existing map
>>>>>> in my code, but I get this error message:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> (0) Error: gsn_add_shapefile_polylines: Can't open shapefile
>>>>>> '/home/matt.flournoy/PECAN/overview/July06/new_shp/USA_adm_shp/USA_adm2.shp'
>>>>>>
>>>>>> (0)       No shapefile information will be added.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I get the same error if I try inputing the road network shapefile,
>>>>>> except that the directory in the first error message is the directory where
>>>>>> the road network shapefile is. The map is plotted when I run the code, but
>>>>>> the shapefile information is not on them.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Does anyone know what may be causing this issue? I've attached the
>>>>>> code that I'm using, which is very similar to the NCL example online about
>>>>>> reading in USA county shapefiles from the same site as above.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Matt
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Matthew Flournoy
>>>>>>
>>>>>> M.S. Meteorology Student, University of Oklahoma
>>>>>>
>>>>>> B.S. Meteorology, Penn State University
>>>>>>
>>>>>> PUBLIC RECORDS NOTICE: In accordance with NRS Chapter 239, this email
>>>>>> and responses, unless otherwise made confidential by law, may be subject to
>>>>>> the Nevada Public Records laws and may be disclosed to the public upon
>>>>>> request.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Matthew Flournoy
>>>>> M.S. Meteorology Student, University of Oklahoma
>>>>> B.S. Meteorology, Penn State University
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> ncl-talk mailing list
>>>>> ncl-talk at ucar.edu
>>>>> List instructions, subscriber options, unsubscribe:
>>>>> http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/ncl-talk
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Matthew Flournoy
>>> M.S. Meteorology Student, University of Oklahoma
>>> B.S. Meteorology, Penn State University
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Matthew Flournoy
> M.S. Meteorology Student, University of Oklahoma
> B.S. Meteorology, Penn State University
>
> _______________________________________________
> ncl-talk mailing list
> ncl-talk at ucar.edu
> List instructions, subscriber options, unsubscribe:
> http://mailman.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/ncl-talk
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.ucar.edu/pipermail/ncl-talk/attachments/20160603/82476646/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: woe.ncl
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 2596 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.ucar.edu/pipermail/ncl-talk/attachments/20160603/82476646/attachment.obj 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: tornado.png
Type: image/png
Size: 94581 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.ucar.edu/pipermail/ncl-talk/attachments/20160603/82476646/attachment.png 