Visualizing Geographic Data With Python

The statistician George Box once wrote that "all models are wrong, but some are useful"; the same could be said for maps. In this talk, we'll discuss the problems that arise when creating 2-dimensional representations of our world. We'll then see how to create data-rich maps using Python, matplotlib, and the basemap toolkit. Maps have been such a mainstay of our lives for so long now that it's hard to imagine just how complex it is to create one. Keep in mind though, the earth is a 3-dimensional spherical object, so we're stuck with the problem of "projecting" the world onto a 2-dimensional surface.