How to map just USA border (Conus) and not the states with the usamap or worldmap?

Hi,

My problem is usamap plots states as well. Or cut part of the southern states when I just plotted the orders. Worldmap, plotrs the whole USA including alaska, etc. How can I plot the border of just CONUS without the states? And then plot my data (lat,lon,data) on top of that? Thanks, I attached the pic that usamap gives me.

Answer 1

[Gabriella Jardine]

Hi, don't know if you've found a way to do it, but I use a different vector shape than the standard one provided in Matlab, downloaded from here: http://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads

Download which ever resolution file is suitable (e.g. 1:50 m Physical Coastline), save it in your MATLAB Area and add the folder to your paths. Then use something like:

coast = shaperead('ne_50m_coastline', 'UseGeoCoords', true); %creates shape file from natural earth folder 
figure;
worldmap([27,50],[-125,-70])
geoshow(coast2, 'Color', [0 0 0]) %This plots the outline in black, can be altered as you wish. 
%plot data - must be in decimal degrees and longitude values are negative. 
scatterm(lat,long,Size,Colour)