How to insert a scale bar in a map in Matplotlib?

To insert a scale bar in a map in matplotlib, we can use AnchoredBar() class to instantiate the scalebar object.

Steps

Set the figure size and adjust the padding between and around the subplots.
Create random data using numpy.
Use imshow() method to display data as an image, i.e., on a 2D regular raster.
Get the current axis using gca() method.
Draw a horizontal scale bar with a center-aligned label underneath.
Add a scalebar artist to the current axis.
Turn off the axes.
To display the figure, use show() mthod.

Example

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.anchored_artists import AnchoredSizeBar
import numpy as np

plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.50, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

data = np.random.rand(5, 5)

img = plt.imshow(data, cmap="YlGnBu")
ax = plt.gca()
scalebar = AnchoredSizeBar(ax.transData, 1, "1 Meter", 9)

ax.add_artist(scalebar)
ax.axis('off')
plt.show()

Output

Rishikesh Kumar Rishi

Updated on 03-Jun-2021 13:22:22

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