[Matplotlib-users] Analyzing unprojected (spherical, geodetic) vector data and Matplotlib

[Zane S. <za...@id...>]

Hello all,

I need to do analysis of vector data (linear features, polylines) on the 
surface of a sphere.  Many of the lines span a significant portion of 
the circumferance of the the body in question (Jupiter's moon Europa), 
and I want to be able to do the display of the data and analysis within 
Matplotlib.

Rather than writing my own (probably lame) module for manipulating and 
generating linear features stored as lists of (lat,lon) points, I'd 
prefer to build on someone else's work.

After a little searching around, it seems like most open GIS packages 
(e.g. OGL, GDAL) seem to work exclusively within a projected planar 
space.  Am I missing something?  Is there anyone else out there that 
does this kind of thing?  What solutions do people have that work well 
with Matplotlib and the Basemap toolkit?

Ideally, I'd like to have the ability to perform transformations on the 
polylines, rotating and translating them on the surface of the sphere 
(without having to do the spherical trig myself), and I have to be able 
to have features cross the "date line" and wrap-around intelligently, 
calculate great-circle distances (and forward/back azimuths), best-fit 
great circles, etc.

Thanks for any recommendations you might have,
Zane

-- 
Zane Selvans
Amateur Human
za...@id...
303/815-6866
PGP Key: 55E0815F