mapper

This module acts as a wrapper for the matplotlib and cartopy libraries, creating a fairly simple way of plotting postcode data from a spreadsheet (e.g. exported from OnlineScoutManager) onto a map.

Also allows for the plotting of coloured markers to identify points of interest (Explorer Unit meeting places, Scout Groups etc.).

Installation

• libgeos
• cartopy + dependencies - pip install -r requirements.txt

Generating a map

example.py gives an example of loading postcodes from a spreadsheet, plotting two markers, and then saving the map as a pdf (A4 landscape)

Future development

• Caching of postcodes into local csv (is it possible to get all postcodes in the UK in advance and skip calling the API altogether?)
• Caching of cartopy img_tiles? Would reduce hits to tile provider and allow for offline plotting if in area we've plotted before
• Expand map tiles to fill paper
• Add a border around plotted points (find min/max extents from coords and expand slightly)
• Add more paper sizes
• Import of postcodes from csv (create example file with postcodes around Central London)
• Static method to load markers from a CSV into numpy array