wmline

(To be removed) Display geographic line on web map

The wmline function will be removed in a future release. Use a geographic axes object and the geoplot function instead. For information on updating your code, see Version History.

Syntax

wmline(lat,lon)

wmline(P)

wmline(wm,___)

wmline(___,Name,Value)

h = wmline(___)

Description

wmline(lat,lon) displays a line overlay defined by the vertices in lat,lon on the current web map. If there is no current web map, wmline creates one. wmline centers the map so that all vector overlays displayed on the web map are visible.

wmline(P) displays a line overlay based on the vector geographic features stored in P.

wmline(wm,___) displays the line overlay on the web map specified by the web map handle, wm.

wmline(___,Name,Value) specifies name-value pairs that set additional display properties.

h = wmline(___) returns a handle to line overlay.

Examples

Display Line on Web Map

Geocode the cities of London and Paris.

london = geocode("London, England","city");
paris = geocode("Paris, France","city");

Display a line from London to Paris on a web map.

wmline([london; paris])

Input Arguments

lat — Latitudes of vertices

matrix

Latitudes of vertices, specified as a matrix.

Data Types: single | double

lon — Longitudes of vertices

matrix

Longitudes of vertices, specified as a matrix.

Data Types: single | double

P — Geographic features

geospatial table | geopoint vector | geoshape vector

Geographic features, specified as one of the following:

• A geospatial table containing geopointshape, geolineshape, or geopolyshape objects. The wmline function does not support geospatial tables containing more than one type of shape object. For more information about geospatial tables, see Create Geospatial Tables.

• A geopoint vector.

• A geoshape vector.

If P is a geospatial table containing geopointshape objects or a geopoint vector, then the overlay contains a single line connecting the vertices.

If P is a geospatial table containing geolineshape or geopolyshape objects, or a geoshape vector, then the overlay contains one line feature for each feature of P.

wm — Web map

web map handle

Web map, specified as a web map handle.¹

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: wmline(lat,lon,'OverlayName','Shortest Route');

Autofit — Overlay visibility

true (default) | false

Overlay visibility, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Autofit' and the scalar logical or numeric value true (1) or false (0).

• If true, wmline adjusts the spatial extent of the map to ensure that all the vector overlays on the map are visible.

• If false, wmline does not adjust the spatial extent when this vector layer is added to the map.

Data Types: double | logical

Description — Description of feature

empty character vector ('') (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | scalar structure

Description of feature, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Description' and a character vector, cell array of character vectors, or a scalar structure. The description defines the content of the description balloon displayed when you click the feature in a web map. Description elements can be either plain text or HTML markup. When an attribute spec is provided, the display in the balloon for the attribute fields of P are modified according to the specification.

• If you specify a scalar cell array, wmline applies the value to all line features.

• If you specify a nonscalar cell array, the cell array must contain a value for each feature, that is, the cell array must be the same length as P.

• If the value is a structure, wmline applies the attribute specification to each line.

Data Types: char | struct | cell

OverlayName — Name of overlay layer

'Line Overlay N', (default) | character vector

Name of overlay layer, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'OverlayName' and a character vector. wmline inserts the name in the Layer Manager under the "Overlays" item. The Layer Manager is the tool that appears on the right side of the web map. The default name is 'Line Overlay N' where N is the number assigned to this overlay.

Data Types: char

FeatureName — Name of feature

'OverlayName: Line K' (default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors

Name of feature, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'FeatureName' and character vector or cell array of character vectors. The name appears in the balloon that displays when you click the feature in the web map. The default value is 'OverlayName : Line K', where OverlayName is the name of the overlay and K is the number assigned to the particular line.

• If the value is a character vector, it applies to all features.

• If the value is a cell array of character vectors, it must be either a scalar or the same length as P.

Data Types: char | cell

Color — Line color

'black' (default) | color name | RGB triplet | cell array of color names | string vector of color names | matrix of RGB triplets

Line color, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Color' and one of these options.

• A color name such as 'red' or a short name such as 'r'.

• An RGB triplet, which is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A cell array of color names such as {'red','green','blue'} or {'r','g','b'}.

• A string vector of color names such as ["red" "green" "blue"] or ["r" "g" "b"].

• A matrix of RGB triplets, which is a three-column matrix in which each row is an RGB triplet.

The way you specify the color depends on the desired color scheme.

• To apply the same color to all lines in P, specify a single color name or RGB triplet.

• To apply a different color to each line in P, specify a cell array of color names, a string vector of color names, or a matrix of RGB triplets. The number of colors and RGB triplets must match the length of P.

This table contains the color names and equivalent RGB triplets for some common colors.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Appearance
"red"	"r"	[1 0 0]
"green"	"g"	[0 1 0]
"blue"	"b"	[0 0 1]
"cyan"	"c"	[0 1 1]
"magenta"	"m"	[1 0 1]
"yellow"	"y"	[1 1 0]
"black"	"k"	[0 0 0]
"white"	"w"	[1 1 1]

Data Types: char | string | cell | double

LineWidth — Width of line in pixels

1 (default) | positive numeric scalar or vector

Width of line in pixels, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of LineWidth and a positive numeric scalar or vector. If you specify a vector, it must include a value for each line, that is, the vector must be the same length as P.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

Alpha — Transparency of line

1 (default) | numeric scalar or vector

Transparency of line, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Alpha' and a numeric scalar or vector. If you specify a vector, it must include a value for each line, that is, the vector must be the same length as P. The default value, 1, means that the line is fully opaque.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

Output Arguments

h — Overlay layer

handle to line overlay

Overlay layer, returned as a handle to a line overlay.

Tips

• Under certain conditions, when you zoom in on a line overlay in a web map, parts of the line may become invisible. This can occur if the data is one long line segment that is composed of many parts. To work around this issue, break the long line into a series of line segments by inserting NaN values in the line data.

Version History

Introduced in R2013b

R2025a: To be removed

Web maps will be removed in a future release, including the wmline function. Use a geographic axes object and the geoplot function instead.

Unlike web maps, geographic axes enable you to:

• Display data using additional plot types, including density plots and bubble charts.

• Customize your maps using MATLAB^® graphics functions.

• Build apps using App Designer.

This table shows some typical uses of the wmline function and how to update your code to use a geographic axes object and the geoplot function.

To Be Removed	Recommended
Display a line using the specified latitude and longitude coordinates. wmline(lat,lon)	Display a line using the specified latitude and longitude coordinates. geoplot(lat,lon)
Display a line using the line shapes stored in the geospatial table GT. wmline(GT)	Display a line using the line shapes stored in the geospatial table GT. geoplot(GT)
Display a line using the coordinates stored in the geopoint or geoshape vector P. wmline(P)	Extract the latitude and longitude coordinates from the geopoint or geoshape vector. Use the coordinates as input to geoplot. lat = P.Latitude; lon = P.Longitude; geoplot(lat,lon)
Specify the line color by using the Color name-value argument. wmline(lat,lon,Color=colorValue)	Specify the line color by using the Color name-value argument. The function uses the same color for each line. geoplot(lat,lon,Color=colorValue) To use a different color for each line, display the lines using a loop. This code shows how to display each line in a geospatial table GT using the colors in the vector of strings colorValue. geobasemap streets-light hold on for k = 1:height(GT) row = GT(k,:); geoplot(row,Color=colorValue(k)) end
Specify the line width by using the LineWidth name-value argument. wmline(lat,lon,LineWidth=widthValue)	Specify the line width by using the LineWidth name-value argument. The function uses the same width for each line. geoplot(lat,lon,LineWidth=widthValue)
Specify information about the feature, for use in information balloons, by using the FeatureName and Description name-value arguments. wmline(lat,lon,FeatureName=fn,Description=d)	Display information about the icon data by using custom data tips. For examples that show how to create custom data tips, see Create Custom Data Tips and Add Data Tips to Point, Line, and Polygon Shapes.

Depending on the input data, the geoplot function creates different types of Line objects.

• When you specify coordinates as input, the function creates a chart Line object. For information about the properties of chart Line objects, see Line Properties.

• When you specify a geospatial table as input, the function creates a geographic chart Line object. For information about the properties of geographic chart Line objects, see Line Properties.

To display multiple data sets using the same geographic axes object, set the hold state to on by using the hold function.

For more information about migrating your web maps to geographic axes, see Web Map Migration Strategies.

R2021b: Display data from geospatial tables

The wmline function accepts geospatial tables as input.