GPlates / News: Recent posts

PyGPlates now supports Python 3.

What's new in pyGPlates revision 28:-

• Windows and macOS support for Python 2.7, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8.
  • macOS libraries signed and notarized by Apple (should no longer get security prompts).
• Ubuntu support for 16.04 LTS (Xenial), 18.04 LTS (Bionic), 19.10 (Eoan) and 20.04 LTS (Focal).
• Create topological features (dynamic lines, polygons and deforming networks):
  • Usually they are built in GPlates, but this can now be done in pyGPlates.
  • See the sample code.
• Supports deforming trenches when used with subduction convergence script.
• Much faster querying of reconstructions.
• Bug fixes.... read more

A few points to note regarding this release:-

The Sample Data includes the Matthews et al. (2016) model, which has been updated to include the corrections to the Pacific rotations prior to 83 Ma according to Torsvik et al. (2019). Please update your local datasets.

• Matthews, K. J., Maloney, K. T., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S. E., Seton, M., and Müller, R. D., 2016, Global plate boundary evolution and kinematics since the late Paleozoic: Global and Planetary Change, DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.10.002
• Torsvik, T.H., Steinberger, B., Shephard, G.E., Doubrovine, P.V., Gaina, C., Domeier, M., Conrad, C.P. and Sager, W.W., 2019. Pacific-Panthalassic reconstructions: Overview, errata and the way forward. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, DOI:10.1029/2019GC008402... read more

This release contains both GPlates 2.1 and pyGPlates beta revision 18.

Please use this pyGPlates release when working with any data saved by GPlates 2.0 or GPlates 2.1 (especially topologies).

• This will avoid incorrect reconstruction of half-stage rotation features (such as mid-ocean ridges) created by GPlates 2.0 (or above).
• There are no major new features in this pyGPlates release, it is mostly for compatibility with GPlates 2.0 (and above).... read more

pygplates enables access to GPlates functionality via the Python programming language.

This may be of particular use to researchers requiring more flexibility than is provided by the GPlates user interface.

The following pygplates functionality is available:-

• Load and save feature data (GPML, Shapefile, etc).
• Create/modify/query feature data.
• Traverse/modify/query plate rotation hierarchy.
• Partition into plates and assign plate properties.
• Reconstruct geometries, flowlines, motion paths.
• Resolve topological plates and query their boundary sections (ridges/subductions).
• Calculate velocities.
• Distance between geometries (region-of-interest queries).
• Geometry queries (length, point-in-polygon, area, centroid, tessellate, interpolate, join, partition).

What's new in version 1.5 + hellinger-testing:-

• New Hellinger tool:
  • Added new workflow to determine best-fitting poles by the method of Hellinger:
    • Import and export data files compatible with the FORTRAN programs of Chang and co-workers.
    • Edit and create magnetic pick data points, via the canvas or tabularly via the Hellinger dialog.
    • Adjust segmentation of magnetic picks.
    • Enable/disable magnetic picks from inclusion in the fitting algorithms.
    • Specify pole and angle estimates via the canvas or via the Hellinger dialog.
    • Perform fitting using a Python implementation the FORTRAN programs.
    • Visualise resulting fit and uncertainty on the canvas.
    • Export fit and uncertainty data to text file.

What's new in version 1.5:-

• Projects:
  • Save and restore your sessions with project files.
• New kinematics tool:
  • Displays table of latitude, longitude, velocity, and velocity-related quantities for a given lat-lon point, plate ID, and range of times.
  • Displays graph of above quantities against time.
  • Exports table to text file.
  • Kinematic tool settings dialog to change details of the velocity calculations.
  • Kinematic tool settings are saved in user preferences.
  • Auto-fills point data from focused feature.
  • Auto-fills time ranges from animation settings.
  • To start tool select 'Utilities -> Open Kinematics Tool' in the menu.
• Import and export GeoJSON format feature collections.

What's new in version 1.4:-

• Export numerical and colour reconstructed rasters:
  • Exports each visible raster layer to a separate raster file.
    • User specified latitude/longitude export region and pixel resolution.
  • Numerical export writes floating-point data:
    • Supported raster formats: NetCDF, GMT NetCDF, GeoTIFF and Erdas Imagine,
    • Standard use of not-a-number (NaN) for pixels not covered by reconstructed raster.
  • Colour export:
    • New supported colour raster formats: GeoTIFF and Erdas Imagine,
    • Uses per-layer colour palette as needed,
    • Includes surface relief lighting.
• Import raster improvements:
  • New import raster formats: ERMapper, Erdas Imagine and GeoTIFF.
  • Imports georeferencing from source raster file.
  • Supports inbuilt raster spatial reference system:
    • Includes projections (for example, Lambert Conformal Conic).
  • Improved performance when importing very large rasters and displaying in 2D map views.
• New Move Pole canvas tool:
  • Supports Modify Reconstruction Pole canvas tool:
    • by allowing user to specify location of pole used for rotation adjustments.
  • Drag pole location with mouse or enter text coordinates.
  • Optionally constrain pole location to moving/fixed stage pole of clicked feature.
    • Includes tracking stage pole over time.
• Velocity smoothing near plate boundaries.
• Mid-ocean ridges:
  • Supports spreading asymmetry,
  • More accurate half-stage rotation.
    • Needed in some rare cases.
• Volume visualisation of 3D scalar fields (continued early preview functionality):
  • To be officially released in GPlates 1.5.
  • This release (1.4) adds preview functionality (since 1.3) available to advanced users:
    • Requires the "--enable-scalar-field-import" command-line switch to enable scalar field import.
    • For example, "cd C:\Program Files (x86)\GPlates\GPlates 1.4.0" and "gplates-1.4.0.exe --enable-scalar-field-import".
    • Enables menu item 'File -> Import -> Import 3D Scalar Field...'
  • Preliminary support for 'regional' (non-global) scalar fields.
  • Colour palette improvements:
    • Optionally remap scalar/gradient palette range,
    • Adjust range using mean and standard deviation of scalar field.
  • Supports transparent colours for isosurface and cross sections.... read more

What's new in version 1.3:-

• Integration of Orange and GPlates as a data mining toolkit suite.
  • Includes Orange widgets to obtain pre-processed (co-registration) data from GPlates via network socket requests.
• New GPlates Rotation (GROT) file format:
  • Extends PLATES4 rotation format to include a much richer set of metadata attributes.
  • Please visit the GPlates Rotation (GROT) page for more details.
• Surface relief lighting:
  • Visually transpose one raster onto another in the form of relief/height map shading.
• Volume visualisation of 3D scalar fields (early preview functionality):
  • Developed in collaboration with Tobias Pfaffelmoser (Technical University Munich).
  • For more details please see A Custom Implementation for Visualizing Sub-surface 3D Scalar Fields in GPlates
  • To be officially released in GPlates 1.4.
  • This release (1.3) contains preview functionality available to advanced users:
    • Requires the "--enable-scalar-field-import" command-line switch to enable scalar field import.
    • For example, "cd C:\Program Files (x86)\GPlates\GPlates 1.3.0" and "gplates-1.3.0.exe --enable-scalar-field-import".
    • Enables menu item 'File -> Import -> Import 3D Scalar Field...'
• SVG export includes rasters, 3D scalar fields and filled polygons.
• Export arbitrary resolution rasters (eg, 3,000 x 3,000 pixels).
• Support for reading the OGRGMT file format ('.gmt').
• New finite rotation calculator utilities.
• New velocity imports/exports:
  • Velocity domain generators for Terra and Lat/Lon meshes.
  • Export velocities to Terra (text), CitcomS global and GMT formats.
• Calculate velocities in "Calculated Velocity Fields" layer:
  • 'of domain points' - calculate velocities of reconstructed points.
  • 'of surfaces' - calculate velocities of surfaces that intersect domain points.
• Enhanced velocity arrow display controls including screen space density and arrow scaling.
• New topological 'line' tool creates dynamic polylines.
• Canvas tools grouped into workflow tabs.
• Centralised GPlates Geological Information Model (GPGIM):
  • GPGIM stored in a single XML file.
  • All GPlates dialogs now conform to this central GPGIM.
  • Features can now have either topological (dynamic) geometries or static geometries.
• Upgrades to Manage Feature Collections dialog including sort-by-filename and group selections.
• GPlates now contains a small assortment of commands (on the command-line):
  • Commands are specified on the command-line and do not invoke the graphical interface of GPlates.
  • Run GPlates with "--help" to list the commands and the options available to each command.
  • However, in future, we will be recommending our GPlates python programming interface (work in progress).
• Filled polygons in 2D map views.
• Improved filled polygon performance.
• Filled polygon opacity and intensity controls.
• Raster reconstruction now works with 'self-intersecting' polygons:
  • Should mostly fix holes in reconstructed rasters due to missing polygons.
• 'age' colour palette button in raster layer (to use when loaded raster is an age grid).

...and many other changes that are listed in the CHANGELOG file in the GPlates source-code releases.

GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics.

GPlates offers a novel combination of interactive plate-tectonic reconstructions, geographic information system (GIS) functionality and raster data visualisation. GPlates enables both the visualisation and the manipulation of plate-tectonic reconstructions and associated data through geological time. GPlates compiles and runs on Linux, Windows XP, Windows Vista and MacOS X.... read more

GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics.

GPlates offers a novel combination of interactive plate-tectonic reconstructions, geographic information system (GIS) functionality and raster data visualisation. GPlates enables both the visualisation and the manipulation of plate-tectonic reconstructions and associated data through geological time. GPlates compiles and runs on Linux, Windows XP and Windows Vista. (Support for MacOS X is currently in testing -- contact us if you'd like to participate in the testing process!)... read more

GPlates is desktop software for the interactive visualisation of plate-tectonics.

GPlates offers a novel combination of interactive plate-tectonic reconstructions, geographic information system (GIS) functionality and raster data visualisation. GPlates enables both the visualisation and the manipulation of plate-tectonic reconstructions and associated data through geological time. GPlates compiles and runs on Windows and Linux.... read more

GPlates is an interactive plate-tectonics visualisation program. GPlates enables interactive reconstruction and manipulation of plate-tectonic structures through geological time, coupled with temporally-aware Geographic Information System (GIS) functionality. GPlates is accompanied by royalty-free, copyright-unrestricted data which is made available through the EarthByte Project. GPlates compiles and runs on Linux and Windows XP. (Support for MacOS X will follow in the first half of 2008.)... read more

GPlates is an interactive plate-tectonics visualisation program. GPlates 0.9 is the first public release, after almost five years of development at the University of Sydney, the California Institute of Technology and the Norwegian Geological Survey. For more information on GPlates, visit: http://www.gplates.org/

This release includes the ability to load PLATES4 line-format files, PLATES4 rotation files and ESRI Shapefiles. If a rotation file is loaded, geological features can be reconstructed through geological time. Features may be queried by clicking upon their displayed geometries.... read more