Matplotlib 3.0 Cookbook

How to do it...

The following are the steps to plot an animated map and save it as an MP4 file:

1. Set up the backend on which the map is to be animated, as follows:

import matplotlibmatplotlib.use('tkagg')

2. Define the figure:

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(6, 6))

3. Define a function to keep updating the map with new frames:

def animate(longitude):    ax = plt.gca()    ax.remove()    ax = plt.axes([0, 0, 1, 1], projection=ccrs.Geostationary(central_longitude=longitude))    ax.set_global()    ax.coastlines()    ax.stock_img()    ax.gridlines()

4. Activate the animation as follows:

ani = animation.FuncAnimation(fig, animate, frames=np.linspace(0, 360, 10),                              interval=50, repeat=True, repeat_delay=500)

5. Save the animated map as an MP4 file using the following command: ...