Feature 2207 map (#2241)

data/map/README.md

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+Map Data
+========
+
+The data provided in this directory is used by the MET tools to add map outlines to plots. By default, the data files listed in **data/config/ConfigMapData** are plotted. However, users can override the **map_data** dictionary in the configuration files passed to the MET tools on the command line.
+
+The map data provide here is derived from [Natural Earth](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/) shapefiles. It corresponds to the 1:110m and 1:10m scale shapefiles and was last updated using version 5.5.1 from May 2022.
+
+The map data was reformatted using calls to the **make_mapfiles** development utility. Those calls are described below.
+
+Run the **gis_dump_dbf** utility to determine the command line arguments (**country_field** and **admin_field**) for **make_mapfiles**.
+For example:
+```
+gis_dump_dbf 110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_0_countries.dbf
+```
+Select **NAME** and **ADMIN** from subrecords 18 and 9, respectively.
+
+110m Resolution Map Data
+------------------------
+
+- **country_data** (~225K) contains 110m resolution global country outlines.
+```
+make_mapfiles \
+110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_0_countries.shp \
+110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_0_countries.shx \
+110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_0_countries.dbf NAME ADMIN
+mv ne_110m_admin_0_countries_data country_data
+```
+![plot](figure/country_data.png?raw=true "country_data")
+- **major_lakes_data** (~11K) contains 110m resolution global major lake outlines.
+```
+make_mapfiles \
+110m_physical/ne_110m_lakes.shp \
+110m_physical/ne_110m_lakes.shx \
+110m_physical/ne_110m_lakes.dbf name NA
+mv ne_110m_lakes_data major_lakes_data
+```
+![plot](figure/major_lakes_data.png?raw=true "major_lakes_data")
+- **country_major_lakes_data** (~225K) contains 110m resolution global country major lake outlines.
+```
+cat major_lakes_data country_major_lakes_data > country_major_lakes_data
+```
+![plot](figure/country_major_lakes_data.png?raw=true "country_major_lakes_data")
+- **usa_state_data** (~48K) contains 110m resolution administrative boundaries for the United States.
+```
+make_mapfiles \
+110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_1_states_provinces.shp \
+110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_1_states_provinces.shx \
+110m_cultural/ne_110m_admin_1_states_provinces.dbf name NA
+mv ne_110m_admin_1_states_provinces_data usa_state_data
+```
+![plot](figure/usa_state_data.png?raw=true "usa_state_data")
+
+10m Resolution Map Data
+-----------------------
+
+- **country_major_lakes_detail_data** (~11M) contains 10m resolution global country and major lake outlines.
+```
+make_mapfiles \
+10m_cultural/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.shp \
+10m_cultural/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.shx \
+10m_cultural/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.dbf NAME ADMIN
+mv ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes_data country_major_lakes_detail_data
+```
+![plot](figure/country_major_lakes_detail_data.png?raw=true "country_major_lakes_detail_data")
+- **admin_by_country** (~26M) contains 10m resolution state/province data organized into separate data files for each country.
+```
+make_mapfiles -outdir admin_by_country -separate_files \
+10m_cultural/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.shp \
+10m_cultural/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.shx \
+10m_cultural/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces.dbf admin name
+for file in `ls admin_by_country/ne_10m_admin_1_*`; do
+  mv $file `echo $file | sed 's/ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces/admin/g'`
+done
+```
+All detailed administrative boundaries are shown in the image below. However, users are encouraged to plot only the detailed map data for specific countries of interest.
+![plot](figure/admin_by_country_data.png?raw=true "admin_by_country_data")
+
+Map Data Images
+---------------
+
+Listed below are commands used to generate the map data images shown above.
+
+- Generate a global data file containing all bad data:
+```
+gen_vx_mask G003 G003 empty.nc -type grid -value -9999 -name empty
+```
+- Plot each map data file on this global grid:
+```
+for map in `ls *_data`; do
+  export map=${map}
+  plot_data_plane empty.nc ${map}.ps \
+    'name="empty"; level="(*,*)"; map_data={ source=[ {file_name="${map}";}];};' \
+    -title ${map}
+done
+```