I have played around with the d3js (v5) maps,
i'm trying to generate this map (the screenshot was taken from a random website),
For my particular case there is no need to present Antarctica.
I have read the documentation here: https://github.com/d3/d3-geo#projections,
and followed the instructions and used geoMercator, got this flat map which gets cutoff in the top north for some reason.
What is the correct approach for getting the first map's layout?
any suggestions?
The projection you are looking at is a Mercator projection.
With d3.geoMercator(), the scale value is derived from the circumference of the cylinder that forms the projection surface. The scale value is the number of pixels per radian. The default value anticipates stretching the 360 degrees of the cylinder over 960 pixels: 960/Math.PI/2.
For vertical angular distances, there is no such scaling factor, as one moves to extreme longitudes, the angular distance between points is increasingly exaggerated, such that the poles will be at ± infinity on the y axis. Because of this Mercator's, especially web Mercator's are often truncated at ±~85 degrees. With an extent of [-180,85] and [180,-85], a Mercator is square.
This limit is incorporated into d3-geoMercator, which "Defines a default projection.clipExtent such that the world is projected to a square, clipped to approximately ±85° latitude. (docs)"
This means that if we want to show the full extent of a d3-geoMercator, across 960 x 960 pixels, we can use:
d3.geoMercator()
.scale(960/Math.PI/2) // 960 pixels over 2 π radians
.translate([480,480]) // the center of the SVG/canvas
Which gives us:
The default center of d3-geoMercator is [0°,0°], so if we want [0°,0°] to be in the middle of the SVG/canvas, we translate the center so that it is in the middle, with a translate of [width/2,height/2]
Now that we are showing the whole world, we can refine to show only the portion we want. The simplest method might just be lopping off pixels from the bottom of the svg/canvas. Using the above code with a canvas/svg height of 700 pixels (and keeping 960 pixels across, using the same scale and translate) I get:
I did not remove Antarctica from this image - it just happens that it is cut off without having to filter it out (this is not necessarily ideal practice: it is still drawn).
So, an SVG/Canvas with width 960, height 700, with a projection scale of 960/Math.PI/2 and a translate of [480,480] appears to be ok. These values will scale together for different view port sizes.
With maps, there is often a lot of eyeballing to get the visual effect desired, tweaking projection.translate() or projection.center() can help shift the map to the desired location. But we can do this computationally. I'll speak to one method here, using projection.fitSize() (though this won't solve the required aspect ratio without extra steps).
Project.fitSize([width,height],geojson) takes an array specifying the dimensions of the SVG/canvas and a geojson object and tweaks the projection scale and translate values so that the geojson feature is contained in the SVG/canvas. The geojson feature could be a bounding box of the part of the world you want to show, so you could use:
projection.fitSize([width,height], {
type: "Polygon",
coordinates: [[
[-179.999,84] ,
[-179.999,-57] ,
[179.999,-57] ,
[179.999,84],
[-179.999,84]
]]
})
Where ~84 degrees north is the north end of Greenland and ~56 degrees south is roughly the tip of South America. This will ensure that the entire portion of the world you want to see is visible. However, as noted above, this doesn't consider aspect, so if you constrain the above extent to square dimensions, you'll still be showing the full extent of the Mercator.
I've made a lot of maps in D3 and never had this problem, where the output is so small you can't see it. I've included a small geojson file, which is easily viewable using various other tools (e.g. here).
It appears that the projection is not being set properly with d3.geoPath(). The API specifies that d3.geoPath() takes a projection argument, however when I try to set the projection using this method (as in the example below), the resulting map is not projected properly. It's only after I set the projection using the d3.geoPath().projection() method that I obtain the proper result.
Is this an error in the documentation or am I missing something?
//setup and map parameters
var height = 300;
var width = 300;
var projection = d3.geoAlbers().scale(1000).translate([width/2, height/2]);
var path = d3.geoPath(projection);
//geoJSON data
var geojson =
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[
{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-86.910592,33.536105],[-86.907192,33.542204999999996],[-86.90539199999999,33.541305],[-86.901608,33.543456],[-86.895692,33.548805],[-86.89249199999999,33.550404],[-86.888392,33.549304],[-86.879772,33.553267999999996],[-86.868549,33.553418],[-86.8651,33.557134999999995],[-86.856129,33.562064],[-86.85159499999999,33.559404],[-86.848891,33.559805],[-86.852991,33.552104],[-86.85519099999999,33.543904999999995],[-86.855694,33.538151],[-86.860817,33.53405],[-86.850509,33.535693],[-86.83124699999999,33.544767],[-86.827029,33.534708],[-86.82383999999999,33.533389],[-86.826703,33.528081],[-86.826807,33.521107],[-86.822808,33.514319],[-86.81474899999999,33.502386],[-86.81411899999999,33.500078],[-86.816041,33.496234],[-86.823825,33.488839],[-86.825743,33.485408],[-86.82772299999999,33.477393],[-86.828558,33.472626999999996],[-86.82791,33.46967],[-86.833503,33.467552999999995],[-86.839366,33.463845],[-86.841534,33.460941],[-86.842309,33.465699],[-86.849758,33.466302],[-86.861663,33.456759],[-86.869367,33.4514],[-86.87749699999999,33.449382],[-86.884293,33.445453],[-86.88948599999999,33.441072999999996],[-86.890131,33.438437],[-86.899491,33.434508],[-86.908391,33.429308],[-86.922929,33.415512],[-86.925484,33.419897999999996],[-86.93114299999999,33.422801],[-86.93749199999999,33.421608],[-86.945352,33.425982999999995],[-86.946468,33.428407],[-86.937809,33.435314],[-86.925764,33.449968999999996],[-86.920859,33.454651999999996],[-86.92215,33.456643],[-86.927679,33.453849999999996],[-86.932965,33.449332],[-86.935435,33.446132],[-86.94133699999999,33.442150999999996],[-86.941301,33.445651999999995],[-86.942842,33.450103],[-86.946817,33.45017],[-86.95131599999999,33.45181],[-86.950279,33.458104],[-86.945494,33.463234],[-86.929693,33.478538],[-86.92935299999999,33.479858],[-86.920255,33.492874],[-86.92450699999999,33.493904],[-86.93110999999999,33.496843],[-86.933543,33.494935999999996],[-86.94144999999999,33.494743],[-86.944717,33.495934],[-86.946237,33.502279],[-86.946224,33.506071],[-86.941811,33.507621],[-86.937693,33.512206],[-86.92634,33.512381999999995],[-86.917255,33.517139],[-86.915435,33.519832],[-86.908779,33.518958999999995],[-86.903385,33.516537],[-86.898659,33.520165999999996],[-86.894459,33.526136],[-86.896992,33.530504],[-86.910592,33.536105]]]},"properties":{"a":1}}
]}
var svg = d3.select("#map");
svg.selectAll("path").data(geojson.features).enter().append("path").attr("fill","red").attr("d", path);
<script src="https://d3js.org/d3.v4.min.js"></script>
<svg height="300px" width="300px" id="map"> </svg>
You will need to set your projection parameters correctly. A scale factor of 1 000 is much to small to show a small area as in your example. A scale factor of 50 000 might be more appropriate. You also need to properly center your map.
You will need to find a point near the center of your feature to properly center the map. You can do this manually by using google earth, or other methods to find a path centroid in geographic coordinates (not svg coordinates; however, you can find the svg centroid to refine the projection as well by translating features, I am not using that approach in my answer though).
With an Albers projection you should center on the y axis and rotate on the x axis:
var projection = d3.geoAlbers()
.rotate([-x,0])
.center([0,y])
.scale(k)
.translate([width/2,height/2])
You want to use the negative of your central meridian because you rotate the globe under the map. See this answer for a more graphical explanation of an Albers parameters
An Albers projection in d3 has default center and rotate coordinates. If you don't set the center coordinates with both rotate and center, the map will keep default parameters that are intended to show the entire US; this will modify the intended projection. Other projections are generally centered on [0,0] in d3 by default, which is off the coast of Africa.
I eyeballed a center coordinate using google earth to use in this projection. The centering point I am using here is:
86.884 degrees West (-86.884 degrees East)
33.507 degress North
I also zoomed in much further than your original zoom factor, using 100 000 rather than 1 000. Here is the projection showing your data:
//setup and map parameters
var height = 300;
var width = 300;
var projection = d3.geoAlbers()
.scale(100000)
.translate([width/2, height/2])
.rotate([86.884,0])
.center([0,33.507]);
var path = d3.geoPath(projection);
//geoJSON data
var geojson =
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[
{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-86.910592,33.536105],[-86.907192,33.542204999999996],[-86.90539199999999,33.541305],[-86.901608,33.543456],[-86.895692,33.548805],[-86.89249199999999,33.550404],[-86.888392,33.549304],[-86.879772,33.553267999999996],[-86.868549,33.553418],[-86.8651,33.557134999999995],[-86.856129,33.562064],[-86.85159499999999,33.559404],[-86.848891,33.559805],[-86.852991,33.552104],[-86.85519099999999,33.543904999999995],[-86.855694,33.538151],[-86.860817,33.53405],[-86.850509,33.535693],[-86.83124699999999,33.544767],[-86.827029,33.534708],[-86.82383999999999,33.533389],[-86.826703,33.528081],[-86.826807,33.521107],[-86.822808,33.514319],[-86.81474899999999,33.502386],[-86.81411899999999,33.500078],[-86.816041,33.496234],[-86.823825,33.488839],[-86.825743,33.485408],[-86.82772299999999,33.477393],[-86.828558,33.472626999999996],[-86.82791,33.46967],[-86.833503,33.467552999999995],[-86.839366,33.463845],[-86.841534,33.460941],[-86.842309,33.465699],[-86.849758,33.466302],[-86.861663,33.456759],[-86.869367,33.4514],[-86.87749699999999,33.449382],[-86.884293,33.445453],[-86.88948599999999,33.441072999999996],[-86.890131,33.438437],[-86.899491,33.434508],[-86.908391,33.429308],[-86.922929,33.415512],[-86.925484,33.419897999999996],[-86.93114299999999,33.422801],[-86.93749199999999,33.421608],[-86.945352,33.425982999999995],[-86.946468,33.428407],[-86.937809,33.435314],[-86.925764,33.449968999999996],[-86.920859,33.454651999999996],[-86.92215,33.456643],[-86.927679,33.453849999999996],[-86.932965,33.449332],[-86.935435,33.446132],[-86.94133699999999,33.442150999999996],[-86.941301,33.445651999999995],[-86.942842,33.450103],[-86.946817,33.45017],[-86.95131599999999,33.45181],[-86.950279,33.458104],[-86.945494,33.463234],[-86.929693,33.478538],[-86.92935299999999,33.479858],[-86.920255,33.492874],[-86.92450699999999,33.493904],[-86.93110999999999,33.496843],[-86.933543,33.494935999999996],[-86.94144999999999,33.494743],[-86.944717,33.495934],[-86.946237,33.502279],[-86.946224,33.506071],[-86.941811,33.507621],[-86.937693,33.512206],[-86.92634,33.512381999999995],[-86.917255,33.517139],[-86.915435,33.519832],[-86.908779,33.518958999999995],[-86.903385,33.516537],[-86.898659,33.520165999999996],[-86.894459,33.526136],[-86.896992,33.530504],[-86.910592,33.536105]]]},"properties":{"a":1}}
]}
var svg = d3.select("#map");
svg.selectAll("path").data(geojson.features).enter().append("path").attr("fill","red").attr("d", path);
<script src="https://d3js.org/d3.v4.min.js"></script>
<svg height="300px" width="300px" id="map"> </svg>