pythonmatplotlibsector

How do you draw a sector in matplotlib?


I would like just a pure sector line, not a wedge. I am trying to use it to represent the uncertainty of a vector's direction, at the tip of the vector arrow. I am using plt.arrow to plot the arrow over a basemap in matplotlib.

I haven't been able to find any way to express this uncertainty other than with a wedge. I was wondering if it is possible to plot just a sector line at the tip of the arrow.


Solution

  • Assuming you have an arbitrary vector v relative to some origin v_origin, and it's angular uncertainty in degrees:

    import pylab as plt
    import numpy as np
    #plt.style.use('ggplot') # because it's just better ;)
    
    v_origin = [.2, .3]
    v = [1., 1.]
    angular_uncert = 20. # angular uncertainty of vector in degrees
    v_angle = np.arctan2( v[1] ,v[0] ) # starting angle
    
    # plot the arrow
    fig = plt.figure(1)
    ax = plt.gca()
    ax.arrow(v_origin[0], v_origin[1] ,v[0], v[1], 
        head_width=0.05, 
        head_length=0.1, 
        lw=2, 
        fc='#777777', 
        ec='#777777', 
        length_includes_head=True)
    
    # plot the sector line
    uncert = (angular_uncert/2.) *np.pi / 180.
    r = np.linalg.norm( v ) # length of vector
    t = np.linspace( v_angle - uncert , v_angle+uncert , 100) # angular range of sector
    x = r* np.cos(t) + v_origin[0] # sector x coords
    y = r* np.sin(t) + v_origin[1] # sector y coords
    ax.plot( x,y, lw=2, ls='--') # plot the sector
    ax.plot( v_origin[0], v_origin[1], 'o', ms=10, c='Limegreen' ) # plot the origin
    
    # adjust the figure
    ax.set_xlim(0, 1.6)
    ax.set_ylim(0, 1.6)
    ax.set_aspect('equal')
    fig.show()
    

    enter image description here