GMT symbols for Whale-watchers and marine biologists

These are symbols contributed by Pablo Valdés. Below are PNG examples of all the symbols followed by the README file.
Click to download the entire Cetacean symbol package from the SOEST ftp site, or visit the other mirror sites' contrib directory.

atlantwhitesided.def atlantwhitesided_high.def atlantwhitesided_low.def

beluga.def beluga_high.def beluga_low.def

bottlenose.def bottlenose_high.def bottlenose_low.def

bowhead.def bowhead_high.def bowhead_low.def

burmeistersporpoise.def burmeistersporpoise_high.def burmeistersporpoise_low.def

commondolphin.def commondolphin_halflow.def commondolphin_high.def

commondolphin_low.def commondolphin_midhigh.def commondolphin_midlow.def

commonporpoise.def commonporpoise_high.def commonporpoise_low.def

cuviersbeaked.def cuviersbeaked_high.def cuviersbeaked_low.def

finwhale.def finwhale_high.def finwhale_low.def

graywhale.def graywhale_high.def graywhale_low.def

harpseal.def harpseal_high.def harpseal_low.def

hoodedseal.def hoodedseal_high.def hoodedseal_low.def

humpbacktail_one.def humpbacktail_one_low.def humpbacktail_two.def

humpbacktail_two_low.def jumpback.def jumpback_high.def

jumpback_low.def killerwhale.def killerwhale_high.def

killerwhale_low.def longfinnedpilotwhale.def longfinnedpilotwhale_high.def

longfinnedpilotwhale_low.def minkewhale.def minkewhale_high.def

minkewhale_low.def northernrightwhale.def northernrightwhale_high.def

northernrightwhale_low.def pigmyspermwhale.def pigmyspermwhale_high.def

pigmyspermwhale_low.def rissosdolphin.def rissosdolphin_high.def

rissosdolphin_low.def seal.def seal_high.def

seal_low.def seiwhale.def seiwhale_high.def

seiwhale_low.def shortfinnedpilotwhale.def shortfinnedpilotwhale_high.def

shortfinnedpilotwhale_low.def southernrightwhale.def southernrightwhale_high.def

southernrightwhale_low.def spectacledporpoise.def spectacledporpoise_high.def

spectacledporpoise_low.def spermwhale.def spermwhale_high.def

spermwhale_low.def spermwhaletail.def spermwhaletail_high.def

spermwhaletail_low.def srightwhaledolphin.def srightwhaledolphin_high.def

srightwhaledolphin_low.def stripeddolphin.def stripeddolphin_high.def

stripeddolphin_low.def unidentifiedbeakedwhale.def unidentifiedbeakedwhale_high.def

unidentifiedbeakedwhale_low.def unidentifieddolphin.def unidentifieddolphin_high.def

unidentifieddolphin_low.def unidentifiedwhale.def unidentifiedwhale_high.def

unidentifiedwhale_low.def

	GMT symbols for Whale-watchers and marine biologists
	-----------------------------------------------------

	What's this?
	------------
	This is a collection of extra symbols for the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software that can
	be of interest mainly to whale-watchers or whale researchers. With this, you can show your 
	data in a map created with GMT as fine and detailed marine mammal's icons instead the 
	usual circles or squares. GMT is a very complete GIS software so you could add also 
	bathymetric and coastal lines, the situation of the main cities and ports in your area, 
	or other useful data like planckton concentration or water temperatures in your map.

	Currently comprises symbols for 8 species of Baleen Whales, 16 of Toothed Whales, 
	2 sp of seals and 4 more for "unidentified" seals, beaked whales, dolphins or whales. 
	Several versions (low/normal/high) of most symbols are also available, and you can 
	change easily between color or gray symbols in 57 of the 99 symbols provided, therefore
	 you can choose really between more than 150 different symbols.  

	The main upstream authors of GMT are: Paul Wessel  and 
	Walter Smith . Please don't bother them for questions relative
	 to this collection or ask them for new symbols, instead e-mail me, the author of the 
	symbols: Pablo Valdés  (Spanish preferred, but you can use also
	English or French). In the future I hope to create gradually more symbols for other species. 
	I greatly appreciate your suggestions and feedback.

	These symbols are freely available under a GNU Library General Public Licence (version 2, 
	or later).


	How to use the symbols?
	-----------------------
	First of all, you need to have a functional version of GMT installed in your computer. 
	These symbols work fine for me using a GMT version 4.2.0-1. 

	1: Before to start, think in the type of map you want to obtain and prepare your data. 
	  If you want to create a 2D map (most common situation) you need psxy, if you want a 3D
	  map you should use psxyz instead. Think also in how many different symbols you want to 
	  show in each individual map. You should have at least a different .xy file for each
	  species that you want to show. You could want also to show separately males and females 
	  or adults/youngs/calfs. In this case, you will either need to give a different size to each 
	  group or place the data for each group in a different .xy (or .xyz) file and provide 
	  different symbols. 

	 A valid input datafile.xy is simply a text file containing several lines like this:

	#common dolphin data, file: cdolphin.xy
	#longitude latitude (symbolsize) (symboltype) (...others)
	-5:40:44   30:30:01  0.10	 k
	 6:45.70   -43       0.12	 k
	 355.707   42.7543   0.17	 k
	            ...

	 Psxy can deal with several lon/lat formats. All of this are accepted.
	 The symbolsize field is optional, but if not provided you must specify a common size 
	 (used for all observations in this file) in the script with -Sksymbolname/simbolsize  

	 The symboltype field is also optional, k means custom symbol. Currently I can't pass 
	 different symbols to psxy in the same file (I need split first the file) 
	 and must provide a unique symbolname in the script for all lines, so the interest 
	 of having this field is reduced. Probably I'm missing something. You can also add other fields
	 like font, angle, position or a last field with a short remembering note in a text line, they
	 are ignored by psxy but you could pass it to pstext.

	2: Take a look at the pics (.png) and choose the symbols that you want. No installation needed, 
	   simply browse the directory symbols and copy the files with extension .def having the same 
	   name as the desired pic to your working directory. This is the list of symbols available:

	English name (scientific name) 
	        - symbols available
	-------------------------------
	Cetacea
	  Toothed Whales, SubO. Odontoceti
	     1 Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) 
	        - ddelphis_low.def  
	        - ddelphis_midlow.def
	        - ddelphis.def
	        - ddelphis_midhigh.def
	        - ddelphis_high.def

	     2 Stripped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) 
	        - stripped_low.def, stripped.def, stripped_high.def

	     3 Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) 
	        - bottlenose_low.def, bottlenose.def, bottlenose_high.def

	     4 Atlantic White-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) 
	        - atlanticwhitesided_low.def, atlanticwhitesided.def, atlanticwhitesided_high.def

	     5 Killer whale (Orcinus orca) 
	        - killerwhale_low.def, killerwhale.def, killerwhale_high.def

	     6 Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) 
	        - rissosdolphin_low.def, rissosdolphin.def, rissosdolphin_high.def

	     7 Short-Finned Pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) 
	        - shortfinnnedpilotwhale_low.def,  shortfinnnedpilotwhale.def
	        - shortfinnnedpilotwhale_low.def

	     8 Long-Finned Pilot whale (Globicephala melaena) 
	        - longfinnedpilotwhale_low.def, longfinnedpilotwhale.def
	        - longfinnedpilotwhale_low.def

	     9 Southern Rightwhale Dolphin (Lagenodelphis peronii)
		- srightwhaledolphin_low.def, srightwhaledolphin.def
		- srightwhaledolphin_high.def

	     10 Common porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) 
	        - commonporpoise_low.def, commonporpoise.def, commonporpoise_high.def

	     11	Burmeister's porpoise (Phocoena spinipinnis)
	        - burmeistersporpoise_low.def, burmeistersporpoise.def, burmeistersporpoise_high.def

	     12 Spectacled porpoise (Australophocaena dioptrica)
	        - spectacledporpoise_low.def, spectacledporpoise.def, spectacledporpoise_high.def

	     13 Beluga (Delphinaterus leucas) 
	        - beluga_low.def,  beluga.def,  beluga_high.def

	     14 Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) 
	        - cuviersbeaked_low.def,  cuviersbeaked.def, cuviersbeaked_high.def

	     15 Unidentified beaked whale (Mesoplodon spp.) 
	        - unidentifiedbeakedwhale_low.def, unidentifiedbeakedwhale.def, 
	          unidentifiedbeakedwhale_high.def

	     16 Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) 
	        - spermwhale_low.def, spermwhale.def, spermwhale_high.def
		- spermwhaletail_low.def, spermwhaletail.def, spermwhaletail_high.def

	     17 Pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps)
	        - pigmyspermwhale_low.def, pigmyspermwhale.def, pigmyspermwhale_high.def

	     18 A dolphin (gen. unknown)
	       	- unidentifieddolphin_low.def, unidentifieddolphin.def, unidentifieddolphin_high.def

	  Baleen Whales, SubO. Misticeti:
	     19 Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)
	     	- minkewhale.def, minkewhale_low.def, minkewhale_high.def

	     20 Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
	        - finwhale.def,  finwhale_low.def,  finwhale_high.def

	     21	Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
	        - seiwhale_low.def,  seiwhale.def,  seiwhale_high.def

	     22 Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)
	     	- humpbacktail_one_low.def,  humpbacktail_one.def
		- humpbacktail_two_low.def,  humpbacktail_two.def
		- jumpback_low.def (yes, with j, look at the pic ;-))
		- jumpback.def, jumpback_high.def

	     23 Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)
	        - graywhale_low.def,  graywhale.def,  graywhale_high.def

	     24	Right Whales (Eubalaena glacialis, Eubalaena australis)
	        - southernrightwhale_low.def, southernrightwhale.def, southernrightwhale_high.def
	        - northernrightwhale_low.def, northernrightwhale.def, northernrightwhale_high.def

	     25 A whale (unknown species)
	       	- unidentifiedwhale_low.def, unidentifiedwhale.def, unidentifiedwhale_high.def

	Pinnipedia, (Seals):
	     26 Harp seal (Phoca groenlandica)
	        - harpseal_low.def,   harpseal.def,   harpseal_high.def

	     27 Hooded seal (Cystophora cristata)
	        - hoodedseal_low.def,  hoodedseal.def,  hoodedseal_high.def

	     28 A Seal (appliable to several species)
	     	- seal_low.def,  seal.def,  seal_high.def

	3: Call them including the corresponding pxsy or psxyz lines in a GMT script like this: 

	#!/bin/bash
	  pscoast -JM20c -R-10/6/33/36 -K -W0.5pt/0 -P -Gblack > myfile.ps
	  psxy cdolphin.xy -Skcommondolphin/ -JM20c -R-10/6/33/36 -P -K -O >> myfile.ps
	  psxy bottlenose_dolphin.xy -Skbottlenose_high/0.5 -K -O ...etc >> myfile.ps
	  psxy killerwhale_data.xy   -Skkillerwhale_low/0.5 -O ...etc >> myfile.ps

	 In our examples we will place all the .xy and .def files in our working directory, 
	 but you can find more convenient to move them to several subdirectories named, for
	 instance, data and symbols:

	  psxy data/killer_whale.xy -Sksymbols/Cetacea/killerwhale/0.5 -O ...etc >> myfile.ps

	 In this case, please read also the points 1.2-1.3 of the file FAQ.txt

	4: Run the bash script, print/open the output postscript file myfile.ps, and enjoy. 
	  Alternatively if you had installed ps2pdf and xpdf you can convert it first to pdf 
	  adding something like this at the end of the script:

	   ps2pdf myfile.ps myfile.pdf && xpdf myfile.pdf

	Still confused? Please take a look at the file FAQ.txt and at the documentation 
	provided with GMT.

atlantwhitesided.def	atlantwhitesided_high.def	atlantwhitesided_low.def

beluga.def	beluga_high.def	beluga_low.def

bottlenose.def	bottlenose_high.def	bottlenose_low.def

bowhead.def	bowhead_high.def	bowhead_low.def

burmeistersporpoise.def	burmeistersporpoise_high.def	burmeistersporpoise_low.def

commondolphin.def	commondolphin_halflow.def	commondolphin_high.def

commondolphin_low.def	commondolphin_midhigh.def	commondolphin_midlow.def

commonporpoise.def	commonporpoise_high.def	commonporpoise_low.def

cuviersbeaked.def	cuviersbeaked_high.def	cuviersbeaked_low.def

finwhale.def	finwhale_high.def	finwhale_low.def

graywhale.def	graywhale_high.def	graywhale_low.def

harpseal.def	harpseal_high.def	harpseal_low.def

hoodedseal.def	hoodedseal_high.def	hoodedseal_low.def

humpbacktail_one.def	humpbacktail_one_low.def	humpbacktail_two.def

humpbacktail_two_low.def	jumpback.def	jumpback_high.def

jumpback_low.def	killerwhale.def	killerwhale_high.def

killerwhale_low.def	longfinnedpilotwhale.def	longfinnedpilotwhale_high.def

longfinnedpilotwhale_low.def	minkewhale.def	minkewhale_high.def

minkewhale_low.def	northernrightwhale.def	northernrightwhale_high.def

northernrightwhale_low.def	pigmyspermwhale.def	pigmyspermwhale_high.def

pigmyspermwhale_low.def	rissosdolphin.def	rissosdolphin_high.def

rissosdolphin_low.def	seal.def	seal_high.def

seal_low.def	seiwhale.def	seiwhale_high.def

seiwhale_low.def	shortfinnedpilotwhale.def	shortfinnedpilotwhale_high.def

shortfinnedpilotwhale_low.def	southernrightwhale.def	southernrightwhale_high.def

southernrightwhale_low.def	spectacledporpoise.def	spectacledporpoise_high.def

spectacledporpoise_low.def	spermwhale.def	spermwhale_high.def

spermwhale_low.def	spermwhaletail.def	spermwhaletail_high.def

spermwhaletail_low.def	srightwhaledolphin.def	srightwhaledolphin_high.def

srightwhaledolphin_low.def	stripeddolphin.def	stripeddolphin_high.def

stripeddolphin_low.def	unidentifiedbeakedwhale.def	unidentifiedbeakedwhale_high.def

unidentifiedbeakedwhale_low.def	unidentifieddolphin.def	unidentifieddolphin_high.def

unidentifieddolphin_low.def	unidentifiedwhale.def	unidentifiedwhale_high.def

unidentifiedwhale_low.def