map

name	map
description	Use when the user asks for a map, especially a Cartopy-based geospatial plot or multi-panel map. Apply the established map style: include coastlines, country borders, land, and ocean on every panel; use selective outer-panel grid labels to reduce clutter; and preserve shared colorbar and subplot layout conventions.

Map

Use this skill when the user asks for a map.

Default styling based on the provided Cartopy example:

• Use cartopy.crs.PlateCarree(central_longitude=180) unless the task clearly needs a different projection.
• Set the map extent consistently across panels when comparing fields.
• Add these features to every panel:
  • ax.coastlines(linewidth=0.8)
  • ax.add_feature(cfeature.BORDERS, linestyle=":")
  • ax.add_feature(cfeature.LAND, facecolor="lightgray")
  • ax.add_feature(cfeature.OCEAN, facecolor="white")

Gridline and label rules for multi-panel layouts:

• Create gridlines with draw_labels=True.
• Always hide top labels and right labels.
• Show left labels only on the left column.
• Show bottom labels only on the bottom row.
• For interior panels, hide the corresponding labels instead of dropping the gridliner entirely.
• If the goal is labels without visible grid lines, set:

gl.xlines = False
gl.ylines = False

Important distinction:

• gl.left_labels and gl.bottom_labels control label visibility by subplot.
• gl.xlines and gl.ylines control whether the grid lines themselves are drawn.
• If gl.xlines / gl.ylines are not disabled, dashed grid lines will still appear on every panel.

Recommended multi-panel logic:

show_left = i % 2 == 0
show_bottom = i >= n_panels - ncols

gl.top_labels = False
gl.right_labels = False
gl.left_labels = show_left
gl.bottom_labels = show_bottom

For shared figure layout:

• Use a single shared colorbar for comparable panels.
• Keep subplot spacing tight with small wspace and hspace.
• Put panel titles at the left with bold labels such as a), b), etc.

When adapting or generating a map, preserve these conventions unless the user asks for a different style.