Climate Filter
This plugin allows very complex data filtering and if you take the time you can experiment with it and find interesting relationships. However, because it is so complex, please read carefully how this works. Once you understand it, you will be able to generate many very interesting and useful maps. The filtering is divided into several sections so let´s look at them one by one.
First you specify the filters that will choose which points/locations to show on the map. In the Map settings section you specify how you want these points to be displayed on the map.
Position filter
First is the position filter. You can activate it by clicking the Position filter button. Then you can specify the points you want to include as follows:
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Continent – if you only want data from specific continent(s), use this option to define them
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Country – if you only want data from specific country(s), use this option
NOTE: You can also use a combination, so if you specify for example Europe and Asia for the continent and for country you specify New Zealand, you will get results from Europe, Asia and New Zealand
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Climate – possibility to only include some climate types
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Only capitals – this only limits the filter to capital cities
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Elevation – you can specify the minimum elevation, maximum elevation or both
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Latitude/longitude – use the sliders to define specific range of latitude and longitude. For example, if you slide the latitude slider to 0 to 90, only Northern hemisphere would be included
One thing to remember is that in all cases, if you leave a field blank, it means any value will be accepted. If you only specify for example the maximum, then any value below that (no minimum) will be included.
Main filter
The main filter allows you to specify specific values for temperature, humidity, precipitation and sunshine hours. You can either specify the average value for the whole year (min or max) or you can even set specific min/max for particular months.
Additional filter
The additional filter allows you to set even more parameters – number of days with rain, day length, sunshine/day length ratio and then annual temperature, humidity and precipitation range (between monthly values).
Map Settings
This final section is to set up the map as such. There are three columns.
On the left you specify the color of the points.
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standard – this is the default option, in this case, all points will have a uniform color. This color is by default black, but simply click the black square next to the word “standard” and use the color picker to set a different color.
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based on value – this means that the color will be based on the value of the parameter you choose. All you need to do in such case is tick the radio field next to based on value and use the select box to select which parameter. And then use the min/max squares to specify the color range.
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ratios – this allows you to set the color based on the ratio between two parameters. For example you can use the ratio between temperature and elevation. If you also check the “show value inside label” you will see the actual value of the ratio next to the point on the map.
In the middle you have the option to specify the size of the points.
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standard – this means all points will have the same size – you can use the plus/minus symbols to specify the point size
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based on value – this allows you to select a parameter and the point will have the value depending on the actual value of that parameter
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ratios – same as the color
You can of course combine these two, so you can for example color the points by temperature and have the size based on annual precipitation.
On the right you can select if you want to show the name of the location and/or also the value next to the point on the map.
Last thing to do is remember to set the correct units at the top, depending on which units you used to fill the filter fields.
Now you are ready to go, so just click the “Show” button.
You should now see the map the way you specified. If you click the “Statistics” button, you will see a statistical analysis of the points that satisfy the criteria and are shown on the map.
Last thing you can do is export the whole map as a JPG picture by clicking the Export map option.
