Display USGS DTM using mapshow

   [germany, R] = geotiffread('srtm_germany_dtm.tif');
   germany = double(germany);
   figure
   mapshow(germany, R);

I have also converted the matrix germany of type single into doulble. but still im getting the following error:

          Error using checkRefObj (line 25)
Function mapshow expected input number 2, R, to be either a 3-by-2 referencing matrix or a scalar map raster reference object. Instead its
type was: map.rasterref.GeographicCellsReference.

Error in validateMapRasterData>parseImageInputs (line 112)
refmat = checkRefObj(mapfcnname, R, size(A), R_position);

 Error in validateMapRasterData>validateImageComponent (line 92)
        [A, R] = parseImageInputs(mapfcnname, dataArgs{:}, cmap, rules );

 Error in validateMapRasterData (line 26)
        [Z, SpatialRef] =  validateImageComponent(mapfcnname, ...

 Error in maprastershow (line 126)
[Z, SpatialRef, displayType, HGpairs] = ...

 Error in mapshow (line 228)
h = showFcn(varargin{:});

Can anyone please help me to display the geotiff file.

Answer 1

[Kojiro Saito]

If you also have a tfw file, the following code should work.

    [X cmap] = imread('srtm_germany_dtm.tif');
    R = worldfileread('srtm_germany_dtm.tfw');
    figure
    X = double(X);
    mapshow(X, cmap, R);

Or, do you have only a geotiff file?

[SUSHMA MB]

I have only geotiff file. And still im not able to view it on MATLAB

[Kojiro Saito]

How about using geoshow?

 [X, R] = geotiffread('srtm_germany_dtm.tif');
 X = double(X);
 geoshow(X, R);

Let me know whether this will view your geotiff file on MATLAB.

[OJ27]

I tried this code and this is the error

Error using checkImage>checkRGBImage (line 60)

RGB images must be size M-by-N-by-3.

Error in checkImage (line 45)

RGB = checkRGBImage(A);

Error in validateTextureComponent (line 25)

dataArgs{imageIndex} = checkImage( ...

Error in validateGeoRasterData (line 23)

[dataArgs, R, imageIndex, rules] = validateTextureComponent( ...

Error in georastershow (line 144)

validateGeoRasterData('geoshow', dataArgs, displayType);

Error in geoshow (line 242)

h = showFcn(varargin{:});

Answer 2

[Brian]

I'm having this same problem. Using geoshow results in the same problem.

[Kojiro Saito]

What is the CoordinateSystem of your DTM file? You can see by the following,

[X,R] = geotiffread('dtm.tiff');
R

If it's geographic, it shows

 CoordinateSystemType: 'geographic'

[Sally Wood]

I'm also having the same problem:

[bathy,R] = geotiffread('B2_rgb.tif');
figure; mapshow(bathy,R)

Gives the error:

Error using checkRefObj (line 25)
Function mapshow expected input number 2, R, to be either a 3-by-2 referencing matrix or a scalar map raster reference object. Instead its type was:
map.rasterref.GeographicCellsReference.

Whilst replacing mapshow with geoshow:

[bathy,R] = geotiffread('B2_rgb.tif');
bathy=double(bathy);
figure; geoshow(bathy,R)

Gives a different error:

Error using checkImage>checkRGBImage (line 51)
RGB images must be size M-by-N-by-3.
Error in checkImage (line 36)
RGB = checkRGBImage(A);
Error in validateTextureComponent (line 20)
            dataArgs{imageIndex} = checkImage( ...
Error in validateGeoRasterData (line 24)
        geofcnname, dataArgs, displayType, rules);
Error in georastershow (line 144)
    validateGeoRasterData('geoshow', dataArgs, displayType);
Error in geoshow (line 276)
h = showFcn(varargin{:});

With regards to the Matlab example given for geotiffread...

[boston, R2] = geotiffread('boston.tif');
figure; mapshow(boston, R); axis image off

... my file differs in a number of ways. Firstly it is MxN x4 whilst 'boston.tif' comes out MxNx 3 (presumably the 3 RGB channels?). Secondly, R comes out as a 1x1 GeographicCellsReference whilst R2 for 'boston.tif' comes out as a 1x1 MapCellsReference. Finally, the Coordinate system type is 'geographic' compared to 'planar' in the Matlab example.

I don't know enough about these types of files to figure out which difference is causing the problem, so any advice would be gratefully received. I have tried just plotting 3 layers of my tif file but this crashes my computer!

bathy=double(bathy(:,:,2:4));
figure; geoshow(bathy,R)

[BN2]

I have the same problem, Did anyone find the solution?

[Stephen Blackstock]

I also have this problem. Why doesn't this work?

[BN2]

Dear Stephen,

I get my answer here: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/517443-how-i-can-view-this-tif-file?s_tid=prof_contriblnk