# `bordersm` documentation

`bordersm` plots National or US state boundaries on maps generated with Matlab's Mapping Toolbox. If you don't have Matlab's Mapping Toolbox, use `borders` instead.

Data are compiled from 2013 US Census Bureau 500k data and a thematicmapping.org TM World Borders 0.3 dataset.

## Contents

- Syntax
- Description
- Example 1: Very simple
- Example 2: Red Russia, red Russia
- Example 3: Continental US
- Example 4: Fancy formatting
- Example 5: Georgia vs. Georgia.
- Example 6: More types of formatting
- Author Info

## Syntax

    bordersm
    bordersm(place)
    bordersm(...,LineProperty,LineValue)
    bordersm(...,PatchProperty,PatchValue)
    h = bordersm(...)
    [lat,lon] = bordersm(place)

## Description

`bordersm` plots national bordersm on a map.

`bordersm(place)` plots the bordersm of a `place`, which can be any country or US state. `place` may also be `'countries'` to plot all national bordersm, `'states'` to plot all US state bordersm, or `'Continental US'` to plot only the continental United States (sorry Guam). Note: to plot the nation of Georgia, use `'Georgia'`. To plot the US state of Georgia, specify `'Georgia.'` with a period.

`bordersm(...,LineProperty,LineValue)` specifies linestyle or markerstyle.

`bordersm(...,PatchProperty,PatchValue)` outlines states or nations as patch objects if any property begins with `'face'`, (e.g., `'facecolor','red'`). Note that plotting all countries as patches can be a bit slow.

`h = bordersm(...)` returns a handle `h` of plotted object(s).

`[lat,lon] = bordersm(place)` does not plot any bordersm, but returns arrays of their geographic coordinates.

## Example 1: Very simple

To plot all national bordersm, just type `bordersm`:

    bordersm

Or specify line properties like this (this makes country outlines black):

    bordersm('countries','k')

Specifying facecolor or other patch properties switches from line plotting to patch object plotting.

    bordersm('countries','facecolor',.5*[1 1 1])

## Example 2: Red Russia, red Russia

To plot just one country, specify its name like this. Add Russia to the map as a big red patch:

    bordersm('russia','facecolor','red')

## Example 3: Continental US

Open a new figure and plot the continental United States oulined in black:

    figure
    bordersm('continental us','k')

## Example 4: Fancy formatting

Let's turn Texas blue (that'll be the day), give it a thick magenta outline, and give Nebraska a thick green outline. The `labelbordersm` function works just like the `bordersm` function.

    bordersm('texas','facecolor','blue','edgecolor','m','linewidth',2)
    bordersm('nebraska','g','linewidth',2)
    labelbordersm('continental us','fontsize',6);
    labelbordersm('Texas','color','r','backgroundcolor','y',...
        'fontangle','italic','fontsize',16)

## Example 5: Georgia vs. Georgia.

There are two Georgias. To distinguish between them, I've placed a period at the end of the US state called Georgia. Let us compare:

    figure
    subplot(121)
    bordersm 'georgia'
    labelbordersm 'Georgia'
    title 'This is a country!'

    subplot(122)
    bordersm 'georgia.'
    labelbordersm 'Georgia.'
    title 'This is a state!'

## Example 6: More types of formatting

    figure
    bordersm('mexico','r:','linewidth',2)
    hold on
    bordersm('belize','facecolor','b','linestyle','-','linewidth',1)
    labelbordersm('Mexico','color','r')
    labelbordersm('Belize','color','m','fontangle','italic')

## Author Info

The `bordersm` and `labelbordersm` functions were written by Chad A. Greene of the University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), April 2015.