plotly / plotly/plotly.js

[BUG]: geo projections lose their D3 default rotation

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bug P3 plotly-internal size: 3
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

Description

Geo.updateProjection calls projection.rotate([-rotation.lon, -rotation.lat, rotation.roll]) unconditionally. For a world-scope map projection.rotation defaults to [0, 0, 0], so any rotation the D3 projection ships with is discarded.

Six of the projections in plotly.js carry a non-identity default rotation:

projection D3 default rotation
albers [96, 0, 0]
bertin1953 [-16.5, -42, 0]
gringorten quincuncial [-90, -90, 45]
peirce quincuncial [-90, -90, 45]
sinu mollweide [-20, -55, 0]
wiechel [0, -90, 45]

For the quincuncials and wiechel that rotation is geometric: it places the sphere in the polar aspect and tilts the square 45°, and is applied inside the projection's own constructor:

// d3-geo-projection/src/quincuncial/index.js
return projection(projectQuincuncial)
    .rotate([-90, -90, 45])
    .clipAngle(180 - 1e-3);

Replacing it renders a different orientation from the one D3 defines. (For albers, D3's [96, 0, 0] preconfigures it for the USA, so discarding it is probably intended.)

Screenshots/Video

For 'peirce quincuncial':

D3 projection Plotly projection
Image Image
Steps to reproduce
  • Be on master
  • Open Plotly devtools
  • Enter the following snippet into the browser console:
Plotly.newPlot(gd, [{
    type: 'choropleth',
    locations: ['GHA', 'ARG', 'AUS', 'CAN'],
    z: [1, 2, 3, 4],
    showscale: false
}], {
    geo: { projection: { type: 'peirce quincuncial' }, fitbounds: false },
    height: 800
});
  • Note that
  • Expected: the canonical peirce quincuncial orientation.
  • Actual: rendered with rotation [0, 0, 0].
Screenshots
Notes
  • A fix needs to compose the requested rotation onto each projection's default rather than replace it, since d3.geoProjection.rotate() replaces
  • This was discovered in #7948. It's possible that this is intentional for a good reason, but it would be worth looking at changing it regardless.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at Geo.updateProjection and compare its rotation handling with the D3 projection constructors, especially the quincuncial and wiechel defaults described in the issue. Reproduce the peirce quincuncial example in the browser, then verify that the rendered orientation preserves the projection's canonical default while still applying a requested rotation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
data-visualization
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
72/100

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