Add vertical whitespace between legend label entries in PyGMT?

Question

I've created a plot showing earthquake data; plotted so that the symbols scale with magnitude. Is there a way to add whitespace between the legend entries in PyGMT so that the symbols are not overlapping?

Can't find anything in the online documentation. Is it possible to add an option to the FONT_ parameters?

Answer 1

How do you create your legend, i.e, from an input file or via the label parameter? In general, sharing a code example makes it easier for people to help you (:

(I) input file

Please have a look at the legend code G, see https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/latest/legend.html#legend-codes.

(II) label parameter

Here is a basic code example showing how to add vertical space between the single legend entries (append +G to the label parameter) as well as to add space between the box and the legend entries (use C of the pygmt.Figure.legend method).

import pygmt

size = 5

fig = pygmt.Figure()

fig.basemap(
    region=[-size, size, -size, size],
    projection="X" + str(size*2) + "c",
    frame=True,
)
fig.plot(x=0, y=0, style="c1c", label="Circle")
fig.plot(x=0, y=-2, style="s1c", label="Square")
fig.legend()

fig.shift_origin(xshift="w+1c")

fig.basemap(
    region=[-size, size, -size, size],
    projection="X" + str(size*2) + "c",
    frame=True,
)
fig.plot(x=0, y=0, style="c1c", label="Circle")
# https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/latest/gmt.html#l-full
fig.plot(x=0, y=-2, style="s1c", label="Square+G1c")
# https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/latest/legend.html#c
fig.legend(C="0.1c/0.5c")  # x / y directions

fig.show()

Output figure: