Annotate Matplotlib Plots Effectively

Introduction

This lab will guide you through annotating plots in Matplotlib. You will learn how to highlight specific points of interest and use various visual tools to call attention to these points. Annotation and text tools are essential for conveying information and making plots more visually appealing.

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Skills Graph

Specifying text points and annotation points

You must specify an annotation point xy=(x, y) to annotate this point. Additionally, you may specify a text point xytext=(x, y) for the location of the text for this annotation. Optionally, you can specify the coordinate system of xy and xytext with one of the following strings for xycoords and textcoords (default is 'data'):

• 'figure points' : points from the lower left corner of the figure
• 'figure pixels' : pixels from the lower left corner of the figure
• 'figure fraction' : (0, 0) is lower left of figure and (1, 1) is upper right
• 'axes points' : points from lower left corner of axes
• 'axes pixels' : pixels from lower left corner of axes
• 'axes fraction' : (0, 0) is lower left of axes and (1, 1) is upper right
• 'offset points' : Specify an offset (in points) from the xy value
• 'offset pixels' : Specify an offset (in pixels) from the xy value
• 'data' : use the axes data coordinate system

Note: for physical coordinate systems (points or pixels) the origin is the (bottom, left) of the figure or axes.

Optionally, you can specify arrow properties which draws and arrow from the text to the annotated point by giving a dictionary of arrow properties. Valid keys are:

• width: the width of the arrow in points
• frac: the fraction of the arrow length occupied by the head
• headwidth: the width of the base of the arrow head in points
• shrink: move the tip and base some percent away from the annotated point and text
• any key for matplotlib.patches.polygon (e.g., facecolor)

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

from matplotlib.patches import Ellipse
from matplotlib.text import OffsetFrom

## Create our figure and data we'll use for plotting
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(4, 4))

t = np.arange(0.0, 5.0, 0.01)
s = np.cos(2*np.pi*t)

## Plot a line and add some simple annotations
line, = ax.plot(t, s)
ax.annotate('figure pixels',
            xy=(10, 10), xycoords='figure pixels')
ax.annotate('figure points',
            xy=(107, 110), xycoords='figure points',
            fontsize=12)
ax.annotate('figure fraction',
            xy=(.025, .975), xycoords='figure fraction',
            horizontalalignment='left', verticalalignment='top',
            fontsize=20)

## The following examples show off how these arrows are drawn.

ax.annotate('point offset from data',
            xy=(3, 1), xycoords='data',
            xytext=(-10, 90), textcoords='offset points',
            arrowprops=dict(facecolor='black', shrink=0.05),
            horizontalalignment='center', verticalalignment='bottom')

ax.annotate('axes fraction',
            xy=(2, 1), xycoords='data',
            xytext=(0.36, 0.68), textcoords='axes fraction',
            arrowprops=dict(facecolor='black', shrink=0.05),
            horizontalalignment='right', verticalalignment='top')

## You may also use negative points or pixels to specify from (right, top).
## E.g., (-10, 10) is 10 points to the left of the right side of the axes and 10
## points above the bottom

ax.annotate('pixel offset from axes fraction',
            xy=(1, 0), xycoords='axes fraction',
            xytext=(-20, 20), textcoords='offset pixels',
            horizontalalignment='right',
            verticalalignment='bottom')

ax.set(xlim=(-1, 5), ylim=(-3, 5))

Using multiple coordinate systems and axis types

You can specify the xypoint and the xytext in different positions and coordinate systems, and optionally turn on a connecting line and mark the point with a marker. Annotations work on polar axes too.

fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw=dict(projection='polar'), figsize=(3, 3))
r = np.arange(0, 1, 0.001)
theta = 2*2*np.pi*r
line, = ax.plot(theta, r)

ind = 800
thisr, thistheta = r[ind], theta[ind]
ax.plot([thistheta], [thisr], 'o')
ax.annotate('a polar annotation',
            xy=(thistheta, thisr),  ## theta, radius
            xytext=(0.05, 0.05),    ## fraction, fraction
            textcoords='figure fraction',
            arrowprops=dict(facecolor='black', shrink=0.05),
            horizontalalignment='left',
            verticalalignment='bottom')

Customizing arrow and bubble styles

The arrow between xytext and the annotation point, as well as the bubble that covers the annotation text, are highly customizable. Below are a few parameter options as well as their resulting output.

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5))

t = np.arange(0.0, 5.0, 0.01)
s = np.cos(2*np.pi*t)
line, = ax.plot(t, s, lw=3)

ax.annotate(
    'straight',
    xy=(0, 1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-50, 30), textcoords='offset points',
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->"))
ax.annotate(
    'arc3,\nrad 0.2',
    xy=(0.5, -1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-80, -60), textcoords='offset points',
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    connectionstyle="arc3,rad=.2"))
ax.annotate(
    'arc,\nangle 50',
    xy=(1., 1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-90, 50), textcoords='offset points',
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    connectionstyle="arc,angleA=0,armA=50,rad=10"))
ax.annotate(
    'arc,\narms',
    xy=(1.5, -1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-80, -60), textcoords='offset points',
    arrowprops=dict(
        arrowstyle="->",
        connectionstyle="arc,angleA=0,armA=40,angleB=-90,armB=30,rad=7"))
ax.annotate(
    'angle,\nangle 90',
    xy=(2., 1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-70, 30), textcoords='offset points',
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    connectionstyle="angle,angleA=0,angleB=90,rad=10"))
ax.annotate(
    'angle3,\nangle -90',
    xy=(2.5, -1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-80, -60), textcoords='offset points',
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    connectionstyle="angle3,angleA=0,angleB=-90"))
ax.annotate(
    'angle,\nround',
    xy=(3., 1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-60, 30), textcoords='offset points',
    bbox=dict(boxstyle="round", fc="0.8"),
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    connectionstyle="angle,angleA=0,angleB=90,rad=10"))
ax.annotate(
    'angle,\nround4',
    xy=(3.5, -1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-70, -80), textcoords='offset points',
    size=20,
    bbox=dict(boxstyle="round4,pad=.5", fc="0.8"),
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    connectionstyle="angle,angleA=0,angleB=-90,rad=10"))
ax.annotate(
    'angle,\nshrink',
    xy=(4., 1), xycoords='data',
    xytext=(-60, 30), textcoords='offset points',
    bbox=dict(boxstyle="round", fc="0.8"),
    arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->",
                    shrinkA=0, shrinkB=10,
                    connectionstyle="angle,angleA=0,angleB=90,rad=10"))
## You can pass an empty string to get only annotation arrows rendered
ax.annotate('', xy=(4., 1.), xycoords='data',
            xytext=(4.5, -1), textcoords='data',
            arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="<->",
                            connectionstyle="bar",
                            ec="k",
                            shrinkA=5, shrinkB=5))

ax.set(xlim=(-1, 5), ylim=(-4, 3))

More examples of coordinate systems

Below we'll show a few more examples of coordinate systems and how the location of annotations may be specified.

fig, (ax1, ax2) = plt.subplots(1, 2)

bbox_args = dict(boxstyle="round", fc="0.8")
arrow_args = dict(arrowstyle="->")

## Here we'll demonstrate the extents of the coordinate system and how
## we place annotating text.

ax1.annotate('figure fraction : 0, 0', xy=(0, 0), xycoords='figure fraction',
             xytext=(20, 20), textcoords='offset points',
             ha="left", va="bottom",
             bbox=bbox_args,
             arrowprops=arrow_args)

ax1.annotate('figure fraction : 1, 1', xy=(1, 1), xycoords='figure fraction',
             xytext=(-20, -20), textcoords='offset points',
             ha="right", va="top",
             bbox=bbox_args,
             arrowprops=arrow_args)

ax1.annotate('axes fraction : 0, 0', xy=(0, 0), xycoords='axes fraction',
             xytext=(20, 20), textcoords='offset points',
             ha="left", va="bottom",
             bbox=bbox_args,
             arrowprops=arrow_args)

ax1.annotate('axes fraction : 1, 1', xy=(1, 1), xycoords='axes fraction',
             xytext=(-20, -20), textcoords='offset points',
             ha="right", va="top",
             bbox=bbox_args,
             arrowprops=arrow_args)

## It is also possible to generate draggable annotations

an1 = ax1.annotate('Drag me 1', xy=(.5, .7), xycoords='data',
                   ha="center", va="center",
                   bbox=bbox_args)

an2 = ax1.annotate('Drag me 2', xy=(.5, .5), xycoords=an1,
                   xytext=(.5, .3), textcoords='axes fraction',
                   ha="center", va="center",
                   bbox=bbox_args,
                   arrowprops=dict(patchB=an1.get_bbox_patch(),
                                   connectionstyle="arc3,rad=0.2",
                                   **arrow_args))
an1.draggable()
an2.draggable()

an3 = ax1.annotate('', xy=(.5, .5), xycoords=an2,
                   xytext=(.5, .5), textcoords=an1,
                   ha="center", va="center",
                   bbox=bbox_args,
                   arrowprops=dict(patchA=an1.get_bbox_patch(),
                                   patchB=an2.get_bbox_patch(),
                                   connectionstyle="arc3,rad=0.2",
                                   **arrow_args))

## Finally we'll show off some more complex annotation and placement

text = ax2.annotate('xy=(0, 1)\nxycoords=("data", "axes fraction")',
                    xy=(0, 1), xycoords=("data", 'axes fraction'),
                    xytext=(0, -20), textcoords='offset points',
                    ha="center", va="top",
                    bbox=bbox_args,
                    arrowprops=arrow_args)

ax2.annotate('xy=(0.5, 0)\nxycoords=artist',
             xy=(0.5, 0.), xycoords=text,
             xytext=(0, -20), textcoords='offset points',
             ha="center", va="top",
             bbox=bbox_args,
             arrowprops=arrow_args)

ax2.annotate('xy=(0.8, 0.5)\nxycoords=ax1.transData',
             xy=(0.8, 0.5), xycoords=ax1.transData,
             xytext=(10, 10),
             textcoords=OffsetFrom(ax2.bbox, (0, 0), "points"),
             ha="left", va="bottom",
             bbox=bbox_args,
             arrowprops=arrow_args)

ax2.set(xlim=[-2, 2], ylim=[-2, 2])

Summary

This lab has covered the basics of annotating plots in Matplotlib. You have learned how to specify annotation and text points, use multiple coordinate systems and axis types, customize arrow and bubble styles, and more examples of coordinate systems. These tools are essential for making plots more visually appealing and conveying information effectively.