Why does geodensityplot create a line rather than a full-cover colormap?

I am creating a geoaxes plot inside a panel in AppDesigner (not an issue w/ AppDesigner or panel). My code is as follows:

gx = geoaxes(app.MapPlotPanel);
geobasemap(gx,'topographic')
geodensityplot(gx,lats,lons,weights)

where lats, lons, weights are all of size 1xN.

I am creating these arrays as

% (webscrape not included but I can assure you the data's fine)
weights = double(weights); % cast webscraped data as double for correct format
lats = -90:2.5:90;
lons = -180:5:180;
transpose(weights);
transpose(lats);
transpose(lons); % with or without transpose doesn't fix

in an external function and passing back in a ButtonPushedCallback. The weights are in the correct order and everything to be plotted this way. When I plot this, I get the following line:

I have tested many many times to see if my arrays were the right size, same shape, etc.

Within my external function I plotted the data just to see what was up, and it looks like this 3D plot is actually projecting this way on my geodensityplot as well, instead of in a "meshed" way... from the top/2D view, it's just a straight line. It is curved on the map above because MATLAB takes into account the spherical distortion of the line.

plot3(lats,lons,weights)

Why is my densityplot not plotting the density? I mean this to be like a colormap where the whole -90 - 90, -180 - 180 surface is colored based on the value of weights(i) at lat(i) and lon(i). I have tried plotting in other ways instead of geodensityplot, but no matter what plotting function I use, they all end up in a warped line.

Plotting data that DOESNT cover the full surface creates a plot that makes sense... arrays that I'm plotting are the same format (all are 1xn).

w/ the little blobs being where the example data is. The points are also webscraped so I know it's not an issue w/ the data pulls/format.

I do not fully understand the meshgrid function but I believe it may be useful in some way. If anyone could point me in the right direction to project my data correctly I would appreciate it greatly. Thank you!

Using R2023A and Mapping Toolkit (not sure if required but shouldn't be).

[Caroline]

using contourf I am able to get the map I need, but when using contourfm (for a map), I get the error

Error using adjustPolarVertices>adjustPV

4 polar vertices: Too many.

How can I avoid this error?

[VBBV]

Can you share the code snippet and data you use for plotting ?

Answer 1

[VBBV]

Use geoplot3 or geoglobe functions if you want 3D plots. They are able to handle the data well than other 2D/3D plot functions.

Check also if the lats lons data are in WGS84 coordinate reference system since geoaxes function uses the same type of coordinate system.

[Caroline]

geoglobe plots the same curved line rather than the entire surface, and the lats/lons are in WGS84.