Abstract:The Generic Mapping Tool （GMT） system was initiated in late 1987 at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,Columbia University,New York,by graduate students Paul Wessel and Walter H.F.Smith.GMT is written in ANSI C programming language.With the characteristics of beautiful graphics,intense color,flexible organization,and easy adaptation,GMT is widely used in geographical or geophysical research and is considered to be the best drawing tool for publishing high-quality documents.However,because GMT was originally written for command-line usage rather than a Windows environment,its application is difficult for ordinary users.In particular,the absence of a Chinese character display function poses constraints for the vast majority of Chinese users.This issue has been solved in recent years with successful application to the Linux system.However,GMT with a Chinese character display function remains elusive for general users.Although several research-related papers appear in Internet blogs at http：//blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5e16f1770100o7gc.html and http：//xxqhome.blog.163.com/blog/static/1967330202011112810120598/,for example,no systematic papers on the GMT Chinese character display technology for Windows are available for public access.Therefore,on the basis of a large number of related references,GMT text annotation commands,and detaile dparameter-setting instructions,this paper discusses the revelation principle and technology approach of GMT in the Windows system by using the relational structure among GMT,Ghostscript,and postscript.We address the flexible character labeling problem and show examples of title,axis,and text labels during the GMT drawing process.Thus,this paper is an important reference for Chinese users.
