Basemap with Python 3.5 Anaconda on Windows

Referring to the answer of Solly, I have Windows 10, python 3.5.3, Anaconda 64bit, in the Anaconda prompt I entered:

conda install -c conda-forge basemap=1.0.8.dev0
conda install -c conda-forge basemap-data-hires

then the code, taken from Python for Data Science for Dummies, page 193 (Plotting geographical data worked just fine. I wanted to add just a comment to the Solly's answer, but I don't have enough credits to do so. The code is:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap

austin = (-97.75, 30.25)
hawaii = (-157.8, 21.3)
washington = (-77.01, 38.90)
chicago = (-87.68, 41.83)
losangeles = (-118.25, 34.05)

m = Basemap(projection = 'merc', llcrnrlat=10, urcrnrlat=50,
        llcrnrlon=-160, urcrnrlon=-60)

m.drawcoastlines()
m.fillcontinents (color='lightgray', lake_color='lightblue')
m.drawparallels(np.arange(-90.,91.,30.))
m.drawmeridians(np.arange(-180.,181.,60.))
m.drawmapboundary(fill_color='aqua')

m.drawcounties()

x, y = m(*zip(*[hawaii, austin, washington, chicago, losangeles]))
m.plot(x,y, marker ='o', markersize=6, markerfacecolor='red', linewidth=0)

plt.title('Mercator Projection')
plt.show()

I was running in the same problem (Python 3.5 and Anaconda) and eventually downloaded Basemap 1.0.8dev0 from here and installed it using conda (as described by the link).

I have solved this several times (last time just now) by downloading it from http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs and follow the instructions to install. From the anaconda command prompt

pip install full_path_to_package

For example, if you downloaded basemap-1.1.0-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl, you would run

pip install C:\path\to\file\basemap-1.1.0-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl

Note that the python version of the .whl file must match your python version. For example, ...-cp36-.... indicates Python 3.6. You can find your python version by running the command python --version.

Cartopy is an alternative to Basemap, and it is being actively developed.

There is a nice gallery here: http://scitools.org.uk/cartopy/docs/latest/gallery.html