TkInter Matplotlib Basemap in FigureCanvasTkAgg - matplotlib

Question

I'm trying to add a Matplotlib Basemap to a TkInter Canvas. It works fine not using a basemap, however, when I try to plot one Python crashes. Code block #1 is the code which works, Code block #2 makes my program crash. If I delete everything in #2 except the m=Basemap(...)part it crashes also. Calculating the Basemap(...) takes about 6 or 7 seconds and I guess that is the reason for TkInter to crash. Any ideas how I can tell TkInter to wait?
1:
def plot_route(self, geom1, root):
root1 = Tk()
x1, y1 = zip(*((geom1.GetX(i), geom1.GetY(i)) for i in range(geom1.GetPointCount())))
f = Figure(figsize=(5,4), dpi=100)
a = f.add_subplot(111)
a.plot(x1,y1)
a.set_title('Tk embedding')
a.set_xlabel('X axis label')
a.set_ylabel('Y label')
canvas = FigureCanvasTkAgg(f, master=root1)
canvas.show()
canvas.get_tk_widget().pack(side=TOP, fill=BOTH, expand=1)
canvas._tkcanvas.pack(side=TOP, fill=BOTH, expand=1)
root1.mainloop()
2:
def plot_route(self, geom1, root):
root1 = Tk()
m = Basemap(width=12000000,height=9000000,projection='lcc', resolution='c',lat_1=45.,lat_2=55,lat_0=50,lon_0=-107.)
m.drawcoastlines()
m.drawmapboundary(fill_color='aqua')
m.fillcontinents(color='coral',lake_color='aqua')
canvas = FigureCanvasTkAgg(m, master=root1)
canvas.show()
canvas.get_tk_widget().pack(side=TOP, fill=BOTH, expand=1)
canvas._tkcanvas.pack(side=TOP, fill=BOTH, expand=1)
root1.mainloop()

Answer 1

canvas = FigureCanvasTkAgg(m, master=root1)
I don't think you should use 'm' here.
You should create a figure, and add a subplot (ax), and pass that ax to basemap.
And use fig as the parameter to FigureCanvasTkAgg.
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('TkAgg')
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
from matplotlib.backends.backend_tkagg import FigureCanvasTkAgg
import sys
if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
import Tkinter as Tk
else:
import tkinter as Tk
root = Tk.Tk()
fig = Figure() ## here
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(111) ## here
m = Basemap(width=12000000,height=9000000,projection='lcc',
resolution='c',lat_1=45.,lat_2=55,lat_0=50,lon_0=-107.,
ax=ax1) ## here
m.drawcoastlines()
m.drawmapboundary(fill_color='aqua')
m.fillcontinents(color='coral',lake_color='aqua')
canvas = FigureCanvasTkAgg(fig, master=root) ## here
canvas.show()
canvas.get_tk_widget().pack(side=Tk.TOP, fill=Tk.BOTH, expand=1)
canvas._tkcanvas.pack(side=Tk.TOP, fill=Tk.BOTH, expand=1)
root.mainloop()