Plot the path of a glider above a local region. First, import sample data representing the path. Get the latitude, longitude, and geoid height values.

trk = gpxread('sample_mixed','FeatureType','track');
lat = trk.Latitude;
lon = trk.Longitude;
h = trk.Elevation;

Create a geographic globe. Then, plot the path as a line. By default, the view is directly above the data. Tilt the view by holding Ctrl and dragging.

uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif);
geoplot3(g,lat,lon,h,'c')

For example, specify the coordinates of New York City and Paris. Then, plot a line between them. Indicate there is no height data by specifying the fourth argument of geoplot3 as an empty array. Note that you cannot see the line because it passes through the Earth.

lat = [40.71 48.86];
lon = [-74.01 2.35];
uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif);
geoplot3(g,lat,lon,[],'y','LineWidth',2)

To see the line, insert points along a great circle using the interpm function. Then, plot the line again. Note that the line is visible.

[latI,lonI] = interpm(lat,lon,0.1,'gc');
geoplot3(g,latI,lonI,[],'y','LineWidth',2)

For example, import sample coastline data and plot it on a geographic globe. By default, the globe includes terrain data derived from the GMTED2010 model. Note that the line appears broken.

load coastlines
uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif);
p = geoplot3(g,coastlat,coastlon,[],'m');

To see the line, set the Terrain property of the globe to 'none'. Indicate the plotted data sits on the WGS84 reference ellipsoid by setting the HeightReference property of the line to 'ellipsoid'. Note that the line is visible over the basemap.

g.Terrain = 'none';
p.HeightReference = 'ellipsoid';

Import sample data representing the path of a glider. Get the latitude, longitude, and geoid height values.

trk = gpxread('sample_mixed','FeatureType','track');
lat = trk.Latitude;
lon = trk.Longitude;
h = trk.Elevation;

Create a geographic globe. Then, plot the data using circle markers. Plot a marker at every 25th data point by setting the MarkerIndices property.

uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif);
mskip = 1:25:length(lat);
geoplot3(g,lat,lon,h,'co','MarkerIndices',mskip)

Specify the latitude, longitude, and height of the two endpoints. Specify the heights relative to the terrain, so that 0 represents ground level and not sea level.

lat = [39.95384 39.95];
lon = [-105.29916 -105.3608];
hTerrain = [10 0];

Plot the line on a geographic globe. Indicate that height values are referenced to the terrain using the HeightReference property. By default, the view is directly above the data. Tilt the view by holding Ctrl and dragging.

uif = uifigure;
g = geoglobe(uif);
geoplot3(g,lat,lon,hTerrain,'y','HeightReference','terrain', ...
    'LineWidth',3)