Tanzania Craton, Serengeti Plain and Eastern Rift Valley: mapping of geospatial data by scripting techniques

Cartographic visualization is a key means for the analysis of the Earth’s environmental processes. In view of the rapidly increasing multi-source data, cartographic approaches are updated accordingly. Mapping of countries characterized by complex geologic settings, such as Tanzania, requires implementation of advanced approaches. Cartographic solutions for the best visualization aim to provide elaborate content in an understandable and interoperable way in multi-disciplinary studies. This study presents such an approach by using Generic Mapping Tools (GMT), R and QGIS for cartographic mapping of Tanzania, with five maps addressing the natural setting (geology, topography, geophysics) and four maps showing the geomorphometric analysis. The 2D maps and the 3D mesh model were made by the traditional Geographic Information System (GIS) and scripting approaches. The features of the geomorphometric maps (slope, aspect, hillshade, elevation) were plotted by means of R. The technical methods are illustrated by the example of scripts. The paper contributes to the regional studies of Tanzania.