How to use the Basemap readshapefile method for tectonic boundaries
<p>I'm not sure where I'm going wrong here so perhaps someone with experience with the readshapefile command in Basemap may be able to help. Below my code:</p>

<pre><code>m.readshapefile('/Users/MyiMac/Desktop/ONGOING_PROJEKTS/MISC/PB2/PB2002_plates', name='PB2002_plates', drawbounds=True, color='orange')
</code></pre>

<p>I'd like to use the coordinates in a PB2002_plates.txt file to generate the tectonic plate boundaries in various maps. Using a .txt file which I retrieved didn't work. Error message below:</p>

<pre><code>raise IOError('cannot locate %s.shx'%shapefile)
IOError: cannot locate /Users/MyiMac/Desktop/ONGOING_PROJEKTS/MISC/PB2/PB2002_plates.shx
</code></pre>

<p>The error mentions not being able to find a .shx file. On another site I located PB2002_plates.shp, PB2002_plates.sbn, and PB2002_plates.sbx. I put all these files in the same directory as my PB2002_plates.txt file. I don't know what the .shx file is or wehre to retrieve this from. These 3 "new" files are not in ASCII format. The PB2002_plates.txt contains coordinates and therefore in ASCII format. </p>

<p>I don't know where I am going wrong, but I suspect the type of file used is wrong. Or perhaps I need to use a different type of parameter for "name='PB2002_plates" in my code? Or is the directory wrong and need to go one directory higher as the "name" parameter is the file name? The literature I've found is so far sparse, with very few examples online to go by.</p>