Plotting a surface from a timetable

I've developed a timetable (attached), and I want to make a surface plot from it. I want "Start Time" and "Distance [km]" to be my x and y axes, with "Flow Rate [veh/hr]" as the corresponding output on the z axis. I've tried using plot3, but I'm getting a jumbled mess instead of a smooth surface.

Answer 1

[Voss]

Here's one way:

load data

X = Lane1Data.("Start Time");
Y = Lane1Data.("Distance [km]");
Z = Lane1Data.("Flow Rate [veh/hr]");

I = scatteredInterpolant(hours(X-min(X)),Y,Z);

X_plot = linspace(min(X),max(X),50);
Y_plot = linspace(min(Y),max(Y),50);

[XX,YY] = meshgrid(hours(X_plot-min(X_plot)),Y_plot);
Z_plot = I(XX,YY);

surf(X_plot,Y_plot,Z_plot)

[Paul]

Awesome, thanks a lot!

Answer 2

[Fangjun Jiang]

when you use plot() or plot3(), the plot connects the data points from the first to the second, till the last. Sometimes this causes bad visual effect.

What you need might be scatter3(), or use plot3(x,y,z,'.') which means just show the data points but not to connect the data points.