Python code to generate the plots used to make this GIF --> http://imgur.com/BjgN6UA.

species_plots.py

# Michael A. Alcorn

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use("Agg")
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import multiprocessing
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns
import time
import tqdm

from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap

df = pd.read_csv("species.csv")
gps_col = "GPS (Approximate)"
counts = df.groupby(gps_col).count()

coordinates = [x.split(", ") for x in counts.index]
coordinates = np.array(coordinates, dtype = "float32")
lat = coordinates[:, 0]
lng = coordinates[:, 1]

z = np.array(counts["Common"])
max_obs = z.max()
cmap = sns.cubehelix_palette(n_colors = max_obs, as_cmap = True)

(center_lat, center_long) = (0, -98)
m = Basemap(lat_0 = center_lat, lon_0 = center_long)
m.drawmapboundary()
m.drawcoastlines()
(x, y) = m(lng, lat)
m.scatter(x, y, c = z / max_obs, s = 5 * z, cmap = cmap)
plt.show()

df["Date"] = pd.to_datetime(df["Date"])
start_date = df["Date"].min()
df["Day Count"] = df["Date"] - start_date
df["Day Count"] = df["Day Count"].apply(lambda x: x.days)
end_date = datetime.today()
total_days = (end_date - start_date).days + 1


def create_plot(day_count):
    plt.close("all")
    counts = df[df["Day Count"] <= day_count].groupby([gps_col, "Locality"]).count()
    coordinates = [x[0].split(", ") for x in counts.index]
    coordinates = np.array(coordinates, dtype = "float32")
    lat = coordinates[:, 0]
    lng = coordinates[:, 1]

    count = np.array(counts["Common"])
    labels = [x[1] for x in counts.index]

    text = ["{0}: {1}".format(labels[i], count[i]) for i in range(len(counts))]

    z = count

    m = Basemap(lat_0 = center_lat, lon_0 = center_long)
    m.drawmapboundary()
    m.drawcoastlines()
    (x, y) = m(lng, lat)
    m.scatter(x, y, c = z / max_obs, s = 5 * z, cmap = cmap, vmin = 0, vmax = 1)

    date_str = str(start_date + timedelta(days = day_count)).split()[0]
    plt.title(date_str)
    plt.savefig("{0}".format(day_count).zfill(5), bbox_inches = "tight", dpi = 199)


start = time.time()
pool = multiprocessing.Pool(multiprocessing.cpu_count())
for _ in tqdm.tqdm(pool.imap_unordered(create_plot, list(range(total_days))), total = total_days):
    pass

pool.close()
pool.join()
print("Total Time: {0:.0f} s".format(time.time() - start))
# Create GIF with:
# convert -loop 0 *.png species.gif