title: Create simple Basemap that corresponds to a specific region on the Earth
body: <p>I'm am trying to familarize myself with matplotlib and Basemap.  As a start, I'm trying to generate an image of greenland that matches a specific grid for which I have data.</p>
  
  <p>The gruesome details below describe my problem:  I can't create an image that is the proper size matching the projection/area desired.</p>
  
  <p>The projection and grid that I would like to match:
  Projection as Proj4 string: <code>"+proj=stere +lat_0=90 +lon_0=-45 +lat_ts=70 +ellps=WGS84 +datum=WGS84 +units=m"</code></p>
  
  <p>The area defined by a grid is an 800x1400 2000m resolution grid where:
  Outer edge of LowerLeft Corner(m): -700,000., -3,400,000.
  Outer edge of UpperRight Corner (m): 900,000., -600,000. => (-700,000 + 2000 * 800, -3,400,000 + 2000 * 1400)</p>
  
  <p>Basemap won't let me specify the corners in meters-xy for a stereographic projection so I have to convert these to lat/lon.</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; gdaltransform -s_srs "+proj=stere +lat_0=90 +lon_0=-45 +lat_ts=70 +ellps=WGS84 +datum=WGS84 +units=m" -t_srs "+proj=latlong"`
  -700000 -3400000
  -56.6336339989404 58.7244253840871 0
  900000 -600000
  11.3099324740202 80.0389929796586 0
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now I should have all of the information to create an 800x1400 image.</p>
  
  <pre><code>from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  
  def create_map():
      fig = plt.figure(1, figsize=(8, 14), frameon=False, dpi=100)
      fig.add_axes([0, 0, 1, 1])
  
      m = Basemap(resolution="i",
                  projection='stere', lat_ts=70, lat_0=90., lon_0=-45.,
                  llcrnrlon=-56.6336339989404, llcrnrlat=58.7244253840871,
                  urcrnrlon=11.3099324740202, urcrnrlat=80.0389929796586,
                  rsphere=(6378137.0, 6356752.3142))
  
      m.drawcoastlines()
      m.fillcontinents(color='#c1c1c1')
      m.drawmapboundary(fill_color='#6587ad', linewidth=0.0)
      plt.savefig('greenland.png', pad_inches=0.0, bbox_inches='tight')
  
  if __name__ == '__main__':
      create_map()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The problem I face is that when I do this, I get an 800x1399 image.  If I don't include the <code>bbox_inches='tight'</code> in the <code>plt.savefig</code> command, I get an 800x1400 image, with a single strip of invisible pixels along the (edit) bottom edge (edit).</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone help me so that I can be sure that I am setting up my Basemap properly?  I feel like I'm probably just missing a simple trick, but not getting an image the size I expect is strange.</p>
  
  <p>As always, thanks in advance.</p>