mapsf.gui

GUI for the mapsf R library to create thematic maps interactively

mapsf.gui is a Shiny application and a RStudio addin that provides an interactive interface for creating thematic maps using the mapsf package. It allows users to choose and configure different types of maps such as choropleth, proportional symbols or typology. It also automatically generates the corresponding R code to reproduce the map identically.

Features

• Load and manage multiple spatial datasets.
• Select different types of thematic maps.
• Customize classification methods, color palettes, and most of the visualization parameters handled by mapsf.
• Manage various map elements such as legends, title, scale and north arrow.
• Discover the corresponding code in real-time as you construct maps.
• Copy the R code for reproducibility of the maps created.
• Download maps as images (PNG or SVG).

Limitations and alternatives

mapsf.gui is useful for familiarizing yourself with mapsf and learning about its main features. However, please note that not all of mapsf's features are available through the GUI. You can consult the mapsf documentation (as well as the various help panels in mapsf.gui) to learn more about this.

Moreover, mapsf.gui is not intended to replace dedicated thematic cartography software. If you’re not interested in learning R/mapsf code or in reproducibility, we also develop Magrit: a Web-based thematic cartography app that offers a comprehensive experience for learning or teaching cartography itself.

Installation

You can install the stable version of mapsf.gui from CRAN:

install.packages('mapsf.gui')

Alternatively, you can install the development version of mapsf.gui from riatelab's R-universe with:

install.packages("mapsf.gui", repos = c('https://riatelab.r-universe.dev', 'https://cloud.r-project.org'))

You can also install mapsf.gui from its Git repository using the following commands:

install.packages("remotes") # if you haven't already
remotes::install_git("https://codeberg.org/riatelab/mapsf.gui.git")

Usage

To launch mapsf.gui, simply use the following command in R:

mapsf.gui::run_app()

Changing the viewer

This will open the application in your default Web browser (which is recommended for the best experience). If you prefer, you can also open it in a dialog or in a pane of your IDE (RStudio, Positron). This can be controlled with the viewer argument and the browser, dialog or pane values:

mapsf.gui::run_app(viewer = "browser")

If you're using Positron and the app isn't opening in your default browser, we recommend adding "positron.viewer.openLocalhostUrls": false to Positron's settings.json file (you can access it by pressing CTRL + P and typing settings in the search bar that appears).

RStudio addin

If you are using RStudio, you can also access mapsf.gui as an addin from the "Addins" menu.

Opening the app with preloaded data

If you want to use some datasets already loaded in your R environment, you can launch the app with the data argument:

library(sf)

ne <- st_transform(st_read("/path/to/file.geojson"), crs = 2154)
mun <- st_transform(st_read("/path/to/another-file.shp"), crs = 2154)

mapsf.gui::run_app(data = list(neighborhoods = ne, municipalities = mun))

Screenshots

Community Guidelines

One can contribute to the package through pull requests and report issues or ask questions here. See the CONTRIBUTING.md file for detailed instructions on how to contribute.

Note that this project uses semantic versioning.

License

GPL-3.0 License. See the LICENSE file for details.