GIS Mapping with R using GROW NYC Markets

An overview tutorial detailing the use of various GIS mapping packages in R

Interactive tmap with pop-up info

Preamble

Python was the first computer language I learned a few years back, and I quickly became interested in translating my knowledge of desktop GIS systems like ArcGIS, to the open source world. You can view a blog I published about a GIS project done entirely in Python for Statistics Without Borders here. However, I recently picked up R, and wanted to apply similar techniques in this environment, hence this blog. If you are looking to build your GIS and mapping vocabulary in the R environment, this is a good tutorial for you!

Overview

This blog will take a pre-processed Google Maps KML (Keyhole Markup Language) file from GROW NYC , and perform some basic mapping and spatial analysis in R.

We will make use of a few different spatial packages including:

• sf (simple features) — basic geospatial transformations and predicates
• mapview — quick previews with interactivity and basemap
• nycgeo — NYC geography and census data
• ggspatial — north arrow and scale bar
• tmap (thematic map) — creation of more detailed maps both…