[R-sig-Geo] Load R sp vector layers in QGIS

[cfarmer]

> Hi Carson,
>
> Is exporting the Spatial object to a .shp (or other vector format) and
then reading the file in to QGIS not an easier way to get R spatial
layers into QGIS.

Hi Paul,

I have done this in an automated way already though manageR, but I felt
that this was not a fast or simple enough way of visualizing R results.

>That also solves the problem of not being able to edit
> the features. If you edit in QGIS and save you can read the file back
into R.

The idea here is that users can load the R layer, explore their results,
and if they like what they see, right click the layer and export to .shp,
if not, keep working in R until they get what they need.

> R is also capable of displaying GIS information quite nicely (spplot).

I agree, and I used R for lots of my output as well. However, it does not
have the exploratory power that a true GIS does.

> So my question is, what is the big advantage of getting R data into QGIS
in this way.

The advantage here I think is as Agustin Lobo has previously mentioned:
interaction with the map, and map layers. A GIS is certainly more than
just a map making tool, and QGIS is beginning to grow in terms of analysis
tools as well. For instance, they is now a fully functioning
'geoprocessing' plugin, several plugins for customized applications, and a
few more for simple analysis functions.

Cheers,

Carson