[R-sig-Geo] newbie questions

[Julian Burgos]

Hello all,
An alternative to create (possibly simple) shapefiles is the 
"shapefiles" package.

http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/shapefiles/index.html.

Also the "PBSmapping" package is a very good alternative to make maps 
within R, and to perform basic GIS operations (i.e. overlap of polygons, 
identification of locations within polygons, etc.).

http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/PBSmapping/index.html

Nevertheless, I do think that is worth while to take a bit of time and 
learn to use the classes and methods for spatial data in the "sp" 
package.  The Bivand et al. book (Applied Spatial Data Analysis with R) 
is a great place to start.
All the best,

Julian

-- 
Julian Mariano Burgos
Hafrannsóknastofnunin/Marine Research Institute
Skúlagata 4, 121 Reykjavík, Iceland
Sími/Telephone : +354-5752037
Bréfsími/Telefax:  +354-5752001
Netfang/Email: julian at hafro.is, jmburgos at u.washington.edu	





Paul Hiemstra wrote:
> Raphael Saldanha wrote:
>> Hi Tom!
>>
>> I'm a geographer and R enthusiast too, but what I can say is: R is a 
>> great
>> software to statistics. The final production of maps, although it's
>> possible, it's simple and faster made with GIS softwares, like GRASS,
>> Quantum GIS or ArcGIS.
>>   
> Hi,
>
> As you already stated, making the maps in R is quite possible. I make 
> all my geographic illustrations for my publications in R. The 
> advantage that I don't have do something first in Excel or ArcGIS and 
> then something in R and ending in yet another tool. I like the fact 
> that my whole workflow is in one versatile tool, R. So for me learning 
> to make maps in R payed off. In addition, you can make awesome maps, 
> especially of mulitvariate spatial data, in R. In addition, I use 
> linux (Debian) and the desktop GIS tools that I tried (svSig, Qgis, 
> and some more) did not provide publication quality maps. ArcMap does, 
> but this is not available under Linux. If you use Windows this is not 
> a problem ofcourse. See the link below for an animation I made using R 
> (and some other linux tools):
>
> http://intamap.geo.uu.nl/~paul/Images/animation_25fps.mpg
>
> All of the above is purely my opinion :).
>
> cheers and good luck,
> Paul
>> My tip is: organize data with spreadsheet and GIS softwares, import (as
>> shapefile, if possible) in R and make your statistical analysis and
>> statistical columns of data, export to another shapefile and 
>> manipulate the
>> final map in GIS softwares.
>>
>> I repeat, it's possible make all these steps in R, and generate great 
>> maps,
>> but the most simple way is above. Personally, I use R to make the 
>> final maps
>> only when I have to produce a long series of simple maps.
>>
>> I think the best way is the integration of GIS software with R, each one
>> with his specialty.
>>
>>
>> King regards,
>>
>> Raphael Saldanha
>> BRAZIL
>> saldanha.plangeo at gmail.com
>>
>>     [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
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>>   
>
>