2017 seems to be the ‘Year of the Map’. The simple features, sf package is and will continue to have a great impact and the recent release of leaflet.extras adds some glitz to the leaflet package
Added to this list can be rmapzen which is a client for the Mapzen API.
Author, Tarak Shah has provided an introduction to his work-to-date and I have leant on that heavily in this post to create contour maps.These guage what geographic area is in range of a specific location given a time period and mode of transport. When time permits, I hope to extend this to a flexdashboard
Let me just go through some of the code I plan to use. If you want to create your own project you will need to get an API key and set it in the environment. The number of free calls per month will only be of concern if you develop a commercial product
knitr::opts_chunk$set(collapse = TRUE, warning = FALSE, message=FALSE)
# Uncomment and enter own key first time through
#devtools::install_github("tarakc02/rmapzen")
#Sys.setenv(MAPZEN_KEY = "mapzen-xxxxxx")First load required libraries.
library(rmapzen)
library(tidyverse)
library(leaflet)
library(ggmap)
library(knitr)The basic concept is that you have a location and a mode of transport and want to see what ground you can cover in a specified time
Being extremely parochial, I will take my neighbourhood in North Vancouver and biking (a common activity I should definitely partake in more often). Alternatives include car, walking and transit. Let’s look at it over 15, 30 and 60 minute time-scales.
rmapzen has it’s own geocoding function but it does not appear as accurate as the ggmap equivalent. I also do not care for the default oranges for the maps and have used a different set of tiles than in the aforementioned tutorial
lv <- geocode("Lynn Valley, North Vancouver,BC, Canada")
kable(lv)| lon | lat |
|---|---|
| -123.0382 | 49.33729 |
The lon/lat is all that is required for future processing
Let’s have a quick look at the options available transportwise
str(mz_costing_options)
## List of 4
## $ pedestrian:List of 5
## ..$ walking_speed :function (speed)
## ..$ walkway_factor :function (factor)
## ..$ alley_factor :function (factor)
## ..$ driveway_factor:function (factor)
## ..$ step_penalty :function (seconds)
## $ auto :List of 8
## ..$ maneuver_penalty :function (penalty)
## ..$ gate_cost :function (cost)
## ..$ toll_booth_cost :function (cost)
## ..$ toll_booth_penalty :function (penalty)
## ..$ ferry_cost :function (cost)
## ..$ use_ferry :function (value)
## ..$ country_crossing_cost :function (cost)
## ..$ country_crossing_penalty:function (penalty)
## $ bicycle :List of 8
## ..$ maneuver_penalty :function (penalty)
## ..$ gate_cost :function (cost)
## ..$ country_crossing_cost :function (cost)
## ..$ country_crossing_penalty:function (penalty)
## ..$ bicycle_type :function (type)
## ..$ cycling_speed :function (speed)
## ..$ use_roads :function (propensity)
## ..$ use_hills :function (propensity)
## $ transit :List of 5
## ..$ use_bus :function (value)
## ..$ use_rail :function (value)
## ..$ use_transfers :function (value)
## ..$ transit_start_end_max_distance:function (distance)
## ..$ transit_transfer_max_distance :function (distance)That’s quite the set - covered in more detail in the mapzen documentation.
In a quest for accuracy, I will put in a low cycling speed (rates are in kph) and an aversion to hills - of which there are plenty in the area
isos <- mz_isochrone(
lv,
costing_model = mz_costing$bicycle(mz_costing_options$bicycle$cycling_speed(12),mz_costing_options$bicycle$use_hills(0.1)),
contours = mz_contours(c(15, 30,60), colors <- c("ff0000", "0019ff", "000000"))
)
leaflet(as_sp(isos)) %>%
addProviderTiles("Esri.WorldStreetMap") %>%
addPolygons(color = ~paste0("#", color), weight = 1) %>%
addLegend(colors = ~paste0("#", color),
labels = ~paste(contour, "minutes"),
title = "Cycling times from home") %>%
addMarkers(
data = lv,
lat = ~lat,
lng = ~lon,
popup = "Starting Point")Not sure to sort opacity so that map contours fit legend. Also marker should probably be different colour
So within an hour I can, theoretically, transport myself either to the expensive West Vancouver area or the easterly, beautiful Deep Cove. Going up the mountain is more problematic than heading over the water to Vancouver East
It is also possible to search various sources (accesible via mz_sources) for specific objects or venues e.g lakes, garages. It does appear a bit limited in scope currently as when I searched for churches in my area only two were located although we are actually teeming with them
This may be due to varying data by region. Here is a map which shows both churches and McDonalds within 15 minutes drive of the center of Flint, Michigan
flint <- geocode("Flint, MI")
drivable <- mz_isochrone(
flint,
costing_model = mz_costing$auto(),
contours = mz_contours(15)
)
mickeyD <- mz_search(
"McDonalds", # can only be one character vector
boundary.rect = mz_bbox(drivable),
layers = mz_layers$venue,
size = 50
)
churches <- mz_search(
"church", # can only be one character vector
boundary.rect = mz_bbox(drivable),
layers = mz_layers$venue,
size = 50
)
leaflet(as_sp(drivable),
options=leafletOptions(
minZoom = 11, maxZoom = 11)) %>%
addProviderTiles("Esri.WorldStreetMap") %>%
addPolygons(color = "#ffffff", weight = 1) %>%
addMarkers(
data = flint,
lat = ~lat,
lng = ~lon,
popup = "Home") %>%
addCircleMarkers(
data = as_sp(mickeyD),
weight = 1,
radius = 7,
opacity = 1,
popup = ~name,
color = "#ff0000") %>%
addCircleMarkers(
data = as_sp(churches),
weight = 1,
radius = 7,
opacity = 1,
popup = ~name,
color = "#ffff00")So there is a taster, with more coverage of the API planned by Tarak
I’ll keep you posted if and when I come up with an interactive app