Learning R for Geospatial Analysis

Chapter 5. Working with Points, Lines, and Polygons

In this chapter, we will cover the basic usage of the second major type of spatial data—vector layers (points, lines, and polygons). In GIS terminology, these data are sometimes referred to as vectors, but we will use the term vector layers to distinguish them from vectors in R (see Chapter 2, Working with Vectors and Time Series). We will review the architecture of the vector layer classes defined in the sp package. Examples of the most common operations involving vector layers will then be presented using the sp, rgdal, and rgeos packages.

In this chapter, we'll cover the following topics:

• Classes for spatial vector layers (points, lines, and polygons) in the sp package
• Creating point layers by ...