R for the Rest of Us

4 MAPS AND GEOSPATIAL DATA

When I first started learning R, I considered it a tool for working with numbers, not shapes, so I was surprised when I saw people using it to make maps. For example, developer Abdoul Madjid used R to make a map that visualizes rates of COVID-19 in the United States in 2021.

You might think you need specialized mapmaking software like ArcGIS to make maps, but it’s an expensive tool. And while Excel has added support for mapmaking in recent years, its features are limited (for example, you can’t use it to make maps based on street addresses). Even QGIS, an open source tool similar to ArcGIS, still requires learning ...