PlotGoogleMaps: The R-Based Web-Mapping Tool for Thematic Spatial Data

Abstract

Google Maps are increasingly used for communication throughout many map-based services and maps, embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API. The main objective of this paper is to present a solution for an easy creation of an interactive web map, with a base map supplied by Google, where all map elements and additional functionalities are handled by just one line of code. The present solution for the automatic creation of a complete web map, based on the Google Maps API, is the R package plotGoogleMaps. This tool provides a new interactive plot device for handling the geographic data for web browsers. It also offers a complete map in the HTML format, which has become a regular medium for cartographic communication. The tool plotGoogleMaps is developed in the R software language and it is designed for the automatic creation of web maps, as a combination of users’ data and Google Maps layers.