Chapter 2 Introduction

2.1 Welcome

Welcome to Guide to Creating Interactive Maps in R! This resource provides step by step instruction on how to visualize spatial data using R, an open source coding software. Throughout these chapters, you’ll learn how to code an interactive map, including what type of data you need, where to search for it, and how to incorporate it. These chapters are followed by optional exercises and additional resources to assist you through this learning endeavor. Though introductory, the skills you will learn here are fundamental to building geographic information systems using code. If coding seems difficult at first, remember, coding is not a skill learned over night. It takes time and practice to learn but can be rewarding and of great value to you and your community!

This website is free to use and was developed as a product of the Disaster Relief and Resiliency (DRR) Cohort Challenge for Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems Educational Resources (INFEWS-ER). This bookdown file was produced as a supplementary material for a manuscript on virtual, transdisciplinary research in Puerto Rico DRR Contexts. To learn more about INFEWS-ER, visit https://infews-er.net/.

2.2 Introduction

Maps are valuable and interactive tools to visualize disparate data in a relation to one another, and R can help you create them. The goal of [insert book name] is to teach you how to navigate the R software sufficiently, such that you are equipped with the basic skills needed to independently produce an interactive map from any spatial data provided. Upon completion of this workbook, you will have acquired coding experience, R software capabilities, and successfully created your very own map!

2.2.1 What you will learn

Through this tutorial, you will learn how to:

Access geospatial datasets from various sources
Import geospatial data into your R session
Transform and tidy (wrangle) geospatial data for mapping Visualize data to present insightful observations
Make an colorful and informative map

2.2.2 What you won’t learn

This book is geared towards providing quick training that can be utilized to immediately immerse students in the act of geospatial visualization. It is introductory, not comprehensive, and R is a very diverse software. As a result, there are many things that will not be covered here. This is not to say that those topics aren’t important, but rather fall outside of the scope of the text. Please review recommended resources for possible avenues of additional learning.

2.2.3 Getting help and learning more

For more information and tutorials on learning R, please check out the following resources: