A Journey Map – Unlocking the Power of Data Visualization with R

# Install and load required packages
if (!requireNamespace("sf", quietly = TRUE)) install.packages("sf")
if (!requireNamespace("ggplot2", quietly = TRUE)) install.packages("ggplot2")
if (!requireNamespace("rnaturalearth", quietly = TRUE)) install.packages("rnaturalearth")

library(sf)
library(ggplot2)
library(rnaturalearth)

# Load the world map data
world <- ne_countries(scale = "medium", returnclass = "sf")

# Create a data frame with the city coordinates
cities <- data.frame(
  city = c("Rome", "Madrid", "London", "Paris", "Rome"),
  lon = c(12.4964, -3.7038, -0.1276, 2.3522, 12.4964),
  lat = c(41.9028, 40.4168, 51.5074, 48.8566, 41.9028))

# Create an sf object from the cities data frame
cities_sf <- st_as_sf(cities, coords = c("lon", "lat"), 
                      crs = 4326, 
                      agr = "constant")

# Plot the map with the travel route
map <- ggplot(data = world) +
  geom_sf(fill = "lightgray", color = "white") +
  geom_sf(data = cities_sf, color = "red", size = 3) +
  geom_path(data = cities, aes(x = lon, y = lat, group = 1), 
            color = "darkgreen", size = 1) +
  geom_text(data = cities, aes(x = lon, y = lat, label = city), 
            nudge_y = 0.5, 
            fontface = "bold",
            size = 4) +
  coord_sf(xlim = c(-10, 20), ylim = c(35, 55),clip = "off") +
    labs(title = "Travel Journey Map:",
         subtitle = "Rome -> Madrid -> London -> Paris -> Rome",
         caption = "Data source: Natural Earth\n#30DayMapChallenge 2024 Day5 | @fgazzelloni") +
  ggthemes::theme_map() +
  theme(text = element_text(family = "mono", color = "darkgreen"),
        legend.position = "right",
        plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5, 
                                  face = "bold",
                                  color = "darkgreen",
                                  size = 25),
        plot.subtitle = element_text(hjust = 0.5, 
                                     color = "darkgreen",
                                     face = "bold",
                                     size = 12),
        plot.caption = element_text(hjust = 0.5, 
                                    color = "darkgreen",
                                    face = "bold",
                                    size = 10)) +
  # add a north arrow and a scale bar
  ggspatial::annotation_north_arrow(location = "br") +
  ggspatial::annotation_scale(location = "bl", width_hint = 0.5)

map

story <- c("The journey kicked off in <b>Rome</b>, where ancient ruins met endless gelato stops. Next was <b>Madrid</b>, a city alive with flamenco beats and late-night tapas feasts. Then, it was northward to <b>London</b>, where rain was no match for the thrill of Big Ben selfies and quirky British slang. A quick hop over to <b>Paris</b> meant croissants by the Eiffel Tower and wandering the charming streets of Montmartre. Finally, it was back to <b>Rome</b>, the circle complete, and the heart full of stories from an unforgettable adventure across Europe.")

map +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
  x = -15, y = 45, 
  label = story, 
  size = 3.8, 
  family = "mono",
  color = "darkgreen", 
  fill = "transparent",
  box.color = "transparent"
  )

Save as png

ggsave("day5_a-journey.png", 
       bg = "white",
       width = 9, 
       height = 6, 
       dpi = 320)