usmap 0.7.0

This is a major new release for usmap. The data has been modernized to be a simple features (sf) object. This will allow for much greater flexibility in the type of data that can be portrayed on the US map. us_map(), plot_usmap(), and usmap_transform() have been updated to work with these new formats. See the examples in the vignettes and README for more information.

Improvements

• Migrate to new usmapdata 0.2.0 sf-based map data files.
  • Map data produced by us_map() is now returned as an sf object instead of a standard data frame.
  • Allows for further flexibility in manipulation, easier plotting, and reduced file sizes.
  • There should be no visible changes to existing usmap functionality.
  • If something doesn't look right, please open an issue.
• Change the output of usmap_transform() in accordance with the sf change mentioned above.
  • The output data frame now replaces the lat/lon columns with a single geometry column with the transformed points and can be plotted using ggplot2::geom_sf().
  • Review the included examples and advanced-mapping vignette for more details.
• usmap_transform() now accepts sf objects and automatically transforms its geometry column to the projection used by this package.
  • It is now possible to add any geographical features to the plotted map such as rivers, roads, topographical data, etc. using usmap_transform() before plotting with ggplot2::geom_sf(), see Issue #12.
  • See the provided vignettes and examples for more information.
  • Input can now also be in any coordinate reference system, if it is not standard longitude/latitude, it can be specified with the crs parameter.
• Add usrivers dataset featuring major US rivers.
  • The dataset is provided in an sf object and is ready to be transformed with usmap_transform() and plotted with plot_usmap() + ggplot2::geom_sf().
• Add visual snapshot tests for more resilient plots, see Issue #80.
• Add state abbreviation (abbr) column to citypop data set.
• Update and standardize documentation throughout the page.
  • Includes updates to formatting, links, and language.
• Rename vignettes to make them easier to find and read in order.

Bug Fixes

• plot_usmap() warnings have been cleaned up, including a defunct warning that didn't make sense.

Removed

• output_names is no longer required as a parameter to usmap_transform().
  • It continues to exist for compatibility but produces a warning and may be removed in a future version of usmap.
  • usmap_transform() will output its transformation using the sf default of "geometry" as the column name.