basemaps

basemaps is a lightweight R package to download and cache spatial basemaps from open sources such as OpenStreetMap, Stamen, Thunderforest, Carto, Mapbox and others. Retrieved basemaps are translated into and returned as classes of choice, such as raster, stars, terra, ggplot, mapview, magick, or as files, such as png or geotif. The package aims to ease the use of basemaps in different contexts by providing a function interface as minimalist as possible.

Installation

Install the latest stable release of basemaps from CRAN:

install.packages("basemaps")

Install the latest development version of basemaps from GitHub:

devtools::install_github("16EAGLE/basemaps")

Get started

All available map services and map types can be printed using get_maptypes(). The basemap() function and its class-specific aliases facilitate (down)loading a basemap and returning it as a class of choice. Map preferences that should be used during a session can be set as defaults using set_defaults().

library(basemaps)
data(ext)
# or use draw_ext() to interactively draw an extent yourself

# view all available maps
get_maptypes()

# set defaults for the basemap
set_defaults(map_service = "osm", map_type = "topographic")

# load and return basemap map as class of choice, e.g. as image using magick:
basemap_magick(ext)
#> Loading basemap 'topographic' from map service 'osm'...

# or as plot:
basemap_plot(ext)

# or as ggplot2:
basemap_ggplot(ext)

# or as ggplot2 layer:
library(ggplot2)
ggplot() + 
  basemap_gglayer(ext) +
  scale_fill_identity() + 
  coord_sf()

# or as mapview:
basemap_mapview(ext)

# or as spatial classes, such as raster:
basemap_raster(ext)

# or terra:
basemap_raster(ext)

# or stars:
basemap_stars(ext)

# or return files, e.g. geotif
basemap_geotif(ext)
#> [1] "basemap_20220922214954.tif"

# or png:
basemap_png(ext)
#> [1] "osm_stamen_terrain_bg_2022-09-22_12-00-00.png"

Map examples

basemaps supports a variety of map services and types (which can be printed using get_maptypes()). A selection of available map types is shown below. For a complete table of available map types, see supported services and maps.

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm", map_type = "streets")
#> Loading basemap 'streets' from map service 'osm'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "mapbox", map_type = "satellite")
#> Loading basemap 'satellite' from map service 'mapbox'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "mapbox", map_type = "hybrid")
#> Loading basemap 'hybrid' from map service 'mapbox'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "mapbox", map_type = "streets")
#> Loading basemap 'streets' from map service 'mapbox'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "mapbox", map_type = "terrain")
#> Loading basemap 'terrain' from map service 'mapbox'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_stamen", map_type = "terrain_bg")
#> Loading basemap 'terrain_bg' from map service 'osm_stamen'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_stamen", map_type = "toner")
#> Loading basemap 'toner' from map service 'osm_stamen'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_stamen", map_type = "watercolor")
#> Loading basemap 'watercolor' from map service 'osm_stamen'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_thunderforest", map_type = "transport")
#> Loading basemap 'transport' from map service 'osm_thunderforest'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_thunderforest", map_type = "landscape")
#> Loading basemap 'landscape' from map service 'osm_thunderforest'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_thunderforest", map_type = "outdoors")
#> Loading basemap 'outdoors' from map service 'osm_thunderforest'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "osm_thunderforest", map_type = "atlas")
#> Loading basemap 'atlas' from map service 'osm_thunderforest'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "carto", map_type = "light")
#> Loading basemap 'light' from map service 'carto'...

basemap_magick(ext, map_service = "carto", map_type = "dark")
#> Loading basemap 'dark' from map service 'carto'...

Supported services and maps

This table lists all currently implemented map services and map types and indicates whether they can be used without a map token (requiring registration at the respective service) or not.

map_service	map_type	map_token required?
osm	streets	no
osm	streets_de	no
osm	topographic	no
osm_stamen	toner	no
osm_stamen	toner_bg	no
osm_stamen	toner_lite	no
osm_stamen	terrain	no
osm_stamen	terrain_bg	no
osm_stamen	watercolor	no
osm_thunderforest	cycle	yes
osm_thunderforest	transport	yes
osm_thunderforest	landscape	yes
osm_thunderforest	outdoors	yes
osm_thunderforest	transport_dark	yes
osm_thunderforest	spinal	yes
osm_thunderforest	pioneer	yes
osm_thunderforest	mobile_atlas	yes
osm_thunderforest	neighbourhood	yes
osm_thunderforest	atlas	yes
carto	light	no
carto	light_no_labels	no
carto	light_only_labels	no
carto	dark	no
carto	dark_no_labels	no
carto	dark_only_labels	no
carto	voyager	no
carto	voyager_no_labels	no
carto	voyager_only_labels	no
carto	voyager_labels_under	no
mapbox	streets	yes
mapbox	outdoors	yes
mapbox	light	yes
mapbox	dark	yes
mapbox	satellite	yes
mapbox	hybrid	yes
mapbox	terrain	yes
esri	natgeo_world_map	no
esri	usa_topo_maps	no
esri	world_imagery	no
esri	world_physical_map	no
esri	world_shaded_relief	no
esri	world_street_map	no
esri	world_terrain_base	no
esri	world_topo_map	no
esri	world_dark_gray_base	no
esri	world_dark_gray_reference	no
esri	world_light_gray_base	no
esri	world_light_gray_reference	no
esri	world_hillshade_dark	no
esri	world_hillshade	no
esri	world_ocean_base	no
esri	world_ocean_reference	no
esri	antarctic_imagery	no
esri	arctic_imagery	no
esri	arctic_ocean_base	no
esri	arctic_ocean_reference	no
esri	world_boundaries_and_places_alternate	no
esri	world_boundaries_and_places	no
esri	world_reference_overlay	no
esri	world_transportation	no
esri	delorme_world_base_map	no
esri	world_navigation_charts	no

Available functions

• get_maptypes() returns every supported map service and map type that can be used as input to the map_service and map_type arguments of set_defaults(), basemap() or associated functions.
• draw_ext() lets you draw an extent on an interactive map.
• set_defaults(), get_defaults() and reset_defaults() set, get or reset the defaults of all map arguments passed to basemap() or associated functions.
• basemap() and its aliases basemap_raster(), basemap_stars(), basemap_mapview(), basemap_plot(), basemap_ggplot(), basemap_gglayer(), basemap_magick(), basemap_png() and basemap_geotif() (down)load and cache a basemap of a defined extent ext, map_service and map_type and return it as an object of the defined class.
• gg_raster() plots objects of class SpatRaster, RasterLayer, RasterBrick or RasterStack as ggplot2.
• flush_cache() deletes all cached map tiles and basemaps.

Related packages

If you are interested in obtaining basemaps, you also may want to have a look at ceramic, an R package developed by Michael Sumner with a similar goal.

The underpinning code of basemaps was originally developed for moveVis and has been detached to allow its general use.

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^{© Mapbox © Thunderforest © Stamen © Carto © Esri. Many thanks to the creators of reprex v2.0.2 which this README was compiled with.}