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ggplot2qgis

Export a ggplot2 map plot (e.g. geom_sf()) as a QGIS project (.qgs) file.

write_qgs() takes a ggplot2 plot whose layers are backed by sf objects and writes a QGIS project. The data of each layer is saved as a GeoPackage alongside the .qgs, and each layer is styled after the plot’s trained color scale:

  • a continuous fill/colour scale becomes a graduated renderer (or a continuously interpolated color, see gradient_style),
  • a discrete scale becomes a categorized renderer,
  • a layer with no fill/colour mapping becomes a single symbol with the color ggplot2 would have used.

Installation

You can install ggplot2qgis via R-universe:

install.packages("ggplot2qgis", repos = c("https://yutannihilation.r-universe.dev", "https://cloud.r-project.org"))

Usage 

library(ggplot2)
library(ggplot2qgis)

nc <- sf::st_read(system.file("shape/nc.shp", package = "sf"), quiet = TRUE)

p <- ggplot(nc) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = AREA))

write_qgs(p, "nc.qgs")

Open nc.qgs in QGIS: the polygons are rendered with the same fill gradient as the ggplot2 plot, and the data lives in nc_data/.

To add an XYZ tile basemap below the layers, pass basemap a predefined key or an XYZ URL template:

write_qgs(p, "nc.qgs", basemap = "osm")
A ggplot2 map (front) and the exported QGIS project (back) showing the same North Carolina counties with the same fill colors over an OpenStreetMap basemap
A ggplot2 map (front) and the exported QGIS project (back) showing the same North Carolina counties with the same fill colors over an OpenStreetMap basemap

See ?write_qgs for the full set of options (use_plot_crs, gradient_style, basemap).

TODOs