Question

FYI: I’m fairly new to ggplot2 and ggmap so I apologize for the sloppy code but it is the only way I’ve been able to plot sets of groups of points where each group has it’s own color. Also my os is ubuntu.

I’m trying to add a legend, to a ggmap object and in particular a legend with a continuos gradient transitioning the colors. Any advice? I’ve tried the legend attribute in ggmap but it doesn’t seem to be working. Below is what I have so far.

syd = get_map(location = center, zoom = zoom, maptype = type,color = "bw")

(SYDmap = ggmap(syd, extent = "panel",legend="right")+ annotate('point',x=lng[[1]],xend=max(lng[[1]]),y=lat[[1]],yend=max(lat[[1]]),colour=colorval[1],cex=cexval,pch=pchval))

for(i in 2:(topnum - 1))
  SYDmap<- SYDmap + annotate('point',x=lng[[i]],xend=max(lng[[i]]),y=lat[[i]],yend=max(lat[[i]]),colour=colorval[i],cex=cexval,pch=pchval)

i=topnum;  (SYDmap <-   SYDmap + annotate('point',x=lng[[i]],xend=max(lng[[i]]),y=lat[[i]],yend=max(lat[[i]]),colour=colorval[i],cex=cexval,pch=pchval)) + guides(fill = "colourbar")

Answer 1

Instead of using annotate, here’s a method that adds a point layer using geom_point. Almost any geom can be added to a ggmap object as it would be added to a ggplot object. Because Size (see the contents of the df data frame below) is a colour aesthetic in the call to geom_point, the legend is generated automatically.

library(ggmap)

# Get a map - A map of Canberra will do
ACTmap = get_map(c(149.1, -35.325), zoom = 12, source = "google", maptype = "roadmap")

# A data frame of lon and lat coordinates and the variable Size
df = data.frame(lon = c(149.0307, 149.1326, 149.089, 149.048, 149.0965),
            lat = c(-35.3892, -35.28225, -35.34005, -35.34857, -35.34833),
            Size = c(1,2,3,4,5))

# Draw the map
ACTmap = ggmap(ACTmap)

# Add the points
ACTmap = ACTmap + geom_point(data = df, aes(x = lon, y = lat, colour = Size), 
      alpha = 0.6,  size = 10)

# Change the legend
ACTmap + scale_colour_continuous(low = "red", high = "blue", space = "Lab", guide = "colorbar")