Question

I would like to create a simple flow chart in latex with the TikZ package similar to the following example

http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/simple-flow-chart/

However I would like to include figures (a time series plot created in R, as eps or something else) within the flowchart (e.g. for example within a {block}?

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,arrows}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}


% Define block styles
\tikzstyle{decision} = [diamond, draw, fill=blue!20, 
    text width=4.5em, text badly centered, node distance=3cm, inner sep=0pt]
\tikzstyle{block} = [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, 
    text width=5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em]
\tikzstyle{line} = [draw, -latex']
\tikzstyle{cloud} = [draw, ellipse,fill=red!20, node distance=3cm,
    minimum height=2em]

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance = 2cm, auto]
    % Place nodes
    \node [block] (init) {initialize model};
    \node [cloud, left of=init] (expert) {expert};
    \node [cloud, right of=init] (system) {system};
    \node [block, below of=init] (identify) {identify candidate models};
    \node [block, below of=identify] (evaluate) {evaluate candidate models};
    \node [block, left of=evaluate, node distance=3cm] (update) {update model};
    \node [decision, below of=evaluate] (decide) {is best candidate better?};
    \node [block, below of=decide, node distance=3cm] (stop) {stop};
    % Draw edges
    \path [line] (init) -- (identify);
    \path [line] (identify) -- (evaluate);
    \path [line] (evaluate) -- (decide);
    \path [line] (decide) -| node [near start] {yes} (update);
    \path [line] (update) |- (identify);
    \path [line] (decide) -- node {no}(stop);
    \path [line,dashed] (expert) -- (init);
    \path [line,dashed] (system) -- (init);
    \path [line,dashed] (system) |- (evaluate);
\end{tikzpicture}


\end{document}

Thanks,
Jan

Answer 1

As another example shows, it is possible to use \includegraphics in a tikzpicture environment. Have you tried this?

And of course there is the obligatory mentioning of pgfplots. Time series or other data visualization can be performed using this package instead of including graphics :).