NEWS.md

openairmaps (development version)

New features

• Polar marker functions have gained the n.core argument, which allows for the use of {mirai} for parallel plot creation. {mirai} is not imported by {openairmaps} by default, but users will be prompted to download it if they set n.core to be greater than 1L.

• The progress bar shown when progress = TRUE now better reflects the actual time until function completion.

Refactoring

This release includes several changes to make {openairmaps} more lightweight.

• {ggplot2}, {ggspatial}, {prettymapr} and {ggtext}, the packages which support static mapping, have been moved to Suggests from Imports. This gives the package a smaller size for users who only use {openairmaps} for interactive mapping. On first trying to use a static mapping function, users will be prompted to install these packages.

• {mgcv} has been moved to Suggests as it is only used in one place (trajLevelMap(smooth = TRUE))

• convertPostcode() now uses {curl} over {httr}.

• Removed dependency on {forcats}.

• {worldmet} is no longer a suggested package.

openairmaps 0.9.1

New features

• Pairwise statistics (e.g., "robust_slope") are now supported by polarMap(). (#72)

• The polarMap() family has gained the progress argument, allowing users to switch the progress bar on and off.

• trajMapStatic() has gained the size and linewidth arguments, which directly map onto the arguments in ggplot2::geom_point() and ggplot2::geom_path(), respectively. These can either be a column of the data (like colour), or can be an absolute value (e.g., 2L). Note that, by default, linewidth takes the value of size, but both can be set independently.

Bug fixes

• Vectors greater than length 1 passed to popup in the polarMap() argument will no longer error when type = NULL.

• ... will successfully pass to openair::cutData() in the polarMap() and trajMap() families of functions.

• The default diffMap() colour scale will no longer appear inverted compared to openair::polarDiff().

• Fixed an issue in which quickTextHTML() would incorrectly format non breaking spaces when doing, e.g., quickTextHTML("ug/m3").

• The order in which trajMapStatic() draws points and paths has been tweaked, which should ensure that markers are drawn on top of their respective path, rather than on top of all paths.

• buildPopup() will now work correctly if no type is provided.

openairmaps 0.9.0

Breaking changes

• BREAKING: The polarMapStatic() family is now powered by {ggspatial} rather than {ggmap} as it does not require an API key. This means the ggmap argument has been removed and the provider argument has been added. Other benefits of this switch include a greater number of available base maps (see: rosm::osm.types()) and the ability to simply change the extent of the map axes using ggplot2::coord_sf(). (#52)

• BREAKING: The control and facet arguments have been deprecated in favour of type in all functions. These arguments will eventually be removed, but as of this version of {openairmaps} users will be warned away from their use. This brings {openairmaps} in-line with the {openair} package.

• BREAKING: The names and cols arguments of buildPopup() have been coalesced into a single columns argument for less verbose function usage.

• BREAKING: The collapse.control argument has been renamed to control.collapsed and the draw.legend argument to legend. This is to allow these options to sit more nicely with their new argument family members - legend.title, legend.title.autotext, legend.position, and so on.

New features

• The polarMapStatic() family of functions have been combined with the polarMap() family, with static maps available to be accessed using the static argument. (#59) The polarMapStatic() family are therefore deprecated, and will later be removed from {openairmaps}. The justification for this is as follows:

  • The combined functions allows for a more simple, consistent API for users (e.g., avoiding needing to switch between facet and control).

  • The use of the static argument allows for simple switching between dynamic and static maps. For example, a researcher may wish to use the dynamic maps for data exploration, but then switch to a static map for placement into a PDF report.

  • Recent developments have meant that the arguments and capability of these functions have started to align regardless (e.g., provider, crs).

  • Combining these functions has reduced repetition in the source code of {openairmaps}, reducing the likelihood of oversights and bugs, and allowing for more rapid development.

• The crs argument has been added to the polarMap() and polarMapStatic() families and to searchNetwork(). This argument allows for users to specify that their data is using an alternative coordinate system to the standard longitude/latitude (e.g., the British National Grid CRS). Alternate CRS will be re-projected to longitude/latitude for plotting as this is expected by {leaflet} / {ggspatial}. (#56)

• Users now have greater control over the positions of legends and layer control menus, and the titles of legends, throughout {openairmaps} functions, including the polarMap() family, trajMap() family, and networkMap().

• Popups for the dynamic polarMap() family will now be near the top of the plot rather than the centre. This will obscure less of the plot itself while the marker is visible. (#55)

• quickTextHTML()'s lookup table has gained new pollutants and units, and ignores the input case of text more consistently.

• Two examples of the use of {openairmaps} with {shiny} have been added to the package. Run shiny::runExample(package = "openairmaps") to view these. (#60)

Bug fixes

• Legends drawn by the polarMapStatic() function should now render using more recent versions of {ggplot2}.

• The addTrajPaths() layerId argument is now implemented in a sensible way to ensure each geometry has a unique layerId and can therefore be interacted with in a {shiny} context.

  • layerId is now the base on which the actual layerId is built, with each real layerId in the form BASE-LN-PN where LN is the line number and PN is the point number. For example, if layerId = "traj", the first point of the first line has the ID "traj-1-1", the second point of the first line has ID "traj-1-2", the first point of the second line has ID "traj-2-1", and so on.

• "illegal" file path characters can now be used in the columns provided to the type argument of the polarMap() family. Most relevant to most users is that this will allow them to provide their own custom HTML tags - e.g., for formatting superscripts, subscripts, and so on. (#63)

• The colours in the legend of networkMap() now better align with the actual colours of the markers, and the layer control menu when control = "variable" is now presented in a nicer order with clearer labels.

openairmaps 0.8.1

This is a minor release of {openairmaps}, released mainly to fix an issue with {ggmap} but also adding some new functionality for polar marker maps.

Breaking changes

• BREAKING: The arguments of addPolarMarkers() have been rejigged to move "data" after "pollutant", owing to the new use of leaflet::getMapData(). (#45)

• BREAKING: The default arguments of some polarMap()-family functions have changed from, e.g., NULL to "free" or "fixed". (#34)

• BREAKING: Due to changes in {ggmap}, all static polar plotting functions now require users to provide their own ggmap object. The zoom argument has also been removed. This is specifically related to the partnership of Stamen and Stadia which has put the stamen tiles behind an API. See https://maps.stamen.com/stadia-partnership/ and dkahle/ggmap#353 for more information. (#52)

New features

• Several "limit" arguments can now take one of three options: "fixed" (which forces all markers to share scales), "free" (which allows them to use different scales), or a numeric vector to define the scales. (#34) These arguments and their defaults include:

  • polarMap(): upper (fixed); limits (free)
  • annulusMap(): limits (free)
  • freqMap(): breaks (free)
  • percentileMap(): intervals (fixed)

• Added searchNetwork(), which allows users to find local air quality monitoring sites by specifying a target latitude and longitude. Function arguments allow the site metadata to be subset (for example, by site type, pollutants measured, or distance from the target).

• Added convertPostcode(), which converts a valid UK postcode to a latitude/longitude pair. This is intended to be used with searchNetwork().

• The "data" argument of addPolarMarkers() and addTrajPaths() and both the "before" and "after" arguments of addPolarDiffMarkers() now default to leaflet::getMapData(map). This makes their use less verbose when creating multiple polar plots with the same underlying data, which will likely be a common use-case. (#45)

• networkMap() popups now contain links to the associated network websites. For example, the popup for London Marylebone Road in networkMap("aurn") now contains a link to https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/networks/site-info?site_id=MY1. All networks are supported with the exception of "europe". (#39)

• addPolarMarkers() and addPolarDiffMarkers() now have all of the "options" arguments of leaflet::addMarkers(). This means that, for example, polar markers can be clustered (https://leafletjs.com/reference.html#marker). (#38)

• The polarMap() family and networkMap() provider argument can now take a named vector. The names will be used in the layer control menu, if length(provider) > 1. (#42)

openairmaps 0.8.0

This is a minor release adding a range of quality of life features, adding two new experimental functions, and fixing a few bugs.

New features

• trajMapStatic() and trajLevelMapStatic() have been added as two new experimental functions to provide {ggplot2} equivalents of openair::trajPlot() and openair::trajLevel(). (#28)

  • These are experimental as the long term place for these functions is uncertain; there will definitely be need for a {ggplot2} incarnation of the trajectory plotting functions, but whether they will sit in {openair}, {ggopenair} or {openairmaps} and what they will be named is not clear.

• The control and facet arguments of all polar marker mapping functions (static and interactive) and trajectory mapping functions are now passed to openair::cutData().

• The popup argument of all interactive polar marker mapping functions can now take a vector of column names. If more than one column is provided, it is automatically passed to buildPopup() using its default values.

• trajLevelMap() now has the control argument, which maps directly onto the type argument of openair::trajLevel(). Like other control arguments elsewhere in {openairmaps}, this creates a "layer control" menu.

• networkMap() now uses different coloured markers for different networks. If more than one network is specified, and draw.legend is set to TRUE, a legend will also be drawn for quick identification of different data sources. (#30)

• Deprecations are now managed by the {lifecycle} package. This currently only applies to the type argument.

Bug fixes

• Fixed issues where multiple addPolarMarkers() chained together would all show the same plot.

• Fixed issue where ... and pollutant weren't being passed to addPolarMarkers(). (#27)

• Fixed issue in trajMap() caused by recent updates to {dplyr} and {forcats}.

• Fixed issue where polarMapStatic() and others would turn factor facet levels into characters.

  • Specifically, this meant that, for example, months of the year would be in alphabetical order. Now factor levels, including those resulting from a pass to cutData(), will now be honoured by the facet argument. (#31)

• Fixed issue where polarMapStatic() and others would error when trying to draw a legend.

openairmaps 0.7.0

This is a minor release containing several important new features that expand the scope of the package. This also comes with several minor breaking changes to improve consistency within {openairmaps} and with {openair}.

Breaking changes

• BREAKING: The fig.width, fig.height, iconHeight and iconWidth arguments have been replaced with d.fig and d.icon. There are two main justifications behind this:

  • This ensures consistency across all of {openairmaps}, making it easier to switch between the static and HTML map types.

  • Polar markers are almost always going to be circular (i.e., width = height) so having one argument will streamline things. If users wish to have non-circular markers, a vector of length two in the form c(width, height) will provide the same functionality.

• BREAKING: The arguments in addPolarMarkers() have been put in a more sensible order, leading with data, pollutant and fun.

• BREAKING: The date argument from networkMap() has been replaced by year. (#26)

New features

• Added "static" equivalents of all of the polar marker maps written in {ggplot2}. While interactive HTML maps are preferred, the static equivalents may be more appropriate for, e.g., academic publications. (#19)

  • The {ggplot2} functions can be identified by "Static" being appended to the function name. For example, polarMap() is the {leaflet} polar plot map, whereas polarMapStatic() is the {ggplot2} equivalent.

  • Currently, "static" versions of the trajectory maps are served by openair::trajPlot() and openair::trajLevel(), but there may be space in future to have ggmap equivalents of these in openairmaps.

• Added diffMap() and diffMapStatic() which are to openair::polarDiff() what polarMap() and polarMapStatic() are to openair::polarPlot() (#17). Also added addPolarDiffMarkers(), which is the equivalent of addPolarMarkers(). (#25)

• Added alpha as an argument to all of the directional analysis polar mapping functions, not just polarMap(). (#14)

• Fixed alpha to work on both Windows and MacOS by forcing the use of the "cairo" device to save plots. (#14)

• Polar marker maps and addPolarMarkers() now show a progress bar when creating the markers takes more than a few seconds (most commonly in polarMap() and annulusMap(), particularly with multiple pollutants/control groups).

• networkMap() can now pass the new year option to importMeta().

openairmaps 0.6.1

This is a patch release primarily to fix a few bugs in {openairmaps}, and implement a new default colour scheme after a recent {openair} update.

New features

• Functions now use the "turbo" colour palette rather than "jet" by default, which is still a rainbow palette but with more perceptually uniform colours.

Bug fixes

• Fixed issue with polar marker maps (e.g., polarMap()) and the generic addPolarMarkers() function where lat/lon info in the Southern Hemisphere would misalign markers. Hat tip to Deanna Tuxford and James for noticing this issue. (#18)

• Fixed an issue with networkMap() where control = "variable" would fail to show all pollutants.

openairmaps 0.6.0

This is a minor release, mainly focusing on enhancing the ability for polar markers to have shared colour scales, but also incorporating new features for network visualisation.

New features

• All directional analysis maps can now have their limits provided (can be "limits", "breaks", "percentiles", etc., depending on function). This was always possible through ..., but it is now explicitly listed as an option. (#12)

• If limits are defined in a directional analysis function, a shared legend will now be drawn at the top-right of the map. This functionality can be disabled by setting draw.legend to FALSE. (#12)

• Added the buildPopup() function, which allows users to easily construct HTML popups for use with the "popup" argument of directional analysis maps (or leaflet maps more widely).

• The default options for fig.width and fig.height are now 3.5 rather than 4. This appears to remove some visual artefacts and makes the axis labels more legible.

• networkMap() now supports multiple sources. For example, using source = c("aurn", "saqn") will show both the AURN and SAQN on one map. This may be useful if users are interested in air quality in a specific region of the UK (e.g., users may wish to locate AURN, AQE and locally managed sites near to a given urban centre). (#16)

• networkMap() now supports source = "local".

• Multiple basemap providers can now be used with networkMap().

• networkMap(), trajMap() and all polar directional analysis maps have gained the collapse.control argument, which controls whether the control menu starts collapsed or not. It defaults to FALSE, which means the control menu is not collapsed.

• All documentation has been improved; function parameters are more consistent between functions and arguments passed to openair via ... are now explicitly listed.

Bug fixes

• The "alpha" option has been removed for all directional analysis functions except polarMap() as it only ever worked for polarMap().

openairmaps 0.5.1

This is a patch release designed to fix a major bug in v0.5.0.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue causing markers to be duplicated when pollutant information is missing for certain sites.

openairmaps 0.5.0

This is a minor release centred around the addition of the control argument, which allows for arbitrary columns to be used in "layer control" menus.

Breaking changes

• All functions now use latitude and longitude to distinguish between site types. Therefore, "type" is now deprecated. Maps using the old system will still render, but popups will not be displayed. For most users, to restore previous site labels simply rewrite type = "site" as popup = "site". (#10)

• The default values for "pollutant" have all been removed. Any users relying on this default should update their code to explicitly state pollutant = "nox".

New features

• All functions now possess the "control" argument, which allows users to create a "layer control" menu with any arbitrary column. Appropriate columns may be those produced using openair::cutData(), openair::splitByDate(), or a user-defined dplyr::case_when()/dplyr::if_else() column transformation. (#9)

• All functions now possess the "popup" and "label" arguments, which control pop-up and hover-over labels, respectively. This allows users to define any popup or label column, even non-unique ones. For example, multiple sites can be labelled with identical site types. (#10)

• All functions now try to guess the latitude/longitude column if not provided, similar to {leaflet}. (#10)

• Updated many error messages and warnings to use {cli} and be broadly more descriptive.

Bug fixes

• trajMap() can now be coloured by date.

• Fixed issue with trajMap() that would cause user-defined colours not to work.

openairmaps 0.4.3

This is a patch release adding a small number of refinements.

Breaking changes

• polar_data column names changed from "latitude" to "longitude" to "lat" and "lon" to reflect the defaults of the polarMap() family.

• trajMap() and trajLevelMap() now use the argument names "latitude" and "longitude" to match those of the polarMap() family.

New features

• trajLevelMap() now contains the lat.inc and lon.inc arguments.

openairmaps 0.4.2

This is a patch release to fix a bug with trajLevelMap().

Bug fixes

• trajLevelMap() now works where statistic = "frequency" without a "pollutant".

openairmaps 0.4.1

This is the first CRAN release of {openairmaps}.

Features

• There are currently three streams of functionality in openairmaps:

  • networkMap() visualises any of the openair::importMeta() networks.

  • polarMap() and family allow for any of the openair directional analysis plots to be used as leaflet markers.

  • trajMap() and family are leaflet equivalents to openair::trajPlot() and openair::trajMap().

• There are two main classes of functions:

  • *Map() functions are easy-to-use functions which create leaflet maps from the ground-up. These are the most similar to openair functions.

  • add*() functions are more flexible and allow users to add layers to existing leaflet maps. These are designed to be similar to the leaflet "add" functions like addMarkers().