rnaturalearth (version 0.0.0.9000)

ne_download: download data from Natural Earth and (optionally) read into R

Description

returns downloaded data as a spatial object or the filename if load=FALSE. if destdir is specified the data can be reloaded in a later R session using ne_load with the same arguments.

Usage

ne_download(scale = 110, type = "countries", category = c("cultural", "physical", "raster"), destdir = tempdir(), load = TRUE)

Arguments

scale

scale of map to return, one of 110, 50, 10 or 'small', 'medium', 'large'

type

type of natural earth file to download one of 'countries', 'map_units', 'map_subunits', 'sovereignty', 'states' OR the portion of any natural earth vector url after the scale and before the . e.g. for 'ne_50m_urban_areas.zip' this would be 'urban_areas'. See Details. OR the raster filename e.g. for 'MSR_50M.zip' this would be 'MSR_50M'

category

one of natural earth categories : 'cultural', 'physical', 'raster'

destdir

where to save files, defaults to tempdir(), getwd() is also possible.

load

TRUE/FALSE whether to load file into R and return

Value

A Spatial object depending on the data (points, lines, polygons or raster), unless load=FALSE in which case it returns the name of the downloaded shapefile (without extension).

Details

A non-exhaustive list of datasets available according to scale specified by the type param

	scale = 'small'	scale = 'medium'
scale = 'large'	category = 'physical', type = '[below]'	coastline
y	y	y
land	y	y
y	ocean	y
y	y	rivers_lake_centerlines
y	y	y
lakes	y	y
y	glaciated_areas	y
y	y	antarctic_ice_shelves_polys
-	y	y
geographic_lines	y	y
y	graticules_1	y
y	y	graticules_30
y	y	y
wgs84_bounding_box	y	y
y	playas	-
y	y	minor_islands
-	-	y
reefs	-	-
y	category = 'cultural', type = '[below]'	populated_places
y	y	y
boundary_lines_land	y	y
y	breakaway_disputed_areas	-
y	y	airports
-	y	y
ports	-	y
y	urban_areas	-
y	y	roads
-	-	y
railroads	-	-
y		scale = 'small'

See Also

ne_load, pre-downloaded data are available using ne_countries, ne_states. Other geographic data are available in the raster package : getData.

Examples

## Not run: 
# spdf_world <- ne_download( scale = 110, type = 'countries' )
# 
# if (require(sp)) {
#   plot(spdf_world)
#   plot(ne_download(type = 'populated_places'))
# }
# 
# # reloading from the saved file in the same session with same arguments
# spdf_world2 <-    ne_load( scale = 110, type = 'countries' )
# 
# # download followed by load from specified directory will work across sessions
# spdf_world <- ne_download( scale = 110, type = 'countries', destdir = getwd() )
# spdf_world2 <-    ne_load( scale = 110, type = 'countries', destdir = getwd() )
# 
# # for raster, here an example with Manual Shaded Relief (MSR)
# # download & load
# rst <- ne_download(scale = 50, type = 'MSR_50M', category = 'raster', destdir = getwd())
# 
# # load after having downloaded
# rst <- ne_load(scale = 50, type = 'MSR_50M', category = 'raster', destdir = getwd())
# 
# # plot
# library(raster)
# raster::plot(rst)
# ## End(Not run) # end dontrun