rtop (version 0.5-5)

readAreas: help file for creating SpatialPolygonsDataFrame with observations and/or predictionLocations of data with a spatial support

Description

readAreas will read area-files, add observations and convert the result to SpatialPolygonsDataFrame

Usage

readAreas(object, adir=".",ftype = "xy",projection = NA, ...)

Arguments

object

either name of file with areal information or SpatialPointsDataFrame with observations

adir

directory where the files with areal information are to be found

ftype

type of file, the only type supported currently is "xy", referring to x- and y-coordinates of boundaries

projection

add projection to the object if input is boundary-files

...

further parameters to be passed to readAreaInfo

Value

The function creates a SpatialPolygonsDataFrame of observations and/or predictionLocations, depending on the information given in object.

Details

If object is a file name, readAreaInfo will be called. If it is a SpatialPointsDataFrame with observations and/or predictionLocations, the function will read areal data from files according to the ID associated with each observation/predictionLocation.

The function is of particular use when data are not available as shape-files, or when the observations are not part of the shape-files. This function is mainly for compatibility with the former FORTRAN-version. The simplest way to read the data in that case is through readShapePoly in the maptools-package or readOGR in the rgdal-package. See also rtop-package.