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Glyphs in spatial data visualization are graphical symbols that represent data values at specific geographic locations. Each glyph can encode multiple data variables.

With the extension package tmap.glyphs (in development) glyphs can be created. Currently only the donut and flower glyphs are implemented.

Donut maps

ZH_muni = NLD_muni[NLD_muni$province == "Zuid-Holland", ]

ZH_muni$income_middle = 100 - ZH_muni$income_high - ZH_muni$income_low

which.max(ZH_muni$population)
#> [1] 26

ZH_muni$population[c(10,26)] = 500000

ZH_muni$income_high[1:15] = NA

tm_shape(ZH_muni) +
  tm_polygons() +
  tm_donuts(parts = tm_vars(c("income_low", "income_middle", "income_high"), multivariate = TRUE),
    fill.scale = tm_scale_categorical(values = "-pu_gn_div"),             
    size = "population",
    lwd = 1,
    size.scale = tm_scale_continuous(ticks = c(50000, 100000, 250000, 500000)),
    options = opt_tm_donuts(fill_hole = FALSE))

Flower maps

library(sf)
#> Linking to GEOS 3.12.1, GDAL 3.8.4, PROJ 9.4.0; sf_use_s2() is TRUE

q = function(x) {
    r = rank(x)
    r[is.na(x)] = NA
    r = r / max(r, na.rm = TRUE)
    r
}

World$norm_well_being = q((World$well_being / 8))
World$norm_footprint = q(((50 - World$footprint) / 50))
World$norm_inequality = q(((65 - World$inequality) / 65))
World$norm_press = q(1 - ((100 - World$press) / 100))
World$norm_gender = q(1 - World$gender)


tm_shape(World) +
    tm_polygons(fill = "white", popup.vars = FALSE) +
tm_shape(World) +   
    tm_flowers(parts = tm_vars(c("norm_gender", "norm_press", "norm_footprint", "norm_well_being", "norm_inequality"), multivariate = TRUE),
               fill.scale = tm_scale(values = "friendly5"),
               size = 1, popup.vars = c("norm_gender", "norm_press", "norm_footprint", "norm_well_being","norm_inequality"), id = "name") +
    tm_basemap(NULL) +
    tm_layout(bg.color = "grey90")
#> [tip] Consider a suitable map projection, e.g. by adding `+ tm_crs("auto")`.
#> This message is displayed once per session.