Skip to contents

Set the position of map components, such as legends, title, compass, scale bar, etc. tm_pos() is the function to position these components: tm_pos_out() places the components outside the map area and tm_pos_in() inside the map area. Each position argument of a map layer or component should be specified with one of these functions. The functions tm_pos_auto_out() and tm_pos_auto_in() are used to set the components automatically, and are recommended to use globally, via tmap_options(). See Details how the positioning works.

Usage

tm_pos(cell.h, cell.v, pos.h, pos.v, align.h, align.v, just.h, just.v)

tm_pos_in(pos.h, pos.v, align.h, align.v, just.h, just.v)

tm_pos_out(cell.h, cell.v, pos.h, pos.v, align.h, align.v, just.h, just.v)

tm_pos_auto_out(cell.h, cell.v, pos.h, pos.v, align.h, align.v, just.h, just.v)

tm_pos_auto_in(align.h, align.v, just.h, just.v)

Arguments

cell.h, cell.v

The plotting area is overlaid with a 3x3 grid, of which the middle grid cell is the map area. Components can be drawn into any cell. cell.h specifies the horizontal position (column) can take values "left", "center", and "right". cell.v specifies the vertical position (row) and can take values "top", "center", and "bottom". See details for a graphical explanation.

pos.h, pos.v

The position of the component within the cell. The main options for pos.h are "left", "center", and "right". For cell.v these are "top", "center", and "bottom". These options can also be provided in upper case; in that case there is no offset (see the tmap option component.offset). Also numbers between 0 and 1 can be provided, which determine the position of the component inside the cell (with (0,0) being left bottom). The arguments just.h and just.v determine the justification point.

align.h, align.v

The alignment of the component in case multiple components are stacked. When they are stacked horizontally, align.v determines how components that are smaller in height than the available height (determined by the outer.margins if specified and otherwise by the highest component) are justified: "top", "center", or "bottom". Similarly, align.h determines how components are justified horizontally when they are stacked vertically: "left", "center", or "right".

just.h, just.v

The justification of the components. Only used in case pos.h and pos.v are numbers.

Details

+-------------------+--------------------------------+-------------------+
||||
"top"||||
||||
+-------------------+--------------------------------+-------------------+
||||
||||
cell.v  "center"||   Map(s)||
||||
||||
+-------------------+--------------------------------+-------------------+
||||
"bottom"||||
||||
+-------------------+--------------------------------+-------------------+
"left""center""right"
cell.h

tm_pos_in() sets the position of the component(s) inside the maps area, which is equivalent to the center-center cell (in case there are facets, these are all drawn in this center-center cell).

tm_pos_out() sets the position of the component(s) outside the map.

The amount of space that the top and bottom rows, and left and right columns occupy is determined by the tm_layout() arguments meta.margins and meta.auto.margins. The former sets the relative space of the bottom, left, top, and right side. In case these are set to NA, the space is set automatically based on 1) the maximum relative space specified by meta.auto.margins and 2) the presence and size of components in each cell. For instance, if there is one landscape oriented legend in the center-bottom cell, then the relative space of the bottom row is set to the height of that legend (given that it is smaller than the corresponding value of meta.auto.margins), while the other four sides are set to 0.

tm_pos_auto_out() is more complex: the cell.h and cell.v arguments should be set to one of the four corners. It does not mean that the components are drawn in a corner. The corner represents the sides of the map that the components are drawn. By default, legends are drawn either at the bottom or on the right-side of the map by default (see tmap_options("legend.position")). Only when there are row- and column-wise legends and a general legend (using tm_facets_grid()), the general legend is drawn in the corner, but in practice this case will be rare.

The arguments pos.h and pos.v determine where the components are drawn within the cell. Again, with "left", "center", and "right" for pos.h and "top", "center", and "bottom" for pos.v. The values can also be specified in upper-case, which influences the offset with the cell borders, which is determined by tmap option component.offset. By default, there is a small offset when components are drawn inside and no offset when they are drawn outside or with upper-case.

tm_pos_auto_in() automatically determines pos.h and pos.v given the available space inside the map. This is similar to the default positioning in tmap3.

In case multiple components are draw in the same cell and the same position inside that cell, they are stacked (determined which the stack argument in the legend or component function). The align.h and align.v arguments determine how these components will be justified with each other.

Note that legends and components may be different for a facet row or column. This is the case when tm_facets_grid() or tm_facets_stack() are applied and when scales are set to free (with the .free argument of the map layer functions). In case a legends or components are draw row- or column wise, and the position of the legends (or components) is right next to the maps, these legends (or components) will be aligned with the maps.