Plot a path of connected points

Adding geom_path_point() or geom_line_point() to a ggplot is similar to adding geom_path() followed by geom_point() or geom_line() followed by geom_point(), respectively. The difference is that that with the unified geom_path_point() and geom_line_point() geoms, paths/lines and points are plotted together, as a single layer. In the stacked approach, they are plotted as two separate layers. See Details for a discussion of why this can matter in practice.

Usage

geom_path_point(
  mapping = NULL,
  data = NULL,
  stat = "identity",
  position = "identity",
  lineend = "butt",
  linejoin = "round",
  linemitre = 10,
  arrow = NULL,
  na.rm = FALSE,
  show.legend = NA,
  inherit.aes = TRUE,
  ...
)

geom_line_point(
  mapping = NULL,
  data = NULL,
  stat = "identity",
  position = "identity",
  na.rm = FALSE,
  orientation = NA,
  show.legend = NA,
  inherit.aes = TRUE,
  ...
)

Arguments

mapping

Set of aesthetic mappings created by aes(). If specified and inherit.aes = TRUE (the default), it is combined with the default mapping at the top level of the plot. You must supply mapping if there is no plot mapping.

data

The data to be displayed in this layer. There are three options:

If NULL, the default, the data is inherited from the plot data as specified in the call to ggplot().

A data.frame, or other object, will override the plot data. All objects will be fortified to produce a data frame. See fortify() for which variables will be created.

A function will be called with a single argument, the plot data. The return value must be a data.frame, and will be used as the layer data. A function can be created from a formula (e.g. ~ head(.x, 10)).

stat

The statistical transformation to use on the data for this layer. When using a geom_*() function to construct a layer, the stat argument can be used the override the default coupling between geoms and stats. The stat argument accepts the following:

• A Stat ggproto subclass, for example StatCount.

• A string naming the stat. To give the stat as a string, strip the function name of the stat_ prefix. For example, to use stat_count(), give the stat as "count".

• For more information and other ways to specify the stat, see the layer stat documentation.

position

A position adjustment to use on the data for this layer. This can be used in various ways, including to prevent overplotting and improving the display. The position argument accepts the following:

• The result of calling a position function, such as position_jitter(). This method allows for passing extra arguments to the position.

• A string naming the position adjustment. To give the position as a string, strip the function name of the position_ prefix. For example, to use position_jitter(), give the position as "jitter".

• For more information and other ways to specify the position, see the layer position documentation.

lineend

Line end style (round, butt, square).

linejoin

Line join style (round, mitre, bevel).

linemitre

Line mitre limit (number greater than 1).

arrow

Arrow specification, as created by grid::arrow().

na.rm

If FALSE, the default, missing values are removed with a warning. If TRUE, missing values are silently removed.

show.legend

logical. Should this layer be included in the legends? NA, the default, includes if any aesthetics are mapped. FALSE never includes, and TRUE always includes. It can also be a named logical vector to finely select the aesthetics to display.

inherit.aes

If FALSE, overrides the default aesthetics, rather than combining with them. This is most useful for helper functions that define both data and aesthetics and shouldn't inherit behaviour from the default plot specification, e.g. borders().

...

Other arguments passed on to layer()'s params argument. These arguments broadly fall into one of 4 categories below. Notably, further arguments to the position argument, or aesthetics that are required can not be passed through .... Unknown arguments that are not part of the 4 categories below are ignored.

• Static aesthetics that are not mapped to a scale, but are at a fixed value and apply to the layer as a whole. For example, colour = "red" or linewidth = 3. The geom's documentation has an Aesthetics section that lists the available options. The 'required' aesthetics cannot be passed on to the params. Please note that while passing unmapped aesthetics as vectors is technically possible, the order and required length is not guaranteed to be parallel to the input data.

• When constructing a layer using a stat_*() function, the ... argument can be used to pass on parameters to the geom part of the layer. An example of this is stat_density(geom = "area", outline.type = "both"). The geom's documentation lists which parameters it can accept.

• Inversely, when constructing a layer using a geom_*() function, the ... argument can be used to pass on parameters to the stat part of the layer. An example of this is geom_area(stat = "density", adjust = 0.5). The stat's documentation lists which parameters it can accept.

• The key_glyph argument of layer() may also be passed on through .... This can be one of the functions described as key glyphs, to change the display of the layer in the legend.

orientation

The orientation of the layer. The default (NA) automatically determines the orientation from the aesthetic mapping. In the rare event that this fails it can be given explicitly by setting orientation to either "x" or "y". See the Orientation section for more detail.

Details

Plotting with a single layer is important when the user wants points and lines to be stacked ("z-ordered") together by group, i.e. all points and lines representing group 1 to be below all points and lines in group 2, et cetera. With the standard geom_line() + geom_point() approach, all points (z-ordered by group) will be plotted on top of all lines (z-ordered by group), or the reverse if one does geom_point() + geom_line(). this can make the plot more difficult to read when points partially overlap. See the Examples for a demonstration.

Examples

library(ggplot2)
library(tibble)
data <- tibble(x = rep(c(3,1,2), 2),
               y = c(-0.5, 0.5, 0, 0.5, 0, 0.02),
               z = c(rep("a", 3), rep("b", 3)))

data <- tribble(
   ~x,      ~y,   ~z,
    1,       0,  "a",
    2,       0,  "a",
    3,    -0.5,  "a",
    1,    0.01,  "b",
    3,   -.520,  "b",
    2,     0.02,  "b")

# standard approach causes points to "interrupt"
# lines when overplotted
ggplot(data, aes(x = x, y = y, color = z)) +
   geom_path(linewidth = 2) +
   geom_point(size = 5)


# using a single-layer approach fixes this
ggplot(data, aes(x = x, y = y, color = z)) +
   geom_path_point(linewidth = 2, size = 5)


# The same is true for `geom_line` and `geom_line_point`
# multi-layer approach:
ggplot(data, aes(x = x, y = y, color = z)) +
   geom_line(linewidth = 3) +
   geom_point(size = 5)


# single-layer approach:
ggplot(data, aes(x = x, y = y, color = z)) +
   geom_line_point(linewidth = 3, size = 5)