Introduction

Maps are one of the most widely used forms of data visualization. With the advancement in Geographic Information Systems and technology, it has become possible to collect more precise data and visualize it to reveal trends and conclusions, which seemed impossible before. It is possible to aggregate data based on the geographic location and study the emerging patterns, understand the relationships between two regions, and observe the changing pattern over time.

My motive behind this chapter is to introduce the readers to various forms of spatial data visualization. This chapter clearly does not do justice to the visualization of geographic data but it leads you towards the right tools, methods, and procedures. A lot has been researched and written on spatial visualization, and I would encourage readers to go beyond what has been discussed in this chapter.

This chapter helps R users to create interactive maps using the googleVis package. The Introducing choropleth maps and A guide...