plot_ntl_map: Plot a nighttime lights raster map

In lightson: Download and Analyse Nighttime Lights Satellite Data

Plot a nighttime lights raster map

Description

Renders a single SpatRaster as a map. Two palettes are available:

Usage

plot_ntl_map(
  raster,
  polygons = NULL,
  title = "Nighttime lights",
  caption = NULL,
  palette = c("glow", "bhuvan"),
  dark = TRUE,
  limits = NULL
)

Arguments

raster	A single-layer SpatRaster. Pass one element from the list returned by ntl_download() or bhuvan_raster().
polygons	Optional sf object for boundary overlay.
title	Plot title. Default "Nighttime lights".
caption	Optional caption string.
palette	One of "glow" (default) or "bhuvan".
dark	Logical. If TRUE, the plot background is ⁠#080c14⁠ (deep navy) and text is light. Ignored when palette = "bhuvan" (always dark bg). Default TRUE.
limits	Numeric vector of length 2 for the continuous scale. Only used when palette = "glow". NULL uses the raster min/max. Set explicitly when comparing multiple panels on the same scale.

Details

• "glow" (default): continuous dark-olive-to-cream-white ramp modelled on the NASA Black Marble composite. Suited to dark backgrounds and multi-panel year comparisons.

• "bhuvan": 4-class categorical legend matching the Bhuvan portal: black (< 5 nW/cm2/sr), dark blue-grey (5-25), cream (26-200), red (> 200).

Value

A ggplot2 object.

Examples

r <- terra::rast(
  nrows = 20, ncols = 20, xmin = 77, xmax = 78, ymin = 28, ymax = 29,
  crs = "EPSG:4326", vals = seq_len(400) / 2
)
plot_ntl_map(r)
plot_ntl_map(r, palette = "bhuvan")

lightson documentation built on Nov. 3, 2026, 5:07 p.m.