addTextLabels: Add non-overlapping text labels to plot

In JosephCrispell/plotteR: A collection of functions to help with base R plotting

Description

This function is similar to the text() function but it will attempt to re-locate labels that will overlap

Usage

addTextLabels(
  xCoords,
  yCoords,
  labels,
  cex.label = 1,
  col.label = "red",
  col.line = "black",
  col.background = NULL,
  lty = 1,
  lwd = 1,
  border = NA,
  avoidPoints = TRUE,
  keepLabelsInside = TRUE,
  cex.pt = 1
)

Arguments

xCoords	A vector containing the X coordinates for labels
yCoords	A vector containing the Y coordinates for labels
labels	A vector containing the labels to be plotted
cex.label	A number to scale the size of the plotted labels. Defaults to 1
col.label	The colour of the plotted labels. Defaults to "red". Multiple colours can be provided. If more colours than labels provided colours will be recycled.
col.line	The colour of the line to plot from relocated labels to original location. Defaults to "black". Multiple colours can be provided. If more colours than labels provided colours will be recycled.
col.background	An optional colour for a background polygon plotted behind labels. Defaults to NULL - won't be plotted. Multiple colours can be provided. If more colours than labels provided colours will be recycled.
lty	A number detailing the type of line to plot from relocated labels to original location. 0: blank, 1: solid, 2: dashed, 3: dotted, 4: dotdash, 5: longdash, and 6: twodash. Defaults to 1. Multiple line types can be provided. If more options than labels provided types will be recycled.
lwd	A number to scale the size of line from relocated labels to original location. Defaults to 1. Multiple line widths can be provided. If more options than labels provided widths will be recycled.
border	The colour of the border to be plotted around the polygon. Defaults to NA - won't be plotted. Multiple colours can be provided. If more colours than labels provided colours will be recycled.
avoidPoints	A logical variable indicating whether labels shouldn't be plotted on top of points. Defaults to TRUE
keepLabelsInside	A logical variable indicating whether the labels shouldn't be plotted outside of plotting region. Defaults to TRUE
cex.pt	A number used to scale the points plotted on the graph that labels are to be added to. Defaults to 1

Examples

# Create some random points
n <- 50
coords <- data.frame(X=runif(n), Y=runif(n), Name="Test Label")

# Plot them without labels
plot(x=coords$X, y=coords$Y, pch=19, bty="n", xaxt="n", yaxt="n", col="red", xlab="X", ylab="Y")

# With potentially overlapping labels
plot(x=coords$X, y=coords$Y, pch=19, bty="n", xaxt="n", yaxt="n", col="red", xlab="X", ylab="Y")
text(coords$X, coords$Y, labels=coords$Name, xpd=TRUE)

# Plot them with non-overlapping labels
plot(x=coords$X, y=coords$Y, pch=19, bty="n", xaxt="n", yaxt="n", col="red", xlab="X", ylab="Y")
addTextLabels(coords$X, coords$Y, coords$Name, cex.label=1, col.label="black")

# Plot them with non-overlapping labels
plot(x=coords$X, y=coords$Y, pch=19, bty="n", xaxt="n", yaxt="n", col="red", xlab="X", ylab="Y")
addTextLabels(coords$X, coords$Y, coords$Name, cex.label=1, col.background=rgb(0,0,0, 0.75), col.label="white")

JosephCrispell/plotteR documentation built on June 6, 2021, 7:24 p.m.