insetplot provides tools for creating inset plots and maps with spatial data. Migrate from normal ggplot2 mapping to inset plots with minimal code changes - just wrap your existing plotting code!
Before (normal ggplot):
ggplot(spatial_data) +
geom_sf(aes(fill = population)) +
theme_void()After (with insets):
# 1. Configure insets once
config_insetmap(
plot_data = spatial_data,
specs = list(
plot_spec(main = TRUE),
plot_spec(xmin = -10, xmax = 30, ymin = 35, ymax = 70,
loc_left = 0.7, loc_bottom = 0.7, width = 0.3)
)
)
# 2. Wrap your SAME plotting code
with_inset({
ggplot(spatial_data) +
geom_sf(aes(fill = population)) +
theme_void()
})That's it! Your plotting code remains unchanged - just configuration and wrapping.
You can install the development version of insetplot from GitHub with:
# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("username/insetplot")- 🚀 Minimal Migration: Wrap existing ggplot2 code - no need to rewrite plotting logic
- 📍 Flexible positioning: Define multiple plot areas with custom bounding boxes and positioning
- 🎯 Automatic aspect ratio handling: Maintains proper proportions for geographic data
Here's a simple example of how to create an inset map:
library(insetplot)
library(sf)
library(ggplot2)
# Load spatial data
nc <- sf::st_read(system.file("shape/nc.shp", package="sf"))
# Configure the inset map
config_insetmap(
plot_data = nc,
specs = list(
# Main plot (full extent)
plot_spec(main = TRUE),
# Inset plot (zoomed region)
plot_spec(
xmin = -84, xmax = -75, ymin = 33, ymax = 37, # Bounding box
loc_left = 0.7, loc_bottom = 0.7, # Position in main plot
width = 0.3 # Size of inset
)
)
)
# Create the combined plot
with_inset({
ggplot(nc) +
geom_sf(aes(fill = AREA)) +
scale_fill_viridis_c() +
theme_void()
})You can create multiple insets in a single plot:
config_insetmap(
plot_data = world_data,
specs = list(
plot_spec(main = TRUE),
plot_spec(xmin = -10, xmax = 30, ymin = 35, ymax = 70,
loc_left = 0.02, loc_bottom = 0.7, width = 0.3),
plot_spec(xmin = -180, xmax = -120, ymin = 55, ymax = 75,
loc_left = 0.02, loc_bottom = 0.02, width = 0.25)
)
)Use no_scale = TRUE to automatically determine inset size to keep the aspect ratio consistent with the main plot:
plot_spec(
xmin = -84, xmax = -75, ymin = 33, ymax = 37,
loc_left = 0.7, loc_bottom = 0.7,
no_scale = TRUE
)