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I am typically using R to do statistical analysis, and rather new to the data visualization capabilities. I'm trying to figure out if there is some way to marry the motion chart package gvisMotionChart with the mapping package, gvisGeoMap. I'd like to display a video of events over time, appearing on a map on their date of occurrence at lat/lon coordinates and then fading out. Anyone know if it's possible to do this? Any additional concerns if I have over 50,000 records (daily over 5 years) that I want to feed in to be displayed?

Please note that I do not have to use the gvis packages--I am just using these to motivate the idea. If there are other dynamic mapping packages available in R that will just draw on a shapefile and my event records, all the better.

Thanks!

SOConnell
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  • I'm not sure how the packages work in R, but you should be able to create a similar effect by filtering your data to the first day, drawing the map, re-filter the data on the next day and redraw the map (repeat until end of data). – asgallant Nov 22 '13 at 16:43
  • Right, yes. Doing this manually is what I wanted to avoid ==> 5 years of data*365 days/year=1825 daily maps which then need to be stuck together as frames in a video editor (which probably isn't hard, but I just imagine there being a tool out there by now that automates the whole thing that someone might know of). – SOConnell Nov 22 '13 at 16:49
  • Oh, you're looking to put it together in a video? That's quite a different story. Is using an HTML file instead of a video an option? You could output the data to javascript and run a loop that handles the filter and draw processes, which would get you an animated effect in HTML. It might be possible to capture that as video too, if you specifically need video. – asgallant Nov 22 '13 at 17:25
  • In the sense that a typical Google Motion Chart is a video, then yes--I would like a video. I think indeed your suggestions would work, and to compile a video I could just use a screen capture tool. Sadly, I am not an html or js guy :( which is why my question centers around R packages due to my limited knowledge of possibilities in other languages. But maybe a good motivator to learn something new if no one can point to existing packages... – SOConnell Nov 22 '13 at 17:30
  • In a similar vein, I am also trying to avoid using arcGIS, as I don't have a subscription/license and also don't know if that software can be used with a script. – SOConnell Nov 22 '13 at 18:39
  • If you can export your data, the javascript isn't hard to write. I put together a sample script for you that does something similar: http://jsfiddle.net/asgallant/fESRF/ – asgallant Nov 22 '13 at 21:38
  • Hey, that's really great!! Looks like I should learn a little JS--this is very close to the thing I was going for--thanks!! – SOConnell Nov 23 '13 at 22:19

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