Arrange over-plotted points on a honeycomb lattice

This function arranges perfectly over-plotted points on a hexagonal lattice, filling outward from the centre in the order of the data. The hexagonal lattice is the densest packing of equal circles in the plane, so the cluster is as compact as it can be for a given spacing.

Usage

position_honeycomb(density = 1, aspect_ratio = 1)

Arguments

density

The pattern density, which defaults to 1 but will have to be adjusted in most cases. The desirable density will depend on both the ranges of the axes and the dimensions of the image.

aspect_ratio

An aspect ratio adjustment to compensate for distortion of the circular arrangement, which might occur when plotting if coord_equal() is not used. A wide aspect ratio (e.g., 2) would adjust for vertical stretching, whereas a tall aspect ratio (e.g., 0.5) would adjust for horizontal stretching. The default aspect ratio of 1 is appropriate when no adjustment is required. Under coord_fixed(), set aspect_ratio to the same value as that function's ratio argument.

Value

A ggproto object of class PositionHoneycomb.

Details

It is the crystalline sibling of position_sunflower(), which fills the same footprint at the same density with a spiral rather than a lattice. Choose between them on looks: the lattice reads as countable and orderly, the spiral as organic and without a preferred direction.

position_beeswarm() in the 'ggbeeswarm' package also offers a hexagonal method, and does a different job. A beeswarm spreads points along one axis to show the shape of a distribution, so perfectly over-plotted points come out as a line rather than a cluster, and its hexagonal and square methods move points off their true value on the data axis. Reach for a beeswarm to show a distribution, and for this to show a count.

See also

Other Functions: impute_extreme_values(), position_bluenoise(), position_bluenoisedodge(), position_circlepack(), position_circlepackdodge(), position_honeycombdodge(), position_jitter_ellipse(), position_jitterdodge_ellipse(), position_sunflower(), position_sunflowerdodge(), sunflower()

Examples

  library(ggplot2)

  dat <- data.frame(
    x = rep(1:3, times = 60),
    y = rep(1:3, times = 60)
  )

  ggplot(dat, aes(x, y)) +
    geom_point(size = 1, position = position_honeycomb(density = 4)) +
    coord_equal()