Support for spatial processing tasks is provided in R by several great packages, spanning from all-purpose packages providing generalized access to the main spatial data classes and corresponding processing methods (e.g., sp and sf, raster and rgdal - providing functions for handling raster and vector spatial data -), to more “specialized” ones meant to allow conducting more specific processing tasks (e.g., geosphere, landsat, MODIStsp), or to provide optimized/improved/easier solutions for methods already provided by the aforementioned general-purpose packages (e.g., velox, mapview) (Curated lists of some very good packages can be found here, here and here).
This huge variability provides advanced R programmers with great flexibility for conducting simple or complex spatial data analyses, by combining functionalities of different packages within custom scripts. At the same time, it may be confusing for less skilled programmers, who may struggle with dealing with multiple packages and don’t know that a certain processing task may be more efficiently conducted by using less-known (and sometimes difficult to find) packages.
sprawl aims to simplify the execution of some spatial processing tasks by providing a single and (hopefully) simpler access point to functionalities spread in the R packages ecosystem, introducing optimixed functions for executing frequently used processing tasks, and providing custom functions or workflows for the execution of more complex processing tasks (See here for further details).
WORK IN PROGRESS !
If you stumble on this page, please be advised that sprawl is currently in an early stage of development. This means that things are going to change rapidly, and we do not guarantee that everything works as expected. Additionally, be warned that until a first official version is released, functions may change behaviour or even completely disappear while we test different approaches and solutions! (besides this: we would be happy to have beta-testers !)
Installation
You can install sprawl from git-hub with:
Before installing, please ensure that GDAL is installed on your machine, and that it is on your PATH.
You can find instructions for installing GDAL HERE
Note that, given its rather broad scope, sprawl imports functions from several other packages. Since some of those have quite specific System Requirements, it’s possible that you’ll struggle a bit in installation due to unresolved dependencies. In that case, please have a look at the installation error messages to see which package has problems in installation and try to install it beforehand (consulting its specific CRAN pages or doing a stackoverflow search may help !).
Function Documentation
The main functions available in sprawl are documented here, along with usage examples.
Examples of use
Worked-out examples of the more comlex sprawl functions and workflows can be found here
Contributing
We are open for contributions/help in improving sprawl and extend its functionalities. If you have a suggestion for and additional functionality please report it in our issues page. If you wish to contribute to sprawl development, please see our Contributing page on Git Hub (COMING SOON !).
Citation
To cite package sprawl in publications use:
Lorenzo Busetto and Luigi Ranghetti (2017). sprawl: Spatial Processing (in) R: Advanced Workflow Library. R package version 0.1.0.9000.
Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.
