introducing a gap in continuous x axis using ggplot

Question

This is kinda a build-on on my previous post creating an stacked area/bar plot with missing values (all the script I run can be found there). In this post, however, Im asking if its possible to leave a gap in an continuous x axis? I have a time-serie (month-by-month) over a year, but for one sample one month is missing and I would like to show this month as a complete gap in the plot. Almost like plotting a graph for Jan-Aug (Sep is missing) and one for Oct-Dec and merging these with a gap for Sep.

The only things I have come up trying are treating the missing month as zero or NA, creating a hugh drop in the area chart for Sep or excluding it but with an x axis ranging from 1-11, respectively (see plots in dropbox folder).

The data set Im working on can be found in my dropbox folder and it's named r_class.txt and you can also see the two different plots (Rplots1 and 2).

Any ideas would really be appreciated!

A better format for the question would be to avoid the undersign and greetings. — Ali
– Ali, Commented Oct 12, 2012 at 13:40
I don't completely get your question: a) your x-axis should really stay continuous as it is. Just your layer has a gap: this you can achieve by putting a Jan - Aug layer and a Oct - Dec layer I think. b) you want to have a gap in the axis (the guide in ggplot terms). That IMHO is easiest achieved by facetting into Jan - Aug ./. Oct - Dec. — cbeleites
– cbeleites, Commented Oct 12, 2012 at 14:24
@hadley, can you explain? It seems that missing values are interpolated with geom_area (but not, for instance, geom_line). So using the OP's code on the linked post, if we set all "Sep" values to NA, there's no break in the areas at Sep. — Drew Steen
– Drew Steen, Commented Oct 13, 2012 at 21:15
If geom_area doesn't break with NA that's an error. If someone provides a minimal self-contained example, I can explore further. — hadley
– hadley, Commented Oct 14, 2012 at 23:13

Drew Steen · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-13 03:05:26Z

0

Plot the series as two separate data frames:

#Load libraries
require(ggplot2)
require(reshape)

#Code copied from your linked post:
wa=read.table('wa_class.txt', sep="", header=F, na.string="0")
names(wa)=c("Class","Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec")
wam=melt(wa)
wam$variablen=as.numeric(wam$variable)

#For readability, split the melted data frame into two separate data frames
wam1 <- wam[wam$variablen %in% 1:6,]
wam2 <- wam[wam$variablen %in% 8:12, ]

ggplot() +
  geom_area(data=wam1, aes(x=variablen, y=value, fill=Class)) +
  geom_area(data=wam2, aes(x=variablen, y=value, fill=Class))
  #and add lineranges, etc., accordingly

answered Oct 13, 2012 at 3:05

Drew Steen

16.7k12 gold badges67 silver badges91 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

jO. Over a year ago

Thanks a lot! Worked perfectly!

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

introducing a gap in continuous x axis using ggplot

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related