R help - Mar 2010 - how to import map data (maptools?) from a html set of 'coords'

Dear R users,

I would like to draw map and import it in maptools/spatstat packages.

The 'raw data' I have come from a web page (<map>...</map>)
and are
basically a list of coordinates of a polygon.

I would like to know how to import them in R; I checked the maptools
packages, but all the examples use existing .dbf files.

I just have a (serie of) text file(s) looking like this:

For example, for the French Region Burgundy:

<area  href="region.asp?reg=26" shape="poly"
title="Bourgogne" alt="Bourgogne"
coords="208,121,211,115,221,113,224,115,225,120,229,122,232,128,251,125,255,
130,256,136,266,138,268,148,267,154,263,160,267,168,267,180,262,
175,256,178,254,184,248,184,243,187,237,187,232,185,234,181,227,
171,216,171,212,166,211,155,208,149,208,135,211,132,213,125,208,
121">

any idea welcome,

sylvain

(If anayone is interested with that type of data, they're available at
the INSEE website
along with loads of information on the population and economy of each region)

Hi Sylvian,


On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 1:15 PM, sylvain willart
<sylvain.willart at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear R users,
>
> I would like to draw map and import it in maptools/spatstat packages.
>
> The 'raw data' I have come from a web page
(<map>...</map>) and are
> basically a list of coordinates of a polygon.
>
> I would like to know how to import them in R; I checked the maptools
> packages, but all the examples use existing .dbf files.
>
> I just have a (serie of) text file(s) looking like this:
>
> For example, for the French Region Burgundy:
>
> <area ?href="region.asp?reg=26" shape="poly"
title="Bourgogne" alt="Bourgogne"
>
coords="208,121,211,115,221,113,224,115,225,120,229,122,232,128,251,125,255,
> 130,256,136,266,138,268,148,267,154,263,160,267,168,267,180,262,
> 175,256,178,254,184,248,184,243,187,237,187,232,185,234,181,227,
> 171,216,171,212,166,211,155,208,149,208,135,211,132,213,125,208,
> 121">
It is not clear (to me) from your example what kind of file this is.
Maybe XML, it does not look like GML. readOGR() in the rgdal package
may be a better route to explore, but you need to determine what file
structure is first.
> any idea welcome,
>
> sylvain
>
> (If anayone is interested with that type of data, they're available at
> the INSEE website
I can not easily find an example on this site. Perhaps you could
provide a direct link to the file. Lastly, I suspect that the
r-sig-geo mailing list would get you some better answers.

Michael

-- 
Michael Denslow

I.W. Carpenter Jr. Herbarium [BOON]
Department of Biology
Appalachian State University
Boone, North Carolina U.S.A.
-- AND --
Communications Manager
Southeast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections
sernec.org

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