R: Circular Data Plot

plot.circular {circular} | R Documentation

## Circular Data Plot

### Description

Creates a plot of circular data points on the current graphics device. Data points are either plotted as points on the unit circle, or the range of the circle is divided into a specified number of bins, and points are stacked in the bins corresponding to the number of observations in each bin.

### Usage

    ## S3 method for class 'circular'
    plot(x, pch = 16, cex = 1, stack = FALSE,
      axes = TRUE, start.sep=0, sep = 0.025, shrink = 1,
      bins = NULL, ticks = FALSE, tcl = 0.025, tcl.text = 0.125,
      col = NULL, tol = 0.04, uin = NULL,
      xlim = c(-1, 1), ylim = c(-1, 1), digits = 2, units = NULL,
      template = NULL, zero = NULL, rotation = NULL,
      main = NULL, sub=NULL, xlab = "", ylab = "",
      control.circle=circle.control(), ...)

### Arguments

`x` | a vector, matrix or data.frame. The object is coerced to class `circular`.
`pch` | point character to use. See help on `par`.
`cex` | point character size. See help on `par`.
`stack` | logical; if `TRUE`, points are stacked on the perimeter of the circle. Otherwise, all points are plotted on the perimeter of the circle. Default is `FALSE`.
`axes` | logical; if `TRUE` axes are plotted according to properties of `x`.
`start.sep` | constant used to specify the distance between the center of the point and the axis.
`sep` | constant used to specify the distance between stacked points, if `stack==TRUE` or in the case of more than one dataset. Default is 0.025; smaller values will create smaller spaces.
`shrink` | parameter that controls the size of the plotted circle. Default is 1. Larger values shrink the circle, while smaller values enlarge the circle.
`bins` | if `stack==TRUE`, bins is the number of arcs to partition the circle with.
`ticks` | logical; if `TRUE` ticks are plotted according to the value of `bins`.
`tcl` | length of the ticks.
`tcl.text` | The position of the axis labels.
`col` | color of the points. The values are recycled if needed.
`tol` | proportion of white space at the margins of plot.
`uin` | desired values for the units per inch parameter. If of length 1, the desired units per inch on the x axis.
`xlim, ylim` | the ranges to be encompassed by the x and y axes. Useful for centering the plot.
`digits` | number of digits used to print axis values.
`main, sub, xlab, ylab` | title, subtitle, x label and y label of the plot.
`units` | the units used in the plot.
`template` | the template used in the plot.
`zero` | the zero used in the plot.
`rotation` | the rotation used in the plot.
`control.circle` | parameters passed to `plot.default` in order to draw the circle. The function `circle.control` is used to set the parameters.
`...` | futher parameters passed to `points.default`.

### Details

When there are many closely distributed observations, stacking is recommended. When stacking the points, if there are many points in a particular bin, it may be necessary to shrink the plot of the circle so that all points fit. This is controlled with the parameter `shrink`. Generally the parameter `sep` does not need adjustment, however, when shrinking the plot, or for a very large number of observations, it may be helpful. Since version 0.3-9 the intervals are on the form [a,b).

### Value

A list with information on the plot: zero, rotation and next.points.

### Note

some codes from `eqscplot` in MASS is used.

### Author(s)

Claudio Agostinelli and Ulric Lund

### See Also

`axis.circular`, `ticks.circular`, `points.circular`, `lines.circular`, `rose.diag`, `windrose` and `curve.circular`.

### Examples

    # Generate 100 observations from a von Mises distribution.
    # with mean direction 0 and concentration 3.
    data.vm <- rvonmises(n=100, mu=circular(0), kappa=3)

    # Plot data set. All points do not fit on plot.
    plot(data.vm, stack=TRUE, bins=150)

    # Shrink the plot so that all points fit.
    plot(data.vm, stack=TRUE, bins=150, shrink=1.5)

    # Recentering the figure in a different place
    plot(data.vm, stack=TRUE, bins=150, xlim=c(-1,1.2), ylim=c(-1,0))

[Package circular version 0.4-93 Index]