aRT: R-TerraLib API

aRT is an R package that provides the integration between the software R and the GIS classes TerraLib. The aim is to have a package for analysing spatial data in R. R is a freely-available open source language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. To learn more about R go to R project web page. TerraLib is a GIS classes and functions library, available from the Internet as open source, allowing a collaborative environment and its use for the development of multiple GIS tools. Further information about TerraLib can be found at TerraLib project web page.

The following two figures are one example of R data (from geoR package) that can be exported to a TerraLib database, and then it can be visualized with TerraView.

One of the main objectives of aRT is to do spatial queries and operations in R. For example, in the following figure we have a spatial data from a TerraLib database of Recife city, in Brazil. In the top left figure we have the map of Recife and its districts, with some points, and the bottom left figure shows the sewerage. The other two result from spatial queries. The top right answers "Which districts contains the points (yellow) and which ones are their neighbours (green)?" and the bottom right answers "Which sewers are inside (red) or touches (green) the districts that contain the points?"

Another example is shown below. In the left figure there are two cities and their neighbours of first and second order. The right side shows all the neighbours that are completely within a buffer given a distance from the polygons, and the ones that has some overlap with this buffer.

There are some dependencies for installing aRT. Following there is a link to their pages and versions. Other versions may not run correctly.

You can download an apt-based script (Debian, Ubuntu and friends) to install aRT requirements here. After that you just need to 'R CMD INSTALL' sp and aRT, and then change LD_LIBRARY_PATH as below.

• MySQL version 14.12 Distrib 5.0.32 or greater: MySQL is an open source DBMS. apt: mysql-server-5.0 and libmysqlclient15-dev

• Qt version 3.3.3: Qt is a multiplataform toolkit in C++ for the development of graphic interfaces, implemented by Trolltech. apt: libqt3-mt-dev

• JPEG: A library for working with jpeg image format. apt: libjpeg62-dev

• sp version at least 0.9-26: sp is an R package with S4 classes and methods for spatial data.

• TerraLib version 3.2: TerraLib is a library of classes for GIS. It is available under cvs:

  cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.dpi.inpe.br:/home/terralib login
  cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.dpi.inpe.br:/home/terralib co -r v-3-2-0 src
  cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.dpi.inpe.br:/home/terralib co -r v-3-2-0 terralibx

There is a Makefile in terralibx/terralib. You can download TerraView too:

  cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.dpi.inpe.br:/home/terralib co -r v-3-2-0 TerraView

The Makefile is in terraView/linux/.

• MySQL version 14.12 Distrib 5.0.67 or greater: MySQL is an open source DBMS.

• sp version at least 0.9-26: sp is an R package with S4 classes and methods for spatial data.

• aRT is available for Linux and Windows and it is under development

• Source code
  • aRT_2.0-0.tar.gz (Friday, 19-Sep-2008 12:00:00 BRT, ????k)
  • Old versions

• Windows binary
  • aRT_2.0-0.zip (Friday, 19-Sep-2008 12:00:00 BRT, ????k)
  • Old versions

You can install aRT from the downloaded source code using R CMD INSTALL. It has a configure that looks for the installed DBMS (MySQL and PostgreSQL, for now) in the most common directories, and enables the creation of objects of one of this types if the respective DBMS was found. It also searches TerraLib in /usr/local. If TerraLib is located in another directory, you can set it when calling R CMD:

R CMD INSTALL --configure-args=--with-terralib=/terralib/dir aRT

Another option is to install directly from R, using the command install.packages:

install.packages("aRT", contrib="http://leg.ufpr.br/aRT")

TerraLib directory need to be registered in LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Put the following lines in your .bashrc:

TERRALIBDIR=/usr/local/terralib
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$TERRALIBDIR/terralibx/lib
  
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

• aRT Manual (pdf)
• Introduction (html, pdf)
• Database connections (html, pdf)
• sp data (html, pdf)
• Tables and Queries (html, pdf)

aaa

• aRT: R-TerraLib API
  

P. R. Andrade, P. J. Ribeiro Junior

  useR! 2006 [presentation, 934k] and a photo! \\

• Integration of Statistics and Geographic Information Systems: the R/TerraLib Case

P. R. Andrade, P. J. Ribeiro Junior, K. Fook

   GeoInfo 2005 [pdf, 218k] [presentation, 460k]

• A Process and Environment for Embedding The R Software into TerraLib

P. R. Andrade, P. J. Ribeiro Junior

  GeoInfo 2005 [pdf, 185k] [presentation, 593k]

All data available in this section follow the ESRI shapefile format, unless it is specified.

• Creating cells and filling attributes script, [data, 60k]
• Points inside of polygons [script] [data, MID/MIFF, 1.0M]
• Union of polygons [script] [data, 611k]
• Neighborhood matrix and analysis with spdep [script aRT] [script maptools] [data, 188k]

• Development page
• FAQ

• Pedro Ribeiro de Andrade - pedro at dpi.inpe.br (maintainer)
• Paulo Justiniano Ribeiro Junior - paulojus at ufpr.br
• Eduardo Sant'Ana da Silva - eduardo.santanadasilva at gmail.com

Collaborators in earlier versions:

• Marcos Aurélio Carrro
• Eduardo Sant'Ana da Silva
• Adriana Zanella Martinhago
• Thiago Eugênio Bezerra de Melo
• Elias Teixeira Krainski
• Karla Donato Fook

This project is partially supported by Fapesp, proccess number 04/11012-0, FPLF proccess 2005.05.066, and CNPq 552044/2002-4.