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Introduction

Tip

For more examples and vignettes, see the full site at https://ropenspain.github.io/mapSpain/.

mapSpain is a package designed to provide geographical information about Spain at different levels.

mapSpain provides shapefiles of municipalities, provinces, Autonomous communities and NUTS levels for Spain. It also provides hexbin shapefiles and other complementary shapes, such as the demarcation lines around the Canary Islands.

mapSpain provides access to map tiles from Spain’s public institutions, which can be represented on static maps via mapSpain::esp_get_tiles() or on an R leaflet map using mapSpain::addProviderEspTiles().

mapSpain also includes a dictionary that translates province and region names to English, Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician, and converts them to various coding standards such as NUTS, ISO2 and the INE (the official Spanish statistical agency) coding system.

Caching

mapSpain provides dataset and tile caching capabilities. Set a cache directory with:

esp_set_cache_dir("./path/to/location")

mapSpain relies on giscoR for downloading certain files, and both packages are well synchronized. Setting the same caching directory for both packages will speed up data loading in your session.

Basic example

These examples show what mapSpain can do:

library(mapSpain)
library(ggplot2)

country <- esp_get_spain()
lines <- esp_get_can_box()

ggplot(country) +
  geom_sf(fill = "cornsilk", color = "#887e6a") +
  labs(title = "Map of Spain") +
  theme(
    panel.background = element_rect(fill = "#fffff3"),
    panel.border = element_rect(
      colour = "#887e6a",
      fill = NA,
    ),
    text = element_text(
      family = "serif",
      face = "bold"
    )
  )

Example: map of Spain

# Plot provinces.

andalucia <- esp_get_prov("Andalucia")

ggplot(andalucia) +
  geom_sf(fill = "darkgreen", color = "white") +
  theme_bw()

Example: provinces of Andalucia

# Plot municipalities.

euskadi_ccaa <- esp_get_ccaa("Euskadi")
euskadi <- esp_get_munic_siane(region = "Euskadi")

# Use the dictionary.

euskadi$name_eu <- esp_dict_translate(euskadi$ine.prov.name, lang = "eu")

ggplot(euskadi_ccaa) +
  geom_sf(fill = "grey50") +
  geom_sf(data = euskadi, aes(fill = name_eu)) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = c("red2", "darkgreen", "ivory2")) +
  labs(
    fill = "",
    title = "Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoko",
    subtitle = "Probintziak"
  ) +
  theme_void() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(face = "bold"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(face = "italic")
  )

Example: municipalities of the Basque Country

Choropleth and label maps

Analyze the distribution of women in each Autonomous Community with ggplot2:

library(dplyr)

census <- mapSpain::pobmun25 |>
  select(-name)

# Extract CCAA from the base dataset.
codelist <- mapSpain::esp_codelist |>
  select(cpro, codauto) |>
  distinct()

census_ccaa <- census |>
  left_join(codelist) |>
  # Summarize by CCAA.
  group_by(codauto) |>
  summarise(pob25 = sum(pob25), men = sum(men), women = sum(women)) |>
  mutate(
    porc_women = women / pob25,
    porc_women_lab = paste0(round(100 * porc_women, 2), "%")
  )

# Merge into spatial data.
ccaa_sf <- esp_get_ccaa() |>
  left_join(census_ccaa)

can <- esp_get_can_box()

# Plot with ggplot.
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(ccaa_sf) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = porc_women), color = "grey70", linewidth = 0.3) +
  geom_sf(data = can, color = "grey70") +
  geom_sf_label(
    aes(label = porc_women_lab),
    fill = "white",
    alpha = 0.5,
    size = 3,
    linewidth = 0
  ) +
  scale_fill_gradientn(
    colors = hcl.colors(10, "Blues", rev = TRUE),
    n.breaks = 10,
    labels = scales::label_percent(),
    guide = guide_legend(title = "% women", position = "inside")
  ) +
  theme_void() +
  theme(legend.position.inside = c(0.1, 0.6)) +
  labs(caption = "Source: CartoBase ANE 2006-2024 CC-BY 4.0 ign.es, INE")

Percentage of women by Autonomous Community (2025)

Thematic maps

This example demonstrates how mapSpain can be used to create thematic maps. For plotting, we use the ggplot2 package, though any package that handles sf objects, such as tmap, mapsf or leaflet, could also be used.

# Calculate population density in Spain.
library(sf)

pop <- mapSpain::pobmun25 |>
  select(-name)

munic <- esp_get_munic_siane(rawcols = TRUE) |>
  # Get area in km2 from SIANE municipalities.
  # This variable is already in the shapefile.
  mutate(area_km2 = st_area_sh * 10000)

munic_pop <- munic |>
  left_join(pop) |>
  mutate(dens = pob25 / area_km2)

br <- c(-Inf, 10, 25, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, Inf)

munic_pop$cuts <- cut(munic_pop$dens, br)

ggplot(munic_pop) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = cuts), color = NA, linewidth = 0) +
  scale_fill_manual(
    values = c("grey5", hcl.colors(length(br) - 2, "Spectral")),
    labels = prettyNum(c(0, br[-1]), big.mark = ","),
    guide = guide_legend(
      title = "Pop. per km2",
      direction = "horizontal",
      nrow = 1
    )
  ) +
  labs(title = "Population density in Spain (2025)") +
  theme_void() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5),
    plot.background = element_rect(fill = "black"),
    text = element_text(colour = "white"),
    legend.position = "bottom",
    legend.title.position = "top",
    legend.text.position = "bottom",
    legend.key.width = unit(30, "pt")
  ) +
  labs(caption = "Source: CartoBase ANE 2006-2024 CC-BY 4.0 ign.es, INE")

Population density in Spain (2025)

mapSpain and giscoR

If you need to plot Spain alongside other countries, consider using the giscoR package, which is installed as a dependency with mapSpain. Here is a basic example:

library(giscoR)

# Set the same resolution for a perfect fit.
res <- "20"

all_countries <- gisco_get_countries(resolution = res) |>
  st_transform(3035)

eu_countries <- gisco_get_countries(
  resolution = res,
  region = "EU"
) |>
  st_transform(3035)

ccaa <- esp_get_ccaa(
  moveCAN = FALSE,
  resolution = res
) |>
  st_transform(3035)

# Plot.
ggplot(all_countries) +
  geom_sf(fill = "#DFDFDF", color = "#656565") +
  geom_sf(data = eu_countries, fill = "#FDFBEA", color = "#656565") +
  geom_sf(data = ccaa, fill = "#C12838", color = "grey80", linewidth = 0.1) +
  # Center in Europe: EPSG 3035
  coord_sf(
    xlim = c(2377294, 7453440),
    ylim = c(1313597, 5628510)
  ) +
  theme(
    panel.background = element_blank(),
    panel.grid = element_line(
      colour = "#DFDFDF",
      linetype = "dotted"
    )
  ) +
  labs(caption = giscoR::gisco_attributions("es"))

mapSpain and giscoR example

Working with tiles

mapSpain provides a powerful interface for working with imagery. It can download static images as .png or .jpeg (depending on the Web Map Service) and use them alongside your shapefiles.

mapSpain also includes a plugin for the R leaflet package, which allows you to include several basemaps on your interactive maps.

The services are implemented with the leaflet-providersESP Leaflet plugin. All available providers are listed there.

Note

When working with imagery, set moveCAN = FALSE in the esp_get_* functions. See Displacing the Canary Islands in esp_move_can().