Data frame to SpatialPolygonsDataFrame with multiple polygons

Question

I have a data frame with a bunch of polygons, several points per polygon. How can I convert it to a SpatialPolygonsDataFrame object?

Here's my data frame:

> buildings_df
 lon lat id
1 96.13597 16.83363 convocation_hall
2 96.13580 16.83315 convocation_hall
3 96.13631 16.83298 convocation_hall
4 96.13656 16.83351 convocation_hall
5 96.13400 16.83104 judson_church
6 96.13392 16.83073 judson_church
7 96.13432 16.83064 judson_church
8 96.13444 16.83085 judson_church
9 96.13596 16.83074 the_library
10 96.13586 16.83044 the_library
11 96.13615 16.83035 the_library
12 96.13626 16.83065 the_library
13 96.13599 16.83073 the_library

This can be reproduced with:

> dput(buildings_df)
structure(list(lon = c(96.135972, 96.1358, 96.136315, 96.136562, 
96.133997, 96.133922, 96.134319, 96.134437, 96.135961, 96.135864, 
96.136154, 96.136261, 96.135993), lat = c(16.833625, 16.833153, 
16.832978, 16.833512, 16.831038, 16.830729, 16.830637, 16.830853, 
16.83074, 16.830442, 16.83035, 16.830647, 16.830729), id = structure(c(1L, 
1L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L), .Label = c("convocation_hall", 
"judson_church", "the_library"), class = "factor")), .Names = c("lon", 
"lat", "id"), row.names = c(NA, -13L), class = "data.frame")

From this data.frame, I then convert it to a list, then to polygons, then to a SpatialPolygons object

# make a list
buildings_list <- split(buildings_df, buildings_df$id)
# only want lon-lats in the list, not the names
buildings_list <- lapply(buildings_list, function(x) { x["id"] <- NULL; x })
# make data.frame into spatial polygon, cf. http://jwhollister.com/iale_open_science/2015/07/05/03-Spatial-Data-In-R/
# create SpatialPolygons Object, convert coords to polygon
ps <- sapply(buildings_list, Polygon)
# add id variable 
p1 <- Polygons(ps, ID = 1) 
# create SpatialPolygons object
my_spatial_polys <- SpatialPolygons(list(p1), proj4string = CRS("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84") ) 
# let's see them
plot(my_spatial_polys)

So far so good:

enter image description here

And each of the polygons seems to be in there...

> str(my_spatial_polys)
Formal class 'SpatialPolygons' [package "sp"] with 4 slots
 ..@ polygons :List of 1
 .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygons' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. ..@ Polygons :List of 3
 .. .. .. .. ..$ convocation_hall:Formal class 'Polygon' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ area : num 3.08e-07
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ hole : logi FALSE
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ ringDir: int 1
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ coords : num [1:5, 1:2] 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 ...
 .. .. .. .. ..$ judson_church :Formal class 'Polygon' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 43.3
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ area : num 0.0204
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ hole : logi TRUE
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ ringDir: int -1
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ coords : num [1:5, 1:2] 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 ...
 .. .. .. .. ..$ the_library :Formal class 'Polygon' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 43.3
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ area : num 0.00512
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ hole : logi TRUE
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ ringDir: int -1
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ coords : num [1:6, 1:2] 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 ...
 .. .. .. ..@ plotOrder: int [1:3] 1 2 3
 .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. ..@ ID : chr "1"
 .. .. .. ..@ area : num 0.0302
 ..@ plotOrder : int 1
 ..@ bbox : num [1:2, 1:2] 96.1 16.8 96.1 16.8
 .. ..- attr(*, "dimnames")=List of 2
 .. .. ..$ : chr [1:2] "x" "y"
 .. .. ..$ : chr [1:2] "min" "max"
 ..@ proj4string:Formal class 'CRS' [package "sp"] with 1 slot
 .. .. ..@ projargs: chr "+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +ellps=WGS84 +towgs84=0,0,0"

But they don't seem to be grouped in the way I'm expecting. When I try to set three ID variables, I get an error. How can I get the SpatialPolygons to have three polygons, each with its own ID?

Answer 1

One solution is to change p1 <- Polygons(ps, ID = 1) to an apply-like function so that the Polygons() function operates individually on each of the polygons in the ps object.

ps <- lapply(buildings_list, Polygon)
# add id variable
p1 <- lapply(seq_along(ps), function(i) Polygons(list(ps[[i]]), 
 ID = names(buildings_list)[i] ))
# create SpatialPolygons object
my_spatial_polys <- SpatialPolygons(p1, proj4string = CRS("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84") ) 

Then we can create the SpatialPolygonsDataFrame with the IDs as expected, one unique ID per polygon:

my_spatial_polys_df <- SpatialPolygonsDataFrame(my_spatial_polys, 
 data.frame(id = unique(buildings_df$id), 
 row.names = unique(buildings_df$id)))
> str(my_spatial_polys_df)
Formal class 'SpatialPolygonsDataFrame' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 ..@ data :'data.frame': 3 obs. of 1 variable:
 .. ..$ id: Factor w/ 3 levels "convocation_hall",..: 1 2 3
 ..@ polygons :List of 3
 .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygons' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. ..@ Polygons :List of 1
 .. .. .. .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygon' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ area : num 3.08e-07
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ hole : logi FALSE
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ ringDir: int 1
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ coords : num [1:5, 1:2] 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 ...
 .. .. .. ..@ plotOrder: int 1
 .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. ..@ ID : chr "convocation_hall"
 .. .. .. ..@ area : num 0.0302
 .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygons' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. ..@ Polygons :List of 1
 .. .. .. .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygon' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ area : num 1.23e-07
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ hole : logi FALSE
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ ringDir: int 1
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ coords : num [1:5, 1:2] 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 ...
 .. .. .. ..@ plotOrder: int 1
 .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. ..@ ID : chr "judson_church"
 .. .. .. ..@ area : num 0.0204
 .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygons' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. ..@ Polygons :List of 1
 .. .. .. .. ..$ :Formal class 'Polygon' [package "sp"] with 5 slots
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ area : num 9.7e-08
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ hole : logi FALSE
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ ringDir: int 1
 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..@ coords : num [1:6, 1:2] 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 96.1 ...
 .. .. .. ..@ plotOrder: int 1
 .. .. .. ..@ labpt : num [1:2] 96.1 16.8
 .. .. .. ..@ ID : chr "the_library"
 .. .. .. ..@ area : num 0.00512
 ..@ plotOrder : int [1:3] 1 2 3
 ..@ bbox : num [1:2, 1:2] 96.1 16.8 96.1 16.8
 .. ..- attr(*, "dimnames")=List of 2
 .. .. ..$ : chr [1:2] "x" "y"
 .. .. ..$ : chr [1:2] "min" "max"
 ..@ proj4string:Formal class 'CRS' [package "sp"] with 1 slot
 .. .. ..@ projargs: chr "+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +ellps=WGS84 +towgs84=0,0,0"