The tanaka package

The tanaka package has been released on CRAN. This package is a simplified implementation of the Tanaka method.
Also called “relief contours method”, “illuminated contour method” or “shaded contour lines method”, the Tanaka method enhances the representation of topography on a map using shaded contour lines.
North-west white contours represent illuminated topography and south-east black contours represent shaded topography.

The contour lines creation relies on isoband, spatial data manipulation and display rely on sf.

tanaka is a small package with only two functions:

  • tanaka() uses a raster object and displays the map directly;
  • tanaka_contour() builds the isopleth polygon layer.

This is a typical example of the package usage based on the dataset shipped with the package.

library(tanaka)
library(raster)
ras <- raster(system.file("grd/elev.grd", 
                          package = "tanaka"))
tanaka(x = ras, breaks = seq(80,400,20), 
       legend.pos = "topright", 
       legend.title = "Elevation\n(meters)")

In the second example, the elevatr package is used to download an elevation raster on a specific area. Then the tanaka_contour() function is used to create an isopleth layer and finally the tanaka()function is used to to display the map with a custom color palette.

library(tanaka)
library(elevatr)
# use elevatr to get elevation data
ras <- get_elev_raster(
  locations = data.frame(
    x = c(6.7, 7), y = c(45.8,46)
  ),
  z = 10, prj = "+init=epsg:4326", 
  clip = "locations"
)
# create the isopleth layer
iso <- tanaka_contour(
  x = ras, 
  breaks = seq(500,4800,250)
)
# display the isopleth layer
plot(st_geometry(iso))
# create a custom color palette
pal <- colorRampPalette(colors = c("#F9D3A1", "#1E315B"))
# display the map
tanaka(iso, col = pal(nrow(iso)))

The last example illustrates the use of tanaka with non-topographical data. This map is based on the Global Human Settlement Population Grid (1km).

Code for this figure
Timothée Giraud
Timothée Giraud

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Timothée Giraud (12 mars 2019). The tanaka package. R Géomatique. Consulté le 17 juin 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/tp4h


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