Timeline: avoiding overlapping labels for events when plotting

Question

I am still very much a beginner in R but managed to plot a timeline thanks to another post here: Chronological timeline with points in time and format date

I have coded the events of my categories in different categories and would like to arrange them on different levels not on the same line, as it's now the case, to make the timeline easier to read. For simplicity reasons I chose only one month instead of one year for this question.

Example of data (I'm not interested in the "coding" part right now):

row 1: "Dates" "Categ" "Coding 11 - failed, 22 passed" "Categ2"

row 2: "01.02.07" "21" "NA" "1"

etc.

There are elements in categn and some of them are elements of subcategory categ2n. I have three questions (the last is less important):

How can I put the elements of categn on different levels in the timeline?
Next, how can I combine elements of categn with categ2n and plot these in the timeline as well? (Again on different levels - if you have some advice for me on that I would be very thankful.)
Finally, any idea how to position the date on the timeline vertically to make more space?

This is dput(mydata):

structure(list(Dates = structure(c(13515, 13524, 13529, 13529, 13530, 13534, 13534, 13536, 13543, 13543, 13544, 13544, 13544, 13545, 13548, 13550, 13551, 13552, 13553, 13553, 13553, 13557, 13557, 13558, 13559, 13562, 13566, 13566, 13569, 13572, 13572, 13573, 13577, 13578, 13578, 13578, 13580, 13580, 13581, 13581, 13583, 13584, 13586, 13587, 13587, 13592, 13594, 13595, 13596, 13599, 13600, 13517, 13606, 13612, 13614, 13616, 13619, 13621, 13621, 13622, 13626, 13627, 13627, 13628, 13630, 13632, 13633, 13634, 13637, 13642, 13642, 13648, 13649, 13650, 13651, 13653, 13654, 13662, 13664, 13669, 13675, 13678, 13686, 13691, 13696, 13703, 13704, 13705, 13706, 13706, 13712, 13712, 13712, 13713, 13714, 13716, 13717, 13719, 13721, 13725, 13725, 13725, 13725, 13725, 13725, 13728, 13728, 13728, 13739, 13742, 13746, 13746, 13753, 13757, 13757, 13757, 13769, 13770, 13781, 13781, 13781, 13781, 13782, 13784, 13784, 13791, 13796, 13797, 13798, 13802, 13803, 13809, 13809, 13810, 13811, 13811, 13811, 13812, 13816, 13822, 13824, 13824, 13824, 13826, 13831, 13832, 13837, 13840, 13848, 13848, 13850, 13852, 13853, 13853, 13854, 13856, 13858, 13859, 13859, 13861, 13865, 13866, 13866, 13875, 13875), class = "Date"), 

 Event = structure(c(2L, 23L, 39L, 28L, 23L, 28L, 28L, 44L, 
 23L, 21L, 11L, 39L, 28L, 28L, 28L, 21L, 23L, 39L, 2L, 2L, 
 36L, 23L, 19L, 23L, 23L, 9L, 19L, 21L, 21L, 33L, 31L, 19L, 
 28L, 39L, 47L, 32L, 39L, 32L, 39L, 28L, 2L, 31L, 19L, 15L, 
 12L, 39L, 43L, 10L, 46L, 23L, 2L, 9L, 19L, 27L, 10L, 2L, 
 19L, 23L, 2L, 38L, 9L, 20L, 39L, 28L, 28L, 28L, 19L, 45L, 
 36L, 47L, 1L, 19L, 39L, 41L, 18L, 28L, 28L, 28L, 37L, 16L, 
 41L, 23L, 36L, 39L, 9L, 30L, 10L, 23L, 23L, 6L, 23L, 23L, 
 23L, 39L, 23L, 38L, 24L, 23L, 23L, 41L, 41L, 3L, 23L, 10L, 
 32L, 39L, 47L, 32L, 5L, 34L, 26L, 20L, 28L, 22L, 7L, 4L, 
 20L, 13L, 41L, 3L, 19L, 20L, 28L, 28L, 10L, 17L, 23L, 19L, 
 6L, 8L, 6L, 23L, 12L, 8L, 47L, 9L, 19L, 6L, 23L, 6L, 23L, 
 12L, 14L, 6L, 23L, 8L, 6L, 8L, 22L, 35L, 25L, 8L, 6L, 47L, 
 8L, 9L, 31L, 40L, 8L, 10L, 6L, 9L, 29L, 42L, 30L), 
Categ = c(21L, 
5L, 43L, 111L, 5L, 111L, 13L, 1L, 5L, 23L, 5L, 43L, 13L, 
13L, 131L, 23L, 5L, 3L, 21L, 21L, 81L, 5L, 23L, 5L, 5L, 81L, 
23L, 23L, 23L, 23L, 23L, 23L, 13L, 41L, 22L, 22L, 3L, 22L, 
3L, 11L, 21L, 23L, 23L, 5L, 5L, 3L, NA, 83L, 100L, 5L, 21L, 
81L, 23L, 101L, 83L, 21L, 23L, 5L, 21L, 81L, 81L, 23L, 43L, 
13L, 13L, 13L, 23L, 83L, 81L, 23L, 81L, 23L, 3L, 31L, 23L, 
131L, 13L, 131L, 23L, 23L, 31L, 5L, 81L, 41L, 81L, 23L, 83L, 
5L, 5L, 21L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 43L, 5L, 81L, 71L, 5L, 5L, 31L, 
31L, 21L, 5L, 83L, 21L, 41L, 22L, 22L, 21L, 81L, 100L, 23L, 
111L, 131L, 83L, 21L, 23L, 5L, 31L, 21L, 23L, 23L, NA, NA, 
83L, 23L, 5L, 23L, 21L, 22L, 21L, 5L, 5L, 22L, 22L, 81L, 
23L, 21L, 5L, 21L, 5L, 5L, 5L, 21L, 5L, 22L, 21L, 22L, 131L, 
81L, 71L, 22L, 21L, 22L, 22L, 21L, 23L, 32L, 22L, 83L, 21L, 
81L, 83L, 35L, 23L), Coding.11...failed..22.passed = c(NA, 
NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, 11L, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, 11L, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
11L, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 
11L, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 11L, NA), Categ2 = c(1L, NA, 3L, 
1L, NA, 1L, 3L, 1L, NA, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, NA, 1L, 
1L, 1L, 1L, NA, 3L, NA, NA, 1L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
1L, 2L, 2L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 3L, 3L, NA, NA, 1L, NA, 3L, 
1L, NA, 1L, 1L, 3L, 1L, 3L, 1L, 3L, NA, 1L, 1L, 1L, 3L, 3L, 
3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 1L, 3L, 1L, 1L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
2L, 3L, 1L, NA, 1L, 1L, 1L, 3L, 3L, NA, NA, 1L, NA, NA, NA, 
3L, NA, 1L, 1L, NA, NA, 1L, 1L, 1L, NA, 3L, 1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 
1L, 1L, 3L, 3L, 1L, 3L, 3L, 1L, 3L, NA, 1L, 1L, 3L, 3L, NA, 
NA, 3L, 3L, NA, 3L, 1L, 2L, 1L, NA, NA, 2L, 2L, 1L, 3L, 1L, 
NA, 1L, NA, NA, NA, 1L, NA, 2L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 3L, 2L, 1L, 
2L, 2L, 1L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 1L, 3L, 1L, 3L)), .Names = c("Dates", "Event", "Categ", "Coding.11...failed..22.passed", "Categ2"), row.names = c(NA,-165L), class = "data.frame")

This is my code:

mydata = read.csv("/Users/Timeline.csv",sep=";")
mydata[[1]] <- as.Date(mydata[[1]], "%m.%d.%y")
timespan <- c("01.01.07","01.31.07")
timespan <- as.Date(timespan, "%m.%d.%y")

dateselection <- mydata[((mydata$Dates>=timespan[[1]]) &
                        (mydata$Dates<=timespan[[2]])), ]

categn<-c(0, 1, 11, 111, 12, 121, 13, 131, 2, 21, 22, 23, 3, 31, 32, 33, 34,
         41, 42, 43, 5, 51, 52, 53, 6, 70, 71, 72, 73, 81, 82, 83, 91, 92,
         93, 100, 101)
categ2n<-c(1, 2, 3)
categntest<-c(21)
categn2test<-c(1)
categselection2 <- dateselection[dateselection$Categ %in% categntest,]
categselection22 <- dateselection[(dateselection$Categ %in% categntest) &
                                  (dateselection$Categ2 %in% categn2test),]

rangeDates<- range(dateselection$Dates)
plot(NA,ylim=c(-1,1),xlim=rangeDates,ann=FALSE,axes=FALSE)
abline(h=0,lwd=2,col="#5B7FA3")

ypts <- rep_len(c(-1,1), length.out=nrow(dateselection))
txtpts <- rep_len(c(1,3), length.out=nrow(dateselection))
segments(dateselection$Dates,0,dateselection$Dates,ypts,col="gray80")

axis.Date(
1,
at=seq.Date(rangeDates[1],rangeDates[2],by="day"),
format="%m-%d",
cex.axis=0.6,
pos=0,
lwd=0,
lwd.tick=2,
col="#5B7FA3",
font=2
)

points(dateselection$Dates,y=ypts, pch="-", cex=1.5, col="#5B7FA3")
par(xpd=NA)
text(
dateselection$Dates, y=ypts,
labels=paste(dateselection$Categ,sep="\n"), cex=0.7, pos=txtpts
) 
par(xpd=FALSE)

[Timeline-one month ]

it'll make answering easier if you copy-paste the output of 'dput(mydata)` into the first line of your code here — jaimedash, Apr 16 '16 at 22:33

Timeline: avoiding overlapping labels for events when plotting

0 Answers0