A way to add multiple color or fill scales to a ggplot2 plot

new_aes.R

# All this is implemented (plus bugfixes!) in the ggnewscale package: 
# https://github.com/eliocamp/ggnewscale
# If you have any issues, I prefer it if you send them as issues here:
# https://github.com/eliocamp/ggnewscale/issues

#' Allows to add another scale 
#' 
#' @param new_aes character with the aesthetic for which new scales will be 
#' created
#'
new_scale <- function(new_aes) {
  structure(ggplot2::standardise_aes_names(new_aes), class = "new_aes")
}

#' Convenient functions
new_scale_fill <- function() {
  new_scale("fill")
}

new_scale_color <- function() {
  new_scale("colour")
}

new_scale_colour <- function() {
  new_scale("colour")
}

#' Special behaviour of the "+" for adding a `new_aes` object
#' It changes the name of the aesthethic for the previous layers, appending
#' "_new" to them. 
ggplot_add.new_aes <- function(object, plot, object_name) {
  plot$layers <- lapply(plot$layers, bump_aes, new_aes = object)
  plot$scales$scales <- lapply(plot$scales$scales, bump_aes, new_aes = object)
  plot$labels <- bump_aes(plot$labels, new_aes = object)
  plot
}


bump_aes <- function(layer, new_aes) {
  UseMethod("bump_aes")
}

bump_aes.Scale <- function(layer, new_aes) {
  old_aes <- layer$aesthetics[remove_new(layer$aesthetics) %in% new_aes]
  new_aes <- paste0(old_aes, "_new")
  
  layer$aesthetics[layer$aesthetics %in% old_aes] <- new_aes
  
  if (is.character(layer$guide)) {
    layer$guide <- match.fun(paste("guide_", layer$guide, sep = ""))()
  }
  layer$guide$available_aes[layer$guide$available_aes %in% old_aes] <- new_aes
  layer
}

bump_aes.Layer <- function(layer, new_aes) {
  original_aes <- new_aes
  
  old_aes <- names(layer$mapping)[remove_new(names(layer$mapping)) %in% new_aes]
  new_aes <- paste0(old_aes, "_new")
  
  old_geom <- layer$geom
  
  old_setup <- old_geom$handle_na
  new_setup <- function(self, data, params) {
    colnames(data)[colnames(data) %in% new_aes] <- original_aes
    old_setup(data, params)
  }
  
  new_geom <- ggplot2::ggproto(paste0("New", class(old_geom)[1]), old_geom,
                               handle_na = new_setup)
  
  new_geom$default_aes <- change_name(new_geom$default_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  new_geom$non_missing_aes <- change_name(new_geom$non_missing_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  new_geom$required_aes <- change_name(new_geom$required_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  new_geom$optional_aes <- change_name(new_geom$optional_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  
  layer$geom <- new_geom
  
  old_stat <- layer$stat
  
  old_setup2 <- old_stat$handle_na
  new_setup <- function(self, data, params) {
    colnames(data)[colnames(data) %in% new_aes] <- original_aes
    old_setup2(data, params)
  }
  
  new_stat <- ggplot2::ggproto(paste0("New", class(old_stat)[1]), old_stat,
                               handle_na = new_setup)
  
  new_stat$default_aes <- change_name(new_stat$default_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  new_stat$non_missing_aes <- change_name(new_stat$non_missing_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  new_stat$required_aes <- change_name(new_stat$required_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  new_stat$optional_aes <- change_name(new_stat$optional_aes, old_aes, new_aes)
  
  layer$stat <- new_stat
  
  layer$mapping <- change_name(layer$mapping, old_aes, new_aes)
  layer
}

bump_aes.list <- function(layer, new_aes) {
  old_aes <-  names(layer)[remove_new(names(layer)) %in% new_aes]
  new_aes <- paste0(old_aes, "_new")
  
  names(layer)[names(layer) %in% old_aes] <- new_aes
  layer
}

change_name <- function(list, old, new) {
  UseMethod("change_name")
}

change_name.character <- function(list, old, new) {
  list[list %in% old] <- new
  list
}

change_name.default <- function(list, old, new) {
  nam <- names(list)
  nam[nam %in% old] <- new
  names(list) <- nam
  list
}

change_name.NULL <- function(list, old, new) {
  NULL
}

remove_new <- function(aes) {
  stringi::stri_replace_all(aes, "", regex = "(_new)*")
}



# Example

library(ggplot2)

vd <- reshape2::melt(volcano)
names(vd) <- c("x", "y", "z")

# point measurements of something (abund) at a few locations
d <- data.frame(x=runif(30, 1, 80), y = runif(30, 1, 60), abund=rnorm(30))


ggplot(mapping = aes(x, y)) +
  geom_contour(aes(z = z, color = ..level..), data = vd) +
  scale_color_viridis_c(option = "D") +
  new_scale_color() +   # geoms below can use another color scale!
  geom_point(data = d, size = 3, aes(color = abund)) +
  scale_color_viridis_c(option = "A") 

Please, Dr. Campitelli lives in Bariloche. Calle me Elio 😆 (also, I'm not a doctor nor have a PhD -yet)

To control de order of legends you need to put something like scale_color_continuous(guide = guide_legend(order = 1)). So, inside each scale definition, you set the guide parameter and then the order of each guide.

it worked! thank you a lot

Awesome! Thanks.
With current ggplot2, at least in your example above, remove_new() as no effect as there is never an aes with new in it.
So I don't know if you still need it for other cases, but if you do, perhaps removing the dependence to stringi could be good.
Perhaps this would do the job:

  remove_new <- function(aes) {
    gsub(pattern = "(_new)*", replacement = "", x = aes)
  }

but double check since I cannot test it.

This solved my problem after days of trying. Thank you!