Plot a GeoJSON of UK local authorities from the Office for National Statistics's Open Geography Portal using the {geojsonio}, {sf} and {ggplot2} packages

plot-lad-geojson-sf-ggplot2.R

# Plotting a UK local authorities geojson with sf and ggplot2
# Feb 2019
# Matt Dray

# Packages needed

library(sf)  # spatial features package for working with geographies
library(geojsonio)  # for working with GeoJSON files
library(ggplot2)  # for plotting

# Read GeoJSON from the web (local authorities)
# Get the URL from the ONS Open Geography Portal, for example:
# http://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/local-authority-districts-december-2018-ultra-generalised-clipped-boundaries-uk
# Click the 'API' dropdown and copy the URL for the GeoJSON 

lad_json <- geojson_read(
  x = "https://opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/b2d5f4f8e9eb469bb22af910bdc1de22_3.geojson",
  what = "sp"  # spatial class
)

lad_sf <- st_as_sf(lad_json)  # convert to {sf} format

head(lad_sf)  # preview (notice geography is a listcol)

ggplot(lad_sf) + geom_sf()  # plot with {ggplot2}