Radar Charts in ggplot2

How to make Radar Charts in ggplot2 with Plotly.

Plotly Studio: Transform any dataset into an interactive data application in minutes with AI. Sign up for early access now.

Default radar plot

Radar charts are also called Spider or Web or Polar charts.

Input data format is very specific. Each row must be an entity. Each column is a quantitative variable. First 2 rows provide the min and the max that will be used for each variable.

Once you have this format, the radarchart() function makes all the job for you.

library(plotly)
library(ggplot2)
library(fmsb)

data <- as.data.frame(matrix( sample( 2:20 , 10 , replace=T) , ncol=10))
colnames(data) <- c("math" , "english" , "biology" , "music" , "R-coding", "data-viz" , "french" , "physic", "statistic", "sport" )

data <- rbind(rep(20,10) , rep(0,10) , data)

p <- radarchart(data)

ggplotly(p)

Adding style

library(plotly)
library(fmsb)

data <- as.data.frame(matrix( sample( 2:20 , 10 , replace=T) , ncol=10))
colnames(data) <- c("math" , "english" , "biology" , "music" , "R-coding", "data-viz" , "french" , "physic", "statistic", "sport" )

data <- rbind(rep(20,10) , rep(0,10) , data)

p <- radarchart( data  , axistype=1 ,
    pcol=rgb(0.2,0.5,0.5,0.9) , pfcol=rgb(0.2,0.5,0.5,0.5) , plwd=4 ,
    cglcol="grey", cglty=1, axislabcol="grey", caxislabels=seq(0,20,5), cglwd=0.8,
    vlcex=0.8
    )

ggplotly(p)

Plotting multiple groups

library(plotly)
library(fmsb)

data <- as.data.frame(matrix( sample( 0:20 , 15 , replace=F) , ncol=5))
colnames(data) <- c("math" , "english" , "biology" , "music" , "R-coding" )
rownames(data) <- paste("mister" , letters[1:3] , sep="-")

data <- rbind(rep(20,5) , rep(0,5) , data)

p <- radarchart(data)

ggplotly(p)

Adding style:

library(plotly)
library(fmsb)

data <- as.data.frame(matrix( sample( 0:20 , 15 , replace=F) , ncol=5))
colnames(data) <- c("math" , "english" , "biology" , "music" , "R-coding" )
rownames(data) <- paste("mister" , letters[1:3] , sep="-")

data <- rbind(rep(20,5) , rep(0,5) , data)

colors_border=c( rgb(0.2,0.5,0.5,0.9), rgb(0.8,0.2,0.5,0.9) , rgb(0.7,0.5,0.1,0.9) )
colors_in=c( rgb(0.2,0.5,0.5,0.4), rgb(0.8,0.2,0.5,0.4) , rgb(0.7,0.5,0.1,0.4) )

p <- radarchart( data  , axistype=1 ,
    pcol=colors_border , pfcol=colors_in , plwd=4 , plty=1,
    cglcol="grey", cglty=1, axislabcol="grey", caxislabels=seq(0,20,5), cglwd=0.8,
    vlcex=0.8
    )

legend(x=0.7, y=1, legend = rownames(data[-c(1,2),]), bty = "n", pch=20 , col=colors_in , text.col = "grey", cex=1.2, pt.cex=3)

ggplotly(p)

What About Dash?

Dash for R is an open-source framework for building analytical applications, with no Javascript required, and it is tightly integrated with the Plotly graphing library.

Learn about how to install Dash for R at https://dashr.plot.ly/installation.

Everywhere in this page that you see fig, you can display the same figure in a Dash for R application by passing it to the figure argument of the Graph component from the built-in dashCoreComponents package like this:

library(plotly)

fig <- plot_ly() 
# fig <- fig %>% add_trace( ... )
# fig <- fig %>% layout( ... ) 

library(dash)
library(dashCoreComponents)
library(dashHtmlComponents)

app <- Dash$new()
app$layout(
    htmlDiv(
        list(
            dccGraph(figure=fig) 
        )
     )
)

app$run_server(debug=TRUE, dev_tools_hot_reload=FALSE)