Overview

This is a five-session (10-hour) Zoom workshop covering mapping and analysis with R. We’ll focus on the sf and terra packages, weave in good data-wrangling habits with the tidyverse, and finish by designing beautiful maps. Each class meeting mixes concise demos with guided, hands-on exercises using Bay Area open data plus “sandbox” time so you can experiment with your own projects while the instructor is on hand to help.

By the end of this workshop you’ll be able to import, clean, analyze, and visualize both vector and raster data entirely in R. Some prior experience with R is expected, but we will go over the basics again on the first day.

An external monitor is highly recommended so you can view the instructor's screen share on one monitor, and work on RStudio on the other. Throughout the workshop, we will see how to use ChatGPT to obtain starter code and troubleshoot error messages. All participants are strongly encouraged to sign-up for a free ChatGPT account if you don't already have one (start at https://chat.openai.com).

Workshop Dates:

All classes are from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. PT on Zoom

Thursday October 9
Thursday October 16
Thursday October 23
Thursday October 30
Thursday November 6

Learning Objectives

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
Set up a reproducible R project for geospatial work.
Write R scripts to import tabular, vector, and raster data.
Create clear static maps with tmap and ggplot.
Do basic geospatial manipulations including projections and format conversions.
Query spatial objects using attribute values and spatial relationships.
Perform common geoprocessing tasks including joins, buffering, and clipping.
Troubleshoot typical R GIS pitfalls and know where to find community resources for continued

Class Outline

Class 1: Spatial Data Classes and Importing Vector Data

RStudio tour, projects, packages
Spatial data classes (vector vs raster)
Importing and exporting vector data
Basic plotting

Class 2: Vector Data Manipulations

Common manipulations in sf
Geometry operations: buffer, intersect, dissolve
Converting data formats
Visualization with tmap

Class 3: Attribute Queries and Automation

Working with attribute tables
Attribute and spatial joins
Automation and batch processing

Class 4: Raster Data and Geoprocessing

Raster ingestion and metadata
Zonal statistics
Geoprocessing functions for vectors and rasters
Mapping with raster and vector data

Class 5: Making Maps in R

Static mapping: ggplot2 and tmap
Interactive web maps: leaflet, mapview
Color palettes, legends, scale bars, exporting

Meet your Instructor: Sara Winsemius

Sara Winsemius is an ORISE postdoctoral researcher with the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Biodiversity Research and Policy Center. She does geospatial research using remote sensing to study ecosystem changes across the US. She recently earned her PhD at UC Davis in Ecology, where she focused on remote sensing applications for forest biomass and fire severity, and taught remote sensing, intro to GIS, urban plant identification, intro to plant sciences, and arborism/urban tree maintenance labs.

She also holds a BS in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley and has worked in agroecology and native dune restoration.

Sara lives in Davis and can be found biking and walking around the flatlands, or hiking around in the Sierra Nevada and coast ranges when she gets the chance.

BayGeo's R for GIS (Fall 2025)