Scatter plot in ggplot2

  1. Scatter plot in ggplot2 with geom_point
    1. Color customization
    2. Shape and size

Scatter plot in ggplot2 with geom_point

The geom_point function can be used to create a basic scatter plot in ggplot2. Considering the cars data set you can create the following visualization.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

# Basic scatter plot
ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist)) +
  geom_point()

Basic scatter plot in ggplot2

Color customization

ggplot scatter plot color

Color

The colour argument of the geom_point function allows customizing the color or the points.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist)) +
  geom_point(colour = 4)

ggplot2 scatter plot color based on a variable

Gradient color

If you want to colorize the points based on a value you can pass the variable to the color (colour) argument of aes.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist, color = dist)) +
  geom_point()

Data points transparency ggplot2

Transparency

The transparency of the points can also be customized with alpha argument. You can pass a value or a variable, so the transparency will be based on that variable, as in the example below.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist, alpha = dist)) +
  geom_point(colour = 2)

Setting show.legend = FALSE inside geom_point will remove the legends created automatically when you specify the colour or alpha aesthetics or both.

Scatter plot color customization in ggplot

Color scale

If you pass a variable to the colour argument of the aes you can customize the color scale with scale_color_gradient (or a similar function), setting the lower and the higher color value.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist,
                 colour = dist)) +
  geom_point(show.legend = FALSE) +
  scale_color_gradient(low = "#67c9ff", high = "#f2bbfc")

Scatter plot color based on values in ggplot2

Color based on values

The geom_point function allows coloring the points based on some conditions. Note that you can customize the color of the points with scale_color_manual.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist)) +
  geom_point(aes(colour = dist > 25 & dist < 50),
             show.legend = FALSE) +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 25, linetype = "dashed") + 
  geom_hline(yintercept = 50, linetype = "dashed")

Shape and size

Shape and size of the points

The shape and the size of the points can be changed with size and shape arguments, respectively.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(cars, aes(x = speed, y = dist)) +
  geom_point(size = 3, shape = 17)

Size and shape scatter ggplot2

Python Charts

See also

Bubble chart in ggplot2

Bubble chart in ggplot2
Scatter plot with marginal box plots in R

Scatter plot with marginal box plots in R
Heat map in ggplot2

Heat map in ggplot2
Connected scatter plot in ggplot2

Connected scatter plot in ggplot2
Scatter plot by group in R

Scatter plot by group in R