How To Annotate Clusters with Circle/Ellipse by a Variable in R ggplot2

24 Mar, 2022
In this article, we will discuss how to annotate Clusters with Circle/Ellipse by a categorical variable in the R Programming Language using the ggplot2 package.
To add a circle or ellipse around a cluster of data points, we use the geom_mark_circle() and geom_mark_ellipse() function of the ggforce package. This function automatically computes the circle/ellipse radius to draw around the cluster of points by categorical data.
First, we will plot the data in a scatter plot using the geom_point function of the ggplot2 package. We will use the color parameter of the aes() function to color the plot by a categorical variable group.
Syntax:
ggplot(df, aes( x, y ) ) + geom_point( aes( color ))
Arguments:
df: determines the data frame to be used.
x and y: determine the x-axis and y-axis variables respectively.
color: determines the categorical variable for coloring the data point clusters.
Example:
Here, is a basic scatter plot made using the geom_point() function of the ggplot2 package. We have colored the plot by the categorical variable group.
R
# load library tidyverselibrary(tidyverse) # set themetheme_set(theme_bw(16)) # create x and y vectorxAxis <- rnorm(1000)                yAxis <- rnorm(1000) + xAxis + 10    # create groups in variable using conditional# statementsgroup <- rep(1, 1000)             group[xAxis > -1.5] <- 2group[xAxis > -0.5] <- 3group[xAxis > 0.5] <- 4group[xAxis > 1.5] <- 5 # create sample data framesample_data <- data.frame(xAxis, yAxis, group) # create a scatter plot with points colored by# groupggplot(sample_data, aes(x = xAxis,             y = yAxis))+  geom_point(aes(color = as.factor(group)))
Output:
To annotate a circle around a cluster of points by the group we use the geom_mark_circle() function of the ggforce package. To use this function we first install & import the ggforce package by using:
install. packages('ggforce')
library(ggforce)
Now, we will annotate the circle around a cluster of data points by using the geom_mark_circle() function.
Syntax:
ggplot(df, aes( x, y ) ) + geom_point( aes( color )) + geom_mark_circle( aes(color) )
Example:
Here, is a basic scatter plot with circles around a cluster of data points colored by a categorical variable group.
R
# load library tidyverselibrary(tidyverse)library(ggforce) # set themetheme_set(theme_bw(16)) # create x and y vectorxAxis <- rnorm(500)                yAxis <- rnorm(1000) + xAxis + 10    # create groups in variable using conditional# statementsgroup <- rep(1, 500)             group[xAxis > -1.5] <- 2group[xAxis > -0.5] <- 3group[xAxis > 0.5] <- 4group[xAxis > 1.5] <- 5 # create sample data framesample_data <- data.frame(xAxis, yAxis, group) # create a scatter plot with points colored by group# circles are annotated using geom_mark_circle() functionggplot(sample_data, aes(x = xAxis,             y = yAxis))+  geom_point(aes(color = as.factor(group)))+  geom_mark_circle(aes(color = as.factor(group)), expand = unit(0.5,"mm"))+  theme(legend.position = "none")
Output:
To annotate an ellipse around a cluster of points by the group we use the geom_mark_ellipse() function of the ggforce package. This function automatically computes the dimensions of the ellipse and overlays it on top of the scatter plot.
Syntax:
ggplot(df, aes( x, y ) ) + geom_point( aes( color )) + geom_mark_ellipse( aes(color) )
Example:
Here, is a basic scatter plot with ellipses around a cluster of data points colored by a categorical variable group.
R
# load library tidyverselibrary(tidyverse)library(ggforce) # set themetheme_set(theme_bw(16)) # create x and y vectorxAxis <- rnorm(500)                yAxis <- rnorm(1000) + xAxis + 10    # create groups in variable using conditional# statementsgroup <- rep(1, 500)             group[xAxis > -1.5] <- 2group[xAxis > -0.5] <- 3group[xAxis > 0.5] <- 4group[xAxis > 1.5] <- 5 # create sample data framesample_data <- data.frame(xAxis, yAxis, group) # create a scatter plot with points colored by group# ellipses are annotated using geom_mark_ellipse() functionggplot(sample_data, aes(x = xAxis,             y = yAxis))+  geom_point(aes(color = as.factor(group)))+  geom_mark_ellipse(aes(color = as.factor(group)), expand = unit(0.5,"mm"))+  theme(legend.position = "none")
Output:
We can customize the aesthetics of the geom_mark_* function by using the color, fill, and alpha property of the aes() function. 
Syntax:
ggplot(df, aes( x, y ) ) + geom_point( aes( color )) + geom_mark_ellipse( aes(color, fill, alpha) )
where,
color: determines the color of the boundary of the circles or ellipses.
fill: determines the background color of the circles or ellipses.
alpha: determines the transparency of the circles or ellipses.
Example:
In this example, we will plot a  scatter plot overlayed by ellipses with a background colored by the group categorical variable.
R
# load library tidyverselibrary(tidyverse)library(ggforce) # set themetheme_set(theme_bw(16)) # create x and y vectorxAxis <- rnorm(500)                yAxis <- rnorm(1000) + xAxis + 10    # create groups in variable using conditional# statementsgroup <- rep(1, 500)             group[xAxis > -1.5] <- 2group[xAxis > -0.5] <- 3group[xAxis > 0.5] <- 4group[xAxis > 1.5] <- 5 # create sample data framesample_data <- data.frame(xAxis, yAxis, group) # create a scatter plot with points colored by group# ellipses are annotated using geom_mark_ellipse() functionggplot(sample_data, aes(x = xAxis,             y = yAxis))+  geom_point(aes(color = as.factor(group)))+  geom_mark_ellipse(aes(fill = as.factor(group)), expand = unit(0.5,"mm"))+  theme(legend.position = "none")
Output:
surinderdawra388
Picked
R-ggplot
R Language
Writing code in comment?
Please use ide.geeksforgeeks.org,
generate link and share the link here.