TopoJSON choropleth in R/Leaflet? - r

Question

Is it possible to style a TopoJSON file from its features for a choropleth using R/leaflet? Tried a few things, and I'm not sure if this is impossible with the leaflet package or if I just don't have the syntax right, especially accessing the properties to enter in the pal() function. Here's what I have:
pal<-colorNumeric(palette ="YlOrRd",domain = USAdata$GINI) #USAdata data frame I merged with the spdf before converting it to shp/topojson
map<-leaflet() %>%
addTiles(options=tileOptions(minZoom = 3)) %>%
setMaxBounds(-167.276413,5.499550,-52.233040, 83.162102) %>%
setView(93.85,37.45,zoom =3) %>%
#addGeoJSON(geojson = jso5)
addTopoJSON(topojson=jso, fillColor = ~pal("GINI"))
#addPolygons(data=poly)
this throws up an error:
"Error in UseMethod("doResolveFormula") :
no applicable method for 'doResolveFormula' applied to an object of class "NULL""
I also tried converting it to an R object the topojson with fromJSON() and adding style elements, but this won't load after I try send it back with toJSON().
Not sure if relevant, but the topojson was created from a shapefile made following the instructions here:
with cl:
topojson -o 'USApuma.json' --shapefile-encoding utf8 --id-property=+GEOID10 -p GINI,+STATEFP10,+GEOID10 -- 'usaetest.shp'
then read in with readLines().
Eventually trying to throw this into a shiny app. Here's some examples I've been following.

Answer 1

Do you need to use TopoJSON? If not consider using the tigris package (disclosure: I created and maintain the package). It'll get you access to just about any Census geographic dataset you need, and plays nicely with leaflet. Here's a brief example in line with what you are doing. For example, you can get all PUMAs in the continental US with the following code:
library(readr)
library(tigris)
library(leaflet)
us_states <- unique(fips_codes$state)[1:51]
continental_states <- us_states[!us_states %in% c("AK", "HI")]
pumas_list <- lapply(continental_states, function(x) {
pumas(state = x, cb = TRUE)
})
us_pumas <- rbind_tigris(pumas_list)
I've generated a sample dataset that measures PUMA median household income for this example; the geo_join function from the tigris package can merge the dataset to the spatial data frame us_pumas:
puma_income <- read_csv('http://personal.tcu.edu/kylewalker/data/puma_income.csv')
joined_pumas <- geo_join(us_pumas, puma_income, 'GEOID10', 'GEOID')
We can then plot with Leaflet:
pal <- colorQuantile(palette = 'YlOrRd', domain = joined_pumas$hhincome, n = 7)
leaflet(joined_pumas) %>%
addProviderTiles('CartoDB.Positron') %>%
addPolygons(weight = 0.5, fillColor = ~pal(hhincome),
color = 'lightgrey', fillOpacity = 0.75,
smoothFactor = 0.2) %>%
addLegend(pal = pal,
values = joined_pumas$hhincome)
If you are planning to build a Shiny app, I'd recommend saving out the PUMAs you obtain from tigris first as a .rda file and reading it in with your Shiny script so you don't have to rbind_tigris every time.