Map raw data and mean data based on the shapefile - r

Question

sI have the dataset (pts) like this:
x <- seq(-124.25,length=115,by=0.5)
y <- seq(26.25,length=46,by=0.5)
z = 1:5290
longlat <- expand.grid(x = x, y = y) # Create an X,Y grid
pts=data.frame(longlat,z)
names(pts) <- c( "x","y","data")
I knew that I can map the dataframe (pts） into a map by doing:
library(sp)
library(rgdal)
library(raster)
library(maps)
coordinates(pts)=~x+y
proj4string(pts)=CRS("+init=epsg:4326") # set it to long, lat
pts = spTransform(pts,CRS(" +init=epsg:4326 +proj=longlat +ellps=WGS84 +datum=WGS84 +no_defs +towgs84=0,0,0"))
pts <- as(pts, "SpatialPixelsDataFrame")
r = raster(pts)
projection(r) = CRS(" +init=epsg:4326 +proj=longlat +ellps=WGS84 +datum=WGS84 +no_defs +towgs84=0,0,0")
plot(r)
map("usa",add=T)
Now I would like to create a separate map which shows the means of pts across different regions. The shapefile I want to use is from ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/cec_na/NA_CEC_Eco_Level2.zip , however, this is a north america map. How can I create the map showing only US based on this north america map? Or is there another better way to do this? thanks so much.

Answer 1

I think that cutting out the non-US data based on the data in the shapefile alone would be hard, since the regions do not correspond to political boundaries - that could be done with rgeos though.
Assuming that "eco" is a SpatialPolygonsDataFrame read in by rgdal::readOGR or maptools::readShapeSpatial, see the available key data for indexing:
sapply(as.data.frame(eco), function(x) if(!is.numeric(x)) unique(x) else NULL)
If you just want to plot it, set up a map with only the US region to start with and then overplot.
library(maps)
map("usa", col = "transparent")
We see that the data is in Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area:
proj4string(eco)
[1] " +proj=laea +lat_0=45 +lon_0=-100 +x_0=0 +y_0=0 +a=6370997 +b=6370997 +units=m +no_defs"
So
require(rgdal)
eco.laea <- spTransform(eco, CRS("+proj=longlat +ellpse=WGS84"))
plot(eco.laea, add = TRUE)
If you want to plot in the original Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area you'll need to get the bounding box in that projection and start the plot based on that, I just used existing data to make an easy example. I'm pretty sure the data could also be cropped with rgeos against another boundary too, but depends what you actually want.