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deeptime

ANALYTICS
Velocity0.0

Plotting Tools for Anyone Working in Deep Time

github.com/willgearty/deeptime ↗

A geologic-time plotting layer that outgrew time axes and became a geology rendering toolkit.

ggplot2-extensiongeologyphylogeneticsdeprecationdata-visualization
◆Current state
deeptime extends ggplot2 with geological time scales, radial deep-time coordinates and phylogeny-aware geoms, and since 2.0.0 it also renders standardized FGDC/USGS geologic patterns as ggplot2 fills. The current 2.4.0 release adds geom_text_clade() for labeling clades on radial phylogenies and repairs long-standing coord_trans_xy() and scale-placement edge cases.
◆Where it's heading
The package is converging on two jobs: being the canonical R renderer for stratigraphic drawing conventions, and keeping pace with ggplot2's own churn. A sustained deprecation program — gggeo_scale(), coord_geo_polar(), getScaleData(), now disparity_through_time() — is trimming the surface down to coord_geo(), coord_geo_radial() and the pattern functions. Roughly half of each recent release is ggplot2 4.0 compatibility work.
◆Prediction
Expect disparity_through_time() and coord_geo_polar() to be removed outright in the next major version, and further geoms aimed at annotating radial phylogenies.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    geom_text_clade() labels clades on radial phylogenies

    Adds geom_text_clade() for clade labels under coord_geo_radial(), and changes coord_geo() so scales always grow outward from the plot region — a visible layout shift for anyone using left or top scales. Continues the pattern of one new geom plus a round of ggplot2 compatibility repair.

    View source ↗
  2. 8mo ago

    Argument renames for ggplot2 4.0 parity

    Fixes the reverse argument under ggplot2 4.0.0 and soft-deprecates three coord_geo_radial() arguments in favor of names matching ggplot2::coord_radial(). Parity work — it changes what users type, not what they can draw.

    View source ↗
  3. 8mo ago

    Pattern code dictionary and time-scale theming

    Adds the fgdc_names dataset and fgdc_dict() for labeling FGDC pattern codes, a theme element for the time-scale background, and pos recycling when adding several scales to one side. Direct follow-on work to the pattern support introduced in 2.0.0.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    geom_text_phylo() arrives with ggplot2 4 compatibility

    Adds geom_text_phylo() for node and tip labels on radial phylogenies, updates the built-in timescales to the 2024/12 GTS, and reaches compatibility with ggplot2 version 4. The new facet_*_geo() aliases preserve the old defaults after the colors argument lost its own.

    View source ↗
  5. 1y ago

    Contrast-aware label colors across the built-in scales

    Every built-in dataset gains a lab_color column picking white or black by ITU contrast guidance, and the bulky FGDC pattern data moves out into a separate deeptimedata package. A legibility and install-footprint release rather than a capability one.

    View source ↗
  6. 1y ago

    FGDC geologic patterns become ggplot2 fills

    ⚡ SPARK

    The release that widened deeptime beyond time axes: FGDC/USGS geologic patterns ship as internal data with functions to retrieve them and use them as ggplot2 fills or ggpattern inputs. Every later pattern feature — the separate data package, the code dictionary — descends from here.

    View source ↗