Fetch a Google satellite basemap for a preset area

Convenience wrapper around ggmap::get_map() that retrieves a Google Maps satellite basemap for one of the preset areas used in Smith (2025). It returns a ggmap raster object suitable as the first layer of a plot via ggmap::ggmap().

Usage

get_satellite_map(area = c("se_asia", "saigon", "hue"))

Arguments

area: Which basemap to fetch. One of "se_asia", "saigon", or "hue".

Value

A ggmap/raster object.

Details

This function **downloads imagery from the Google Maps Static API at call time** — it does not ship or cache any Google imagery with the package. Google's Maps Platform Terms do not permit redistributing their map imagery, so you must supply your own (free) API key first:


  ggmap::register_google(key = "YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY")
  m <- get_satellite_map("hue")
  ggmap::ggmap(m)

The preset areas reproduce the basemaps used in the package's mapping articles: "se_asia" (mainland Southeast Asia), "saigon", and "hue".

Note

Requires the ggmap package and a registered Google Maps API key. If you use these basemaps, please cite ggmap: Kahle, D. and Wickham, H. (2013). "ggmap: Spatial Visualization with ggplot2." The R Journal, 5(1), 144–161. Map imagery \(\copyright\) Google.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
  ggmap::register_google(key = "YOUR_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY")
  ggmap::ggmap(get_satellite_map("se_asia"))
} # }