Simple way to subset SpatialPolygonsDataFrame (i.e. delete polygons) by attribute in R

Question

I would like simply delete some polygons from a SpatialPolygonsDataFrame object based on corresponding attribute values in the @data data frame so that I can plot a simplifi

Answer 1

looks like you're overwriting the data, but not removing the polygons. If you want to cut down the dataset including both data and polygons, try e.g.

world.map <- world.map[world.map$AREA > 30000,]
plot(world.map)

[[Edit 19 April, 2016]] That solution used to work, but @Bonnie reports otherwise for a newer R version (though perhaps the data has changed too?): world.map <- world.map[world.map@data$AREA > 30000, ] Upvote @Bonnie's answer if that helped.