How to add a legend for two geom layers in one ggplot2 plot?

Question

I\'ve got a data frame that looks like this:

glimpse(spottingIntensityByMonth)
# Observations: 27
# Variables: 3
# $ yearMonth  2015-05-01, 2015-         


        

Answer 1

In ggplot, legends are automatically created for mapped aesthetics. You can add such mappings as follows:

ggplot(data = df, 
       mapping = aes(x = x)) + 

  # specify fill for bar / color for line inside aes(); you can use
  # whatever label you wish to appear in the legend
  geom_col(aes(y = y.bar, fill = "bar.label")) +
  geom_line(aes(y = y.line, color = "line.label")) +

  xlab("Month of year") + 
  scale_y_continuous(name = "Daily classifications per Spotter") + 

  # the labels must match what you specified above
  scale_fill_manual(name = "", values = c("bar.label" = "grey")) +
  scale_color_manual(name = "", values = c("line.label" = "black")) +

  theme_bw()

In the above example, I've also moved the data & common aesthetic mapping (x) to ggplot().

Sample dataset:

set.seed(7)
df <- data.frame(
  x = 1:20,
  y.bar = rpois(20, lambda = 5),
  y.line = rpois(20, lambda = 10)
)