Chronological timeline with points in time and format date

Question

I am new to R and ggplot2 and I was wondering how can I produce a timeline plotting points at a given time using R? I am also having some trouble with the dates I have. (I’m

Answer 1

With some slight changes to answer of @thelatemail you can finetune the axis to print indicator for event dates and also manage the overlap of events that occur on same date..or manage the overlap arising due to the amount of data you have in your df..

df$YM <- as.Date(paste0("01",df$YearMonth), format="%d%Y%m")
rangeYM <- range(df$YM)
plot(NA,ylim=c(-1,1),xlim=rangeYM,ann=FALSE,axes=FALSE)
abline(h=0,lwd=2,col="#5B7FA3")
ypts <- rep(c(-1,-0.5,0.5,1), length.out=nrow(df))
txtpts <- rep(c(1,3), length.out=nrow(df))
segments(df$YM,0,df$YM,ypts,col="gray80")
axis.Date( 1,at=seq.Date(rangeYM[1],rangeYM[2],by="days"),
format="%Y-%m",
cex.axis=0.6, pos=0, lwd=0, lwd.tick=2, col="#5B7FA3", font=2)
points(df$YM,y=ypts, pch="-", cex=1.5, col="#5B7FA3")
par(xpd=NA)
text( df$YM, y=ypts,labels=paste(df$Person1,df$Person2,df$Event,sep="\n"),cex=0.7, pos=txtpts)
par(xpd=FALSE)

Answer 2

Why not this:

>YearMonth = c(200506,200509) 

>dt = as.POSIXct(strptime(paste0(YearMonth, 15), "%Y%m%d"))
>z = rep(0, length(dt))
>y = rep(c(-1,1), out=length(dt))
>plot(dt,y, axes=FALSE, ylab="", xlim=c(min(dt)-10e6, max(dt)+10e6), ylim=c(-2,2), pch=15, col="darkblue", xlab="Date")
>arrows(x0=dt,y0= z, x1=dt, y1=y, length=0, angle=30, col="blue")
>arrows(min(dt), 0, max(dt), length=0, col="blue")
>text(dt, y*1.5, c("Ben Franklin arose\nfrom the dead", "Atlantis found"), adj=1)
>axis.POSIXct(1, dt, format="%y/%m")
>dt
[1] "2005-06-15 EDT" "2005-09-15 EDT"

Answer 3

Here's another attempt:

df$YM <- as.Date(paste0("01",df$YearMonth), format="%d%Y%m")
rangeYM <- range(df$YM)

plot(NA,ylim=c(-1,1),xlim=rangeYM,ann=FALSE,axes=FALSE)
abline(h=0,lwd=2,col="#5B7FA3")

ypts <- rep_len(c(-1,1), length.out=nrow(df))
txtpts <- rep_len(c(1,3), length.out=nrow(df))
segments(df$YM,0,df$YM,ypts,col="gray80")

axis.Date(
 1,
 at=seq.Date(rangeYM[1],rangeYM[2],by="month"),
 format="%Y-%m",
 cex.axis=0.6,
 pos=0,
 lwd=0,
 lwd.tick=2,
 col="#5B7FA3",
 font=2
)

points(df$YM,y=ypts, pch="-", cex=1.5, col="#5B7FA3")
par(xpd=NA)
text(
  df$YM, y=ypts,
  labels=paste(df$Person1,df$Person2,df$Event,sep="\n"), cex=0.7, pos=txtpts
)
par(xpd=FALSE)