Mapping the Metro Manila subway

In a fit of wishful thinking, I use Leaflet to map the Metro Manila subway as if it existed

R
leaflet
Published

November 8, 2022

Today I’ll experiment with making maps via leaflet, which I’m using for the first time. I’m relying mainly on this tutorial.

library(tidyverse)
library(leaflet)

Below is a map pointing out some of the planned stations of the future Metro Manila Subway, which will be built… sometime… maybe? Back in June the first tunnel boring machine was “ceremonially lowered” but no digging has actually taken place.

Anyway, I map the stations from Quirino Highway to 11th Avenue in BGC. I got the locations from trawling through news articles and project documents, then I used Google Maps to get their coordinates.

leaflet(options = leafletOptions(minZoom = 10, maxZoom = 15)) %>%
  addTiles() %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.028460, lat=14.689541, label="Quirino Highway Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.032355, lat=14.676936, label="Tandang Sora Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.035685, lat=14.654850, label="North Avenue Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.037591, lat=14.644747, label="Quezon Avenue Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.051628, lat=14.640692, label="East Avenue Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.065282, lat=14.627151, label="Anonas Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.069868, lat=14.613690, label="Camp Aguinaldo Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.063565, lat=14.588103, label="Ortigas Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.061238, lat=14.575162, label="Shaw Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.055859, lat=14.558327, label="11th Avenue Station")

And here’s the map! It’s fine? It’s a little busy, so let’s change the map tile from the default OpenStreetMap to a nice minimalist one from this list.

leaflet(options = leafletOptions(minZoom = 10, maxZoom = 15)) %>%
  addProviderTiles(providers$CartoDB.Voyager) %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.028460, lat=14.689541, label="Quirino Highway Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.032355, lat=14.676936, label="Tandang Sora Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.035685, lat=14.654850, label="North Avenue Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.037591, lat=14.644747, label="Quezon Avenue Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.051628, lat=14.640692, label="East Avenue Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.065282, lat=14.627151, label="Anonas Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.069868, lat=14.613690, label="Camp Aguinaldo Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.063565, lat=14.588103, label="Ortigas Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.061238, lat=14.575162, label="Shaw Station") %>%
  addMarkers(lng=121.055859, lat=14.558327, label="11th Avenue Station")

Neat. I’ll revisit this later on to see what else I can add.

Update 17 Nov 2022: Transportation Undersecretary Cesar Chavez has said that “the actual excavation is on December 12”. He added: “Actually, this is for real. The excavation is real.” Well, there you have it. The excavation is “real”.