ggcircular

ggcircular is a ggplot2 extension for visualizing circular, axial, and directional data. The package provides geoms, stats, scales, and themes for angles, orientations, times of day, movement directions, and circular distributions.

CRAN version: 0.1.0, published on June 4, 2026.

CRAN GitHub Documentation Reference

Visual preview

ggcircular example with a rose diagram, circular density, and mean direction. ggcircular example for movement directions.

Usage example

The code below follows the package quick start: it displays winter wind directions with a rose diagram, a circular density estimate, and a mean direction.

# Load libraries
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)
library(ggcircular)

# Plot winter wind directions
wind_directions |>
  filter(season == "winter") |>
  ggplot(aes(x = direction)) +
  geom_rose(
    aes(y = after_stat(density), fill = after_stat(density)),
    bins = 24,
    alpha = 0.78
  ) +
  geom_circular_density(linewidth = 1.1, colour = "#123C4A") +
  geom_mean_direction(
    length = "resultant",
    colour = "#E4572E",
    linewidth = 1.1
  ) +
  scale_x_circular_compass() +
  coord_circular(zero = "north", direction = "clockwise") +
  labs(fill = "density", title = "Winter wind directions") +
  theme_circular()

What is ggcircular for?

creating rose diagrams and circular histograms;
estimating and displaying circular densities;
showing mean directions, confidence arcs, and theoretical distributions;
producing reproducible ggplot2 graphics for periodic, axial, or directional data.