Controlling text/label placement with check_overlap

The check_overlap parameter in geom_text() and geom_label() is used to prevent overlapping text labels in the same layer.

import pandas as pd
from lets_plot import *

LetsPlot.setup_html()

mpg = pd.read_csv ("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JetBrains/lets-plot-docs/master/data/mpg.csv")
mpg.head(3)

	Unnamed: 0	manufacturer	model	displ	year	cyl	trans	drv	cty	hwy	fl	class
0	1	audi	a4	1.8	1999	4	auto(l5)	f	18	29	p	compact
1	2	audi	a4	1.8	1999	4	manual(m5)	f	21	29	p	compact
2	3	audi	a4	2.0	2008	4	manual(m6)	f	20	31	p	compact

p = ggplot(mpg, aes('displ', 'hwy')) + \
    theme(legend_position = "none", panel_background=element_rect(fill="#CCCCCC")) + \
    ggsize(600, 400)

Without check_overlap: The default behavior plots all labels, which can result in an overcrowded plot.

p + geom_text(aes(label='class', color='class'))

With check_overlap=True: Text labels that overlap existing labels are not rendered. The labels are processed in the order they appear in the data frame, and if a subsequent label would overlap with a previous one, it is omitted.

p + geom_text(aes(label='class', color='class'), check_overlap=True)

check_overlap is also applicable for geom_label.

p + geom_label(aes(label='class'), check_overlap=True)