r-tmap/tmap

tm_animate does not return anything for rendered documents (e.g., rmd, qmd, reprex)

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#1150 opened on Jun 25, 2025

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Help wanted

Description

It would be great if it would render the animation directly in the qmd/rmd output.

library(tmap)
library(spData)

tm_shape(nz) +
  tm_polygons() +
  tm_animate("Name")

Contributor guide

Tech stack
r
Domain
documentation
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Basic R knowledgetmap package familiarityR Markdown basics
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Investigate the `tm animate` function in the tmap package. Look at how it generates animations and why it doesn't return output in R Markdown documents. Check the rendering pipeline for different output formats (rmd, qmd, reprex). Consider modifying the function to return the animation inline or as a plot.