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Mapping in R seems a bit quaint at this time. If I need to do mixed visualizations including geo, I am reaching for Observable. If I only need the choropleth, Felt. If I need more spatial analysis, ArcGIS Online (it’s free!). If I need full-custom spatial or mixed statistics, geopandas.

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is ArcGIS free? i could not find a link for it

I don't know if it is still a thing, but you can get ArcGIS, access to all of it, for $100/year under the "ArcGIS for Personal Use" program.

That's a pretty good deal too but if you just roll into arcgis.com they have a free, zero-friction signup. You login with one of their identity providers (github, google, apple, etc) and get started. They give you one "Creator"-level user. I've been using it for years without a hint of being charged.

Thats great! I was going to try but seems using on Mac is not straightforward :(

You can sign up for the personal use subscription and stick to Online. You can’t use Pro on Mac, but the web map viewer has grown into a highly featured editor and does a lot more than viewing (data editing, styling, analysis, charts, filtering, etc).

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