Here's some R code to:

• plot_nyc_shp.R: plot the nyc zip shapes with ggplot2
  • it sources the following:
    • load_usa_zip_shp.R: download/unzip/load shapefiles from census.gov (creates local copy for subsequent use)
    • scrape_nyc_zips.R: scrape a list of zip codes by borough in NYC (from [health.ny.gov (https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/cancer/registry/appendix/neighborhoods.htm), the first google hit)

I hope it's a generally useful starting point for any kind of zipcode-based plotting task