crop wrld_simpl gives error after R update

Question

This code was working for me before I updated R to 4.0, but now it throws an error. I get this error on a Mac and a PC. I updated gdal on my mac, but this did not help. I made sure the rgeos package is up to date. It does not seem to be related to the extent I choose (i.e. extent(-180, 180, 50, 90) throws the same error).

data("wrld_simpl", package = "maptools") 
out <- crop(wrld_simpl, extent(130, 180, 40, 70))

x[i, ] is invalid
Error in RGEOSBinTopoFunc(spgeom1, spgeom2, byid, id, drop_lower_td, unaryUnion_if_byid_false,  : 
  TopologyException: Input geom 0 is invalid: Ring Self-intersection at or near point 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002 at 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002
In addition: Warning messages:
1: In RGEOSUnaryPredFunc(spgeom, byid, "rgeos_isvalid") :
  Ring Self-intersection at or near point 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002
2: In rgeos::gIntersection(x[i, ], y, byid = TRUE, drop_lower_td = TRUE) :
  Invalid objects found; consider using set_RGEOS_CheckValidity(2L)

Answer 1

This is because of changes in the rgeos package. The problem appears to go away if you do as the error message says: consider using set_RGEOS_CheckValidity(2L)

library(raster)
library(maptools)
data("wrld_simpl") 
out <- crop(wrld_simpl, extent(130, 180, 40, 70))

#x[i, ] is invalid
#Error in RGEOSBinTopoFunc(spgeom1, spgeom2, byid, id, drop_lower_td, unaryUnion_if_byid_false,  : 
#  TopologyException: Input geom 0 is invalid: Ring Self-intersection at or near point 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002 at 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002
#In addition: Warning messages:
#1: In RGEOSUnaryPredFunc(spgeom, byid, "rgeos_isvalid") :
#  Ring Self-intersection at or near point 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002
#2: In rgeos::gIntersection(x[i, ], y, byid = TRUE, drop_lower_td = TRUE) :
#  Invalid objects found; consider using set_RGEOS_CheckValidity(2L)

Now change the rgeos setting and try again

rgeos::set_RGEOS_CheckValidity(2L)
out <- crop(wrld_simpl, extent(130, 180, 40, 70))

#x[i, ] is invalid
#Attempting to make x[i, ] valid by zero-width buffering
#Warning message:
#In RGEOSUnaryPredFunc(spgeom, byid, "rgeos_isvalid") :
#  Ring Self-intersection at or near point 143.66192817999999 49.312211990000002

Still a lot of messages, but not an error.