ggplot line plot different colors for sections

Question

I would like to plot a continuous line between different groups of data in ggplot. My dataset has three groups of data 1, 2 or 3.

ggplot(Dataset_v2.2.clusterplot, aes(Date, Number_IPOs, color = factor(label)))+
  geom_point()+
  geom_line()

My problem is that for the group 2 in green, the data is spread in different time intervals and for this reason, ggplot connects them. Indeed, ggplot makes out my data three lines based on the color command, where initially there was only one line as follows:

Is there a way to color the line based on the three groups without interruptions between groups and interconnections within a group (when they are spread)?

And here is the data:

Dataset_v2.2.clusterplot <- structure(list(Date = structure(c(959817600, 962409600, 965088000, 
                                  967766400, 970358400, 973036800, 975628800, 978307200, 980985600, 
                                  983404800, 986083200, 988675200, 991353600, 993945600, 996624000, 
                                  999302400, 1001894400, 1004572800, 1007164800, 1009843200, 1012521600, 
                                  1014940800, 1017619200, 1020211200, 1022889600, 1025481600, 1028160000, 
                                  1030838400, 1033430400, 1036108800, 1038700800, 1041379200, 1044057600, 
                                  1046476800, 1049155200, 1051747200, 1054425600, 1057017600, 1059696000, 
                                  1062374400, 1064966400, 1067644800, 1070236800, 1072915200, 1075593600, 
                                  1078099200, 1080777600, 1083369600, 1086048000, 1088640000, 1091318400, 
                                  1093996800, 1096588800, 1099267200, 1101859200, 1104537600, 1107216000, 
                                  1109635200, 1112313600, 1114905600, 1117584000, 1120176000, 1122854400, 
                                  1125532800, 1128124800, 1130803200, 1133395200, 1136073600, 1138752000, 
                                  1141171200, 1143849600, 1146441600, 1149120000, 1151712000, 1154390400, 
                                  1157068800, 1159660800, 1162339200, 1164931200, 1167609600, 1170288000, 
                                  1172707200, 1175385600, 1177977600, 1180656000, 1183248000, 1185926400, 
                                  1188604800, 1191196800, 1193875200, 1196467200, 1199145600, 1201824000, 
                                  1204329600, 1207008000, 1209600000, 1212278400, 1214870400, 1217548800, 
                                  1220227200, 1222819200, 1225497600, 1228089600, 1230768000, 1233446400, 
                                  1235865600, 1238544000, 1241136000, 1243814400, 1246406400, 1249084800, 
                                  1251763200, 1254355200, 1257033600, 1259625600, 1262304000, 1264982400, 
                                  1267401600, 1270080000, 1272672000, 1275350400, 1277942400, 1280620800, 
                                  1283299200, 1285891200, 1288569600, 1291161600, 1293840000, 1296518400, 
                                  1298937600, 1301616000, 1304208000, 1306886400, 1309478400, 1312156800, 
                                  1314835200, 1317427200, 1320105600, 1322697600, 1325376000, 1328054400, 
                                  1330560000, 1333238400, 1335830400, 1338508800, 1341100800, 1343779200, 
                                  1346457600, 1349049600, 1351728000, 1354320000, 1356998400, 1359676800, 
                                  1362096000, 1364774400, 1367366400, 1370044800, 1372636800, 1375315200, 
                                  1377993600, 1380585600, 1383264000, 1385856000, 1388534400, 1391212800, 
                                  1393632000, 1396310400, 1398902400, 1401580800, 1404172800, 1406851200, 
                                  1409529600, 1412121600, 1414800000, 1417392000, 1420070400, 1422748800, 
                                  1425168000, 1427846400, 1430438400, 1433116800, 1435708800, 1438387200, 
                                  1441065600, 1443657600, 1446336000, 1448928000, 1451606400, 1454284800, 
                                  1456790400, 1459468800, 1462060800, 1464739200, 1467331200, 1470009600, 
                                  1472688000, 1475280000, 1477958400, 1480550400, 1483228800, 1485907200, 
                                  1488326400, 1491004800, 1493596800, 1496275200), class = c("POSIXct", 
                                                                                             "POSIXt"), tzone = "UTC"), Number_IPOs = c(35, 42, 67, 25, 23, 
                                                                                                                                        22, 8, 3, 9, 8, 3, 10, 15, 8, 5, 0, 8, 13, 12, 1, 9, 7, 8, 15, 
                                                                                                                                        9, 6, 1, 0, 10, 10, 6, 0, 4, 1, 0, 2, 3, 7, 7, 6, 12, 16, 22, 
                                                                                                                                        5, 19, 16, 12, 15, 28, 28, 17, 15, 31, 16, 30, 9, 25, 7, 10, 
                                                                                                                                        14, 27, 23, 35, 17, 17, 20, 22, 16, 22, 17, 21, 17, 20, 10, 9, 
                                                                                                                                        15, 26, 28, 36, 10, 18, 16, 17, 34, 24, 20, 16, 7, 33, 38, 23, 
                                                                                                                                        12, 7, 5, 5, 7, 3, 4, 3, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 3, 3, 6, 2, 5, 
                                                                                                                                        8, 14, 12, 7, 6, 8, 13, 14, 14, 11, 11, 12, 7, 22, 21, 21, 7, 
                                                                                                                                        19, 8, 21, 24, 13, 16, 4, 0, 3, 17, 11, 3, 19, 22, 18, 12, 4, 
                                                                                                                                        12, 7, 8, 24, 9, 8, 11, 9, 14, 14, 28, 19, 19, 20, 22, 32, 29, 
                                                                                                                                        13, 18, 23, 29, 29, 21, 31, 36, 14, 14, 32, 26, 15, 10, 15, 5, 
                                                                                                                                        14, 19, 26, 22, 10, 6, 16, 12, 2, 0, 5, 4, 7, 15, 7, 13, 8, 17, 
                                                                                                                                        21, 2, 7, 9, 8, 13, 20, 20, 21), label = c(3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 3L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 1L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   1L, 1L, 2L, 2L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   1L, 2L, 2L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 
                                                                                                                                                                                   1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L)), .Names = c("Date", "Number_IPOs", 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                "label"), class = "data.frame", row.names = c(NA, -205L))

Answer 1

geom_path is more suited for where you are trying to connect points: http://ggplot2.tidyverse.org/reference/geom_path.html. As explained there:

"geom_path connects the observations in the order in which they appear in the data."

I have found it to be a bit funny with factors, as you have here. As an example of what you might expect the function to look like:

ggplot(Dataset_v2.2.clusterplot, aes(Date, Number_IPOs, color = factor(label)))+
  geom_path() +
  geom_point()

An easy way to fix this is to specify a group for the line within the aes for geom_path. As you want a continuous line, I just specified 1 (this value is arbitrary, and could be any number)

ggplot(Dataset_v2.2.clusterplot, aes(Date, Number_IPOs, color = factor(label)))+
  geom_path(aes(group = 1)) +
  geom_point()