R/tiger_blocks_sf.R

In RcensusPkg: Easily Access US Census Bureau Survey and Geographic Data

#' @title  tiger_blocks_sf
#'
#' @description
#'This function performs three tasks:
#' \enumerate{
#'   \item Download to an output directory a zip file from the TIGER/Line Shapefiles database.
#'   \item Unzip the zip file and locate the shape file of interest.
#'   \item Read and convert the shape file to a simple feature object.
#' }
#'
#' @details
#' Returns simple feature (sf) of US Census block boundary related geometric polygons,
#'   provided by the US Census Bureau's TIGER/Line Shapefiles database. See
#'   \href{https://r-spatial.github.io/sf/articles/sf1.html}{Simple Features for R}
#'   for more information on simple features. Along with the geometries, additional block related
#'   variables are provided.  See \href{https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2022/TGRSHP2022_TechDoc_F-R.pdf}{Appendix G-1. Record Layout: Block State-based Shapefile)}
#'   for a description of block related variables of the sf file. For further information on the Census Bureau's shape files see
#'   \href{https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2021/TGRSHP2021_TechDoc_Ch3.pdf}{About the 2021 TIGER/Line Shapefiles}.
#'   From \href{https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2022/TGRSHP2022_TechDoc_Ch4.pdf}{Chapter 4.2 Blocks} --
#'   "Census blocks are statistical areas bounded on all sides by visible features (e.g., streets, roads, streams,
#'    and railroad tracks), and by non-visible boundaries (e.g., city, town, township, county limits, and short
#'    line-of-sight extensions of streets and roads)."
#'
#' The function returns the simple feature object which can easily be mapped (see \href{https://github.com/deandevl/RplotterPkg}{RplotterPkg::create_sf_plot()}) or
#' joined with US Census Bureau demographic data via the GEOID value. Be aware that shapefiles for blocks can
#' be very large and time consuming to download for some states.
#'
#' Some earlier vintages may have NA for the crs so you may need to specify the \code{crs_transform} to 3426.  Also
#' you may be interested in using a state level crs. See \href{https://epsg.io/}{epsg.io} to search worldwide for crs.
#'
#' @param state A required two-digit FIPS code for the state of interest.
#'   See \href{https://cran.r-project.org/package=usmap}{usmap::fips function} for finding FIPS codes.
#' @param output_dir A full directory path where the shapefile and its associated files will be downloaded.
#'   The default is the directory defined by the value returned by \code{tempdir()}.
#' @param delete_files A logical which if \code{TRUE} will delete the shapefile and associated files in 'output_dir'.
#'   The default is \code{TRUE}.
#' @param vintage A numeric that sets the vintage of interest. The default is 2020.
#' @param set_crs A numeric or character string which if non-NULL calls sf::st_crs() to set the crs of the geometries and transforms them.
#' @param transform_crs A numeric or character string which if non-NULL calls sf::st_transform()
#'   to perform a crs transform of the geometries. Note that the crs of the shapefile must not be NA.
#' @param sf_info A logical which if \code{TRUE} displays info on the resulting simple feature object.
#' @param do_progress A logical which if \code{TRUE} displays a progress bar during the download.
#' @param shapefile A full file path to a shapefile folder with its unzipped files to be processed instead of downloading.
#' @param express A logical expression object used to filter the resultant simple feature dataframe.
#'   For example, one of the columns of the resultant simple feature dataframe is "COUNTYFP".
#'   If you wanted to return just the geometries for Los Alamos, New Mexico (which has a fips code of "028"),
#'   then you assign 'express' equal to: expression(COUNTYFP == "028"). The expression will be
#'   evaluated and only the tract geometries for Los Alamos will be returned.
#' @param check_na A logical which if \code{TRUE} will remove rows that have missing values for any of the columns.
#'   The default is to not check the columns for \code{NA} values.
#'
#' @return A data frame object of class sf
#'
#' @examples
#' \dontrun{
#'   # Beware that downloading and processing state blocks can be time consuming
#'   library(sf)
#'   library(downloader)
#'   library(usmap)
#'   library(withr)
#'   library(data.table)
#'   library(RcensusPkg)
#'
#'   vt_fips <- usmap::fips(state="vermont")
#'   output_dir <- withr::local_tempdir()
#'   if(!dir.exists(output_dir)){
#'     dir.create(output_dir)
#'   }
#'   vt_blocks_sf <- RcensusPkg::tiger_blocks_sf(
#'     state = vt_fips,
#'     output_dir = output_dir,
#'     delete_files = FALSE
#'   )
#' }
#'
#' @importFrom sf st_transform
#' @importFrom sf st_crs
#' @importFrom sf st_as_sf
#' @importFrom sf st_read
#' @importFrom data.table as.data.table
#'
#' @export
tiger_blocks_sf <- function(
  state = NULL,
  output_dir = tempdir(),
  delete_files = TRUE,
  vintage = 2020,
  set_crs = NULL,
  transform_crs = NULL,
  sf_info = FALSE,
  do_progress = FALSE,
  shapefile = NULL,
  express = NULL,
  check_na = FALSE
){

  if(is.null(shapefile) & is.null(state)){
    stop("The state argument is required")
  }

  if(!is.null(shapefile)){ # Reading shapefile
    if(!file.exists(shapefile)){
      stop(paste0("Shapefile folder ", shapefile, " does not exists."))
    }
    tiger_sf <- sf::st_read(dsn = shapefile)

    if(!is.null(set_crs)){
      sf::st_crs(tiger_sf) <- set_crs

      tiger_sf <- tiger_sf |>
        sf::st_transform(set_crs)
    }

    if(!is.null(transform_crs)){
      tiger_sf <- tiger_sf |>
        sf::st_transform(transform_crs)
    }

    return(tiger_sf)
  }else {  # Downloading shapefile
    vintage_char <- as.character(vintage)
    a_url <- NULL
    if(vintage >= 2014){
      if(vintage %in% 2020:2021){
        a_url <- sprintf("https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER%s/TABBLOCK20/tl_%s_%s_tabblock20.zip",
                       vintage_char, vintage_char, state)
      }else {
        a_url <- sprintf("https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER%s/TABBLOCK/tl_%s_%s_tabblock10.zip",
                       vintage_char, vintage_char, state)
      }
    }else if(vintage %in% 2011:2013){
      a_url <- sprintf("https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER%s/TABBLOCK/tl_%s_%s_tabblock.zip",
                     vintage_char, vintage_char, state)
    }else if(vintage %in% c(2000, 2010)){
      sub_year <- substr(vintage_char, 3, 4)
      a_url <- sprintf("https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2010/TABBLOCK/%s/tl_2010_%s_tabblock%s.zip",
                       vintage_char, state, sub_year)
    }else{
      stop(paste0("Block data is not currently available for ", vintage))
    }
    tiger_sf <- .send_tiger_url(
      a_url = a_url,
      output_dir = output_dir,
      delete_files = delete_files,
      set_crs = set_crs,
      transform_crs = transform_crs,
      sf_info = sf_info,
      do_progress = do_progress,
      caller = "tiger_blocks_sf")

    if(!is.null(tiger_sf)){
      if(!is.null(express)){
        tiger_dt <- data.table::as.data.table(tiger_sf)
        tiger_dt <- tiger_dt[eval(express), ]
        tiger_sf <- sf::st_as_sf(tiger_dt)
      }

      if(check_na){
        tiger_sf <- na.omit(tiger_sf)
      }
    }
    return(tiger_sf)
  }
}