NEWS.md

In bcgov/bcdc: Search and Retrieve Data from the BC Data Catalogue

bcdata (development version)

bcdata 0.5.1

• Fix bugs where bcdc_search_facets(), bcdc_list_group_records() and bcdc_list_organization_records() were not returning all records after the upgrade to CKAN 2.9 (#353). Includes adding tests and bcdata-specific options for these queries, see bcdc_options().
• Added examples of partial query using %like% and %in% in bcdc_query_geodata() (#356, thanks @bevingtona).

bcdata 0.5.0

• Make functions more robust to non-functioning WMS/WFS GetCapabilities requests (#339, #341).
• dbplyr 2.5.0 has made the requirement for using !! or local() for local functions more restrictive; updated tests and examples (#341).
• Deprecate the bcdata.single_download_limit option, as it was mostly redundant with bcdata.chunk_limit, and should always be set by the server. Please set the page size limit for paginated requests via the bcdata.chunk_limit option (#332).
• Updated internals to adapt to changes in B.C. Data Catalogue (#342, #343).

bcdata 0.4.1

• Add jsonlite::read_json() as a file read method, so users can now download & read json resources in B.C. Data Catalogue records
• Change the download_audience default from Public to NULL in bcdc_search() (#315)
• Fix bug where some/all facet values in bcdc_search() need to be quoted to generate a valid API query (#315)
• Add new functions bcdc_list_organizations and bcdc_list_organization_records as helper functions for finding records #322

bcdata 0.4.0

User-facing changes

• For WFS queries constructed using bcdc_query_geodata(), function calls in filter() that need to be evaluated locally are no-longer auto-detected. They now need to be wrapped in local() to force local evaluation before the CQL query is constructed and sent to the WFS server. Please see vignette("local-filter") for more information. This aligns with recommended usage patterns in other dbplyr backends (#304, PR #305).

bcdata 0.3.2

• Fixed a test that was failing when no internet was available
• Upgraded to dbplyr edition 2, bumped dependency to 2.0.0 (#300)

bcdata 0.3.1

• Added bcdc_get_citation to generate bibliographic entries (via utils::bibentry) for individuals records. #273
• Results from bcdc_search() (objects of class "bcdc_recordlist") now print 50 records by default, instead of 10. In addition, there is a new [ method for "bcdc_recordlist" objects, allowing you to subset these lists and still have a nice printout (#288).
• Ensure that bcdc_get_data() fails informatively when a given resource doesn't exist in a record (#290)
• Ensure compatibility with upcoming dbplyr 2.2.0 (#297, 82b9defa376ab)

bcdata 0.3.0

• The BC Data Catalogue and its API have been updated, requiring changes to the bcdata package, most of which are internal only (#283). These should be mostly invisible to the user, except for the removal of the type search facet in bcdc_search() and bcdc_search_facets(). If you use an API key (authorized catalogue editors only), you will need to login to the new catalogue and get your updated key and set the value your BCDC_KEY environment variable to the new key.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Add names method for bcdc.promise objects. You can now call names on an object produced by bcdc_query_geodata. This is handy when trying to figure out exact column spelling etc. #278

BUG FIXES

• Fix bug where sticky column were incorrectly identified in bcdc_describe_feature (#279)

bcdata 0.2.4

• Code in .onLoad() that sent a request to the wfs getCapabilities endpoint could cause the package to fail to load. This was moved into an internal function bcdc_get_capabilities() that makes the request the first time it's required, and stores the result for the remainder of the session (#271)
• testthat is now used conditionally to only run tests if the testthat package is installed.

bcdata 0.2.3

IMPROVEMENTS

• Setting the bcdata.single_download_limit limit dynamically from the getCapabilities endpoint. #256
• bcdc_describe_feature now joins an object description column to the returned object to provide more information about a field directly in R. #241, #259
• Better documentation and information surrounding the bcdata.max_geom_pred_size option. #243, #258
• Add new function bcdc_check_geom_size so users can check prior to submitting a WFS request with filter to see if the request will require a bounding box conversion. #243, #258
• Better documentation and messaging about when and why paginated requests are required by bcdc_query_geodata(). #240, #264
• Better documentation and print method for what records are suitable for use with bcdc_query_geodata(). #265, #267

bcdata 0.2.2

IMPROVEMENTS

• Added bcdc_list_groups and bcdc_list_group_records to provide the ability to query on the group endpoint of the catalogue API. #234
• Added new option bcdata.single_download_limit to enable setting the maximum number of records an object can be before forcing a paginated download (#252)

BUG FIXES

• Fixed bug in collect.bcdc_promise where the wrong parameter name in crul::Paginator$new() resulted in an error in paginated wfs requests (#250, thanks @meztez)
• Fixed a bug where the name of bcdata.chunk_limit option had a typo, so that it was not actually used properly (#252)

bcdata 0.2.1

BUG FIXES

• Remove link for pipe documentation for simplicity.
• Fixed bug where using many as. functions (e.g., as.Date(), as.character(), as.numeric()) in a filter statement would fail. (#218, #219)

MAINTENANCE

• Updated internal SQL translation to use DBI S4 generics (DBI::dbQuoteIdentifier() is now used instead of dbplyr::sql_escape_ident() and DBI::dbQuoteString() instead of dbplyr::sql_escape_string()), to comply with upcoming dbplyr 2.0 release (#225, #225; https://github.com/tidyverse/dbplyr/issues/385)
• Wrapped all examples that call web resources in try() to avoid spurious check failures (#229).

bcdata 0.2.0

BREAKING CHANGES

• Rename selectable column from bcdc_describe_feature to sticky and modify corresponding docs and tests (#180).

IMPROVEMENTS

• Add explore-silviculture-data-using-bcdata vignette/article. h/t @hgriesbauer
• Add head and tail methods for bcdc.promise objects. Thanks to @hgriesbauer for the suggestion! (#182, #186)
• Provide as_tibble as an alias for collect in line with dbplyr behaviour (#166)
• Geometry predicates can now take a bbox object as well as an sf* object (#176)
• When reading in excel files, bcdc_get_data now outputs a messages indicating the presence and names of any sheets (#190)
• bcdc_get_data() & bcdc_query_geodata() will now work with full B.C. data catalogue url including resource (#125, #196)
• bcdc_sf objects now have an time_downloaded attribute
• Authorized B.C. Data Catalogue editors can now authenticate with the catalogue by setting a BCDC_KEY environment variable with their catalogue API token (https://github.com/bcgov/bcdata#bcdc-authentication; #208).

BUG FIXES

• Fix select, filter and mutate roxygen so that bcdata specific documentation to these methods is available
• Add tests for attributes

bcdata 0.1.2

IMPROVEMENTS

• Add bcdc_tidy_resources for retrieving a data frame containing the metadata for all resources from a single B.C. Data Catalogue record (PR#149, #147)
• Add a more decorative record print method (#73)
• More reliable detection of layer name for a wfs call in bcdc_query_geodata() (#129, #138, #139)
• Add mutate method for bcdc_promise that only fails and suggest an alternative approach. (PR#134)
• Add back in querying vignette
• Using tidyselect so that select.bcdc_promise behaviour is typical of dplyr::select ($140, #138)
• Using GitHub actions for CI.

MINOR BREAKING CHANGES

• Remove BEYOND() and RELATE() geometry predicates as they are currently not fully supported by geoserver

BUG FIXES

• Now precompiling vignettes so that queries are submitted locally and no actually requests are made from CRAN (#151)
• Fix NOTE: Namespace in Imports field not imported from: ‘methods’ error on CRAN (#145)
• Fixed a bug where functions nested inside geometry predicates were not evaluated (#146, #154)
• Fixed a bug where DWITHIN wasn't working because units needed to be unquoted (#154)
• Fixed a bug where BBOX() used in a filter() statement combined with bcdc_query_geodata() did not work (#135, #137, #131)
• Fixed a bug where layer names with a number in them would not work in bcdc_query_geodata() (#126, #127)

bcdata 0.1.1

• Expand and standardize checking w[ms]f features to make package more resistant to slight warehouse API changes.
• Data retrieval functions now work with BCGW name (#106)
• Add CITATION file (#104)
• Increased test coverage (#112)
• Skipping all tests on CRAN that require a web connection
• Better and more informative error message when experiencing http failures occur (#121)
• Added print methods for show_query
• Change examples to donttest
• Added verbose argument to bcdc_get_record to enable suppressing console writing

bcdata 0.1.0

• Initial Release

bcgov/bcdc documentation built on April 13, 2025, 2:49 p.m.