Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

giscoR 1.0.0

This major release introduces a full overhaul of the codebase and test suite. Requests now use httr2, and GeoPackage (”gpkg”) becomes the preferred download format when available. Cached files are reorganized into topic-based subfolders for easier management.

Because of internal changes, existing caches are not compatible with this release and must be rebuilt.

Database management has also been improved. Instead of relying on the static ?gisco_db dataset, the package now stores the database in the cache. This cached database is used for all API calls and can be updated via gisco_get_cached_db(update_cache = TRUE). In practice, this means that when GISCO publishes a new yearly release, you can access the new updated data simply by refreshing the cached database without waiting for a new version of giscoR.

We have transitioned from rappdirs::user_config_dir() to tools::R_user_dir() for managing your persistent cache directory. If you are a heavy giscoR user and already have a cache directory in place, you’ll receive a one-time friendly message informing you about this migration. Consider it a warm welcome to giscoR 1.0.0 😉.

The package now requires R ≥ 4.1, and dependency updates improve both performance and maintainability. All functions return tidy objects (tibbles or sf objects with tibble data).

Dataset subsetting is now performed at read time using GDAL’s query capabilities (sf::read_sf()), improving performance and reducing file size. The geojsonsf dependency is no longer required.

Several new functions and arguments have been added, some functions renamed, and one deprecated. All bundled datasets have been updated to their latest versions.

We recommend reviewing the updated documentation at https://ropengov.github.io/giscoR/.

Major changes

• Refactor code and test suite for improved stability.
• Switch API requests to httr2.
• Adopt GeoPackage (”gpkg”) as the preferred download format.
• Reorganize cache into topic-based subfolders.

Note: Previous caches must be recreated.

Compatibility and performance

• Require R ≥ 4.1.
• Update dependencies:
  • Add: cli, httr2, lifecycle, tibble
  • Remove: geojsonsf
• Return tidy objects consistently.
• Perform dataset subsetting at read time using GDAL queries via sf::read_sf().

New functions

• Metadata and database utilities:
  • gisco_get_cached_db()
  • gisco_get_metadata()
• gisco_get_census() for accessing census grid data.
• New separate functions to access unit data (replacing gisco_get_units()):
  • gisco_get_unit_country()
  • gisco_get_unit_nuts()
  • gisco_get_unit_urban_audit()
• Functions to access the GISCO ID service API
  • gisco_id_api_geonames()
  • gisco_id_api_nuts()
  • gisco_id_api_lau()
  • gisco_id_api_country()
  • gisco_id_api_river_basin()
  • gisco_id_api_biogeo_region()
  • gisco_id_api_census_grid()

Renamed functions

We renamed several functions to improve clarity and consistency:

• ?gisco_addressapi → ?gisco_address_api
• gisco_get_coastallines() → gisco_get_coastal_lines()
• gisco_get_postalcodes() → gisco_get_postal_codes()

Old names remain available as aliases.

Argument updates

• Add ext argument to control file format (”gpkg”, ”shp”, ”geojson”).
• Update default year to the latest release (#105).

Dataset updates

We updated all bundled datasets to their latest versions and added new ones:

• Update ?gisco_db to the newest data.
• Add ?gisco_countries_2024 (replaces gisco_countries).
• Add ?gisco_nuts_2024 (replaces gisco_nuts).
• Add ?gisco_coastal_lines (replaced gisco_coastallines).

The datasets gisco_countries, gisco_nuts, and gisco_coastallines are no longer available. Any code that accessed them directly (e.g., giscoR::gisco_countries) will now fail.

Please use the updated datasets or, preferably, retrieve them via the corresponding functions such as gisco_get_countries() with default parameters.

Deprecations

• Deprecate gisco_get_units().
  • Functionality is now available through gisco_get_metadata() and the ?gisco_get_unit family.
• Deprecate cache argument in heavy-download functions (gisco_get_lau(), gisco_get_communes()).
• In gisco_bulk_download(), rename id_giscoR → id.

Other updates

• Add Eurostat as copyright holder.
• Rewrite the full test suite.
• Review and improve documentation.
• Reorganize pkgdown site.
• Use cli for all messages.

giscoR 0.6.1

CRAN release: 2025-01-27

• Fix source filtering in gisco_get_lau().

giscoR 0.6.0

CRAN release: 2024-08-28

Data updates

• Add year argument to gisco_get_education() and gisco_get_healthcare(); support 2020 and 2023 data.
• Add support for 2024 datasets in gisco_get_nuts() and gisco_get_countries() (#93, @hannesaddec).

giscoR 0.5.1

CRAN release: 2024-07-06

• Use CRAN DOI.
• Fix API entry points in gisco_get_education().
• Review failing examples.

giscoR 0.5.0

CRAN release: 2024-05-29

• Add gisco_get_education().
• Add support for the GISCO Address API (see ?gisco_addressapi).
• Add jsonlite to Imports.
• Update ?gisco_db.
• Update defaults:
  • gisco_get_lau() → ”2021”
  • gisco_get_urban_audit() → ”2021”
• Update documentation URLs.

giscoR 0.4.2

CRAN release: 2024-03-27

• Update documentation to avoid CRAN warnings (#81).
• Rebuild datasets.

giscoR 0.4.1

CRAN release: 2024-03-15

• Clarify where country and region arguments apply (#50, #75).
• Migrate from httr to httr2.
• Remove tgs00026 dataset.

giscoR 0.4.0

CRAN release: 2023-10-30

• Add geo column to gisco_get_nuts() (#62).
• Update CRAN examples.
• Add httr dependency.

giscoR 0.3.5

CRAN release: 2023-06-30

• Review examples for CRAN issues.
• Add gisco_detect_cache_dir().
• Improve error handling: return informative message and NULL.

giscoR 0.3.4

CRAN release: 2023-05-26

• Update tests and documentation.

giscoR 0.3.3

CRAN release: 2023-02-16

• Fix URLs in gisco_get_healthcare() (#51).

giscoR 0.3.2

CRAN release: 2022-08-13

• Fix CRAN-requested HTML5 issue.

giscoR 0.3.1

CRAN release: 2021-10-06

• Add copyright section.
• Add lwgeom to Suggests.
• Update behavior of gisco_get_airports() and gisco_get_ports():
  • Only year available: 2013
  • Always download fresh data
• Add gisco_get_postalcodes().
• Update ?gisco_db.

giscoR 0.3.0

CRAN release: 2021-09-27

• Transfer package to rOpenGov.
• Improve caching:
  • Add gisco_set_cache_dir()
  • Persist cache directory across sessions
  • Add gisco_clear_cache()
• Fix cache = FALSE behavior.
• Add new tests.
• Update documentation and examples.
• Refactor ?gisco_get documentation.
• Add eurostat to Suggests.
• Remove lwgeom.
• Update internal grid.
• Replace tmap with ggplot2.

giscoR 0.2.4

CRAN release: 2021-04-13

• Add eu field to ?gisco_countrycode.
• Fix documentation typos.
• Add vignette.
• Move to roxygen2.
• Move lwgeom to Imports.
• Replace cartography with tmap.

giscoR 0.2.3

• Update documentation.
• Release DOI.

giscoR 0.2.2

CRAN release: 2020-11-23

• Remove vignette.

giscoR 0.2.1

• Remove CRAN notes.
• Improve documentation.
• Fix CRAN checks.

giscoR 0.2.0

CRAN release: 2020-11-12

• Remove colorspace.
• Require R ≥ 3.6.0.
• Reorder arguments in ?gisco_get functions.
• Rewrite internal utilities.
• Add verbose argument.
• Rewrite ?gisco_db.
• Add:
  • gisco_bulk_download()
  • gisco_check_access()
  • gisco_get_airports()
  • gisco_get_grid()
  • gisco_get_ports()
  • gisco_get_units()
• Update gisco_get_countries() and gisco_get_nuts() for faster downloads.

giscoR 0.1.1

CRAN release: 2020-10-28

• Add tgs00026 dataset.
• Remove eurostat dependency.

giscoR 0.1.0

CRAN release: 2020-10-13

• First stable release.