Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

giscoR 1.1.0

CRAN release: 2026-03-28

• Adapt vignettes to Quarto.
• Bump the minimum httr2 version to 1.2.0 (#126).
• Query timeout can now be controlled with options(gisco_timeout) using httr2::req_timeout(). The default value is httr2::req_timeout(..., seconds = 300) (5 minutes) (#123).
• Use testthat::local_mocked_bindings() for API error testing.

giscoR 1.0.1

CRAN release: 2026-01-23

• Fix a bug that overwrote the internal database with the cached version in a new session. The cache now persists.
• Update ?gisco_db.
• gisco_get_unit_urban_audit() and gisco_get_urban_audit() now default to the latest available year, 2024.

giscoR 1.0.0

CRAN release: 2025-12-10

This major release introduces a full overhaul of the codebase and test suite. Requests now use httr2, and GeoPackage ("gpkg") is 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, when GISCO publishes a new release, you can access updated data by refreshing the cached database without waiting for a new version of giscoR.

The package now uses tools::R_user_dir() instead of rappdirs::user_config_dir() for managing the persistent cache directory. If you already have a cache directory in place, you will see a one-time message about this migration.

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 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 have been renamed and one function has been 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

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

Note: Previous caches must be recreated.

Compatibility and performance

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

New functions

• gisco_get_cached_db() provides access to the cached internal database.
• gisco_get_census() provides access to census grid data.
• gisco_get_metadata() provides access to GISCO metadata.
• gisco_get_unit_country() provides access to country unit data and replaces the corresponding gisco_get_units() workflow.
• gisco_get_unit_nuts() provides access to NUTS unit data and replaces the corresponding gisco_get_units() workflow.
• gisco_get_unit_urban_audit() provides access to Urban Audit unit data and replaces the corresponding gisco_get_units() workflow.
• gisco_id_api_biogeo_region() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.
• gisco_id_api_census_grid() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.
• gisco_id_api_country() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.
• gisco_id_api_geonames() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.
• gisco_id_api_lau() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.
• gisco_id_api_nuts() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.
• gisco_id_api_river_basin() provides access to the GISCO ID service API.

Renamed functions

• gisco_address_api() replaces gisco_addressapi(). The old name remains available as an alias.
• gisco_get_coastal_lines() replaces gisco_get_coastallines(). The old name remains available as an alias.
• gisco_get_postal_codes() replaces gisco_get_postalcodes(). The old name remains available as an alias.

Argument updates

• ext adds control over the file format ("gpkg", "shp" or "geojson").
• year defaults are updated to the latest release (#105).

Dataset updates

• ?gisco_coastal_lines is added and replaces gisco_coastallines.
• ?gisco_countries_2024 is added and replaces gisco_countries.
• ?gisco_db is updated to the newest data.
• ?gisco_nuts_2024 is added and replaces gisco_nuts.

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

Use the updated datasets or, preferably, retrieve them with the corresponding functions such as gisco_get_countries() with default arguments.

Deprecations

• gisco_bulk_download() renames the id_giscoR argument to id.
• gisco_get_communes() and gisco_get_lau() deprecate the cache argument in heavy-download functions.
• gisco_get_units() is deprecated. Equivalent functionality is now available through gisco_get_metadata() and the ?gisco_get_unit family.

Other updates

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

giscoR 0.6.1

CRAN release: 2025-01-27

• gisco_get_lau() fixes source filtering.

giscoR 0.6.0

CRAN release: 2024-08-28

Data updates

• gisco_get_countries() and gisco_get_nuts() add support for 2024 datasets (#93, @hannesaddec).
• gisco_get_education() and gisco_get_healthcare() add the year argument and support 2020 and 2023 data.

giscoR 0.5.1

CRAN release: 2024-07-06

• Review failing examples.
• Update ?gisco_db.
• Use CRAN DOI.
• gisco_get_education() fixes API entry points.

giscoR 0.5.0

CRAN release: 2024-05-29

• Add jsonlite to Imports.
• Update documentation URLs.
• ?gisco_addressapi adds support for the GISCO Address API.
• ?gisco_db is updated.
• gisco_get_education() is added.
• gisco_get_lau() updates its default year to "2021".
• gisco_get_urban_audit() updates its default year to "2021".

giscoR 0.4.2

CRAN release: 2024-03-27

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

giscoR 0.4.1

CRAN release: 2024-03-15

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

giscoR 0.4.0

CRAN release: 2023-10-30

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

giscoR 0.3.5

CRAN release: 2023-06-30

• Improve error handling so functions return an informative message and NULL.
• Review examples for CRAN issues.
• gisco_detect_cache_dir() is added.

giscoR 0.3.4

CRAN release: 2023-05-26

• Update tests and documentation.

giscoR 0.3.3

CRAN release: 2023-02-16

• gisco_get_healthcare() fixes URLs (#51).

giscoR 0.3.2

CRAN release: 2022-08-13

• Fix CRAN-requested HTML5 issues.

giscoR 0.3.1

CRAN release: 2021-10-06

• Add copyright section.
• Add lwgeom to Suggests.
• Remove the tgs00026 dataset.
• Update ?gisco_db.
• gisco_get_airports() and gisco_get_ports() now always download fresh 2013 data.
• gisco_get_postalcodes() is added.

giscoR 0.3.0

CRAN release: 2021-09-27

• Add new tests.
• Fix cache = FALSE behavior.
• Improve caching with gisco_set_cache_dir(), persistent cache directories and gisco_clear_cache().
• Remove lwgeom.
• Replace tmap with ggplot2.
• Transfer the package to rOpenGov.
• Update documentation and examples.
• Update the internal grid.
• ?gisco_get documentation is refactored.

giscoR 0.2.4

CRAN release: 2021-04-13

• Add a vignette.
• Move to roxygen2.
• Move lwgeom to Imports.
• Replace cartography with tmap.
• ?gisco_countrycode adds the eu field.

giscoR 0.2.3

• Release DOI.
• Update documentation.

giscoR 0.2.2

CRAN release: 2020-11-23

• Remove the vignette.

giscoR 0.2.1

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

giscoR 0.2.0

CRAN release: 2020-11-12

• Add the verbose argument.
• Remove colorspace.
• Require R ≥ 3.6.0.
• Rewrite internal utilities.
• Rewrite ?gisco_db.
• gisco_bulk_download() is added.
• gisco_check_access() is added.
• gisco_get_airports() is added.
• gisco_get_countries() and gisco_get_nuts() get faster downloads.
• gisco_get_grid() is added.
• gisco_get_ports() is added.
• gisco_get_units() is added.
• ?gisco_get functions reorder arguments.

giscoR 0.1.1

CRAN release: 2020-10-28

• Add the tgs00026 dataset.
• Remove the eurostat dependency.

giscoR 0.1.0

CRAN release: 2020-10-13

• First stable release.