Download NatureCounts data records

Download data records from various collections filtered by various options. In order to ease the load on the server, note that only three of collections/project_ids, species, years, doy, region, and site_type can be used in any one request. See the vignette for filtering your data after download for more options: vignette("filtering_data", package = "naturecounts").

nc_data_dl(
  collections = NULL,
  project_ids = NULL,
  species = NULL,
  years = NULL,
  doy = NULL,
  region = NULL,
  site_type = NULL,
  fields_set = "minimum",
  fields = NULL,
  username,
  info = NULL,
  request_id = NULL,
  sql_db = NULL,
  warn = TRUE,
  timeout = 120,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

collections: Character vector. The collection codes from which to download data. NULL (default) downloads data from all available collections
project_ids: Character/Numeric vector. The project ids from which to download data. First the collections associated with a project_id are determined, and then data is downloaded for each collection. If both collections and project_ids are supplied, they are combined.
species: Numeric vector. Numeric species ids (see details)
years: Numeric vector. The start/end years of data to download. Can use NA for either start or end, or a single value to return data from a single year.
doy: Character/Numeric vector. The start/end day-of-year to download (1-366 or dates that can be converted to day of year). Can use NA for either start or end
region: List. Named list with one of the following options: country, statprov, subnational2, iba, bcr, utm_squares, bbox. See details
site_type: Character vector. The type of site to return (e.g., IBA).
fields_set: Character. Set of fields/columns to download. See details.
fields: Character vector. If fields_set = custom, which fields/columns to download. See details
username: Character vector. Username for http://naturecounts.ca. If provided, the user will be prompted for a password. If left NULL, only public collections will be returned.
info: Character vector. Short description of reason for the download. E.g., "COSEWIC report", "Impact Assessment Study", "School project", etc. This kind of information helps NatureCounts.ca justify the utility of the database. Required unless resuming/re-downloaded with a request_id.
request_id: Numeric. Specific request id to check or download.
sql_db: Character vector. Name and location of SQLite database to either create or add to
warn: Logical. Interactive warning if request more than 1,000,000 records to download.
timeout: Numeric. Number of seconds before connecting to the server times out.
verbose: Logical. Show messages?

Value

Data frame or connection to SQLite database

NatureCounts account

All public data is available with a username/password (sign up for a free NatureCounts account). However, to access private/semi-public projects/collections you must request access. See the Access and request_ids section for more information.

Species ids (`species`)

Numeric species id codes can determined from the functions search_species() or search_species_code(). See also the article on species codes for more information.

Day of Year (`doy`)

The format for day of year (doy) is fairly flexible and can be a whole number between 1 and 366 or anything recognized by lubridate-package's ymd() function. However, it must have the order of year, month, day. Note that year is ignored when converting to day of year, except that it will result in a 1 day offset for leap years.

Regions (`region`)

Regions are defined by codes reflecting the country, state/province, subnational (level 2), Important Bird Areas (IBA), and Bird Conservation Regions (BCR) (see search_region() for codes). They can also be defined by providing specific UTM squares to download or a bounding box area which specifies the min/max longitude and min/max latitude (bbox). See the article on regional filters for more information.

Data Fields/Columns (`fields_set` and `fields`)

By default data is downloaded with the minimum set of fields/columns. However, for more advanced applications, users may wish to specify which fields/columns to return. The Bird Monitoring Data Exchange (BMDE) schema keeps track of variables used to augment observation data. There are different versions reflecting different collections of variables which can be specified for download in one of four ways:

fields_set can be a specific shorthand reflecting a BMDE version: core, extended or minimum (default). See meta_bmde_versions() to see which BMDE version the shorthand refers to.
fields_set can be default which uses the default BMDE version for a particular collection (note that if you download more than one collection, the field sets will expand to cover all fields/columns in the combined collections)
fields_set can be the exact BMDE version. See meta_bmde_versions() for options.
fields_set can be custom and the fields argument can be a character vector specifying the exact fields/columns to return. See meta_bmde_fields()) for potential fields values.

Note that in all cases there are a set of fields/columns that are always returned, no matter what fields_set is used.

Access and `request_id`s

Access to a data collection is either available as "full" or "by request". Use nc_count(username = "USER", show = "all"), to see the accessibility of collections.

"Full" access means that data can be immediately requested directly through the naturecounts R package. "By request" means that a request must be submitted online and approved before the data can be downloaded through naturecounts.

This means that there are two types of data requests: ones made through this naturecounts R package (API requests) and those made through the online Web Request Form (Web requests). Every request (from either method) generates a request_id which identifies the filter set and collections requested. Details of all of requests can be reviewed with the nc_requests() function.

To download data with "full" access, users can either specify filters, or if they are repeating a download, can use the request_id from nc_requests().

Otherwise, if the user doesn't have "full" access, they must supply an approved request_id to the nc_data_dl() function (e.g., nc_data_dl(request_id = 152000, username = "USER")). Use nc_requests() to see request_ids, filters, and approval status.

Requests for "full" access to additional collections can be made online through the Web Request Form by checking the "Full access?" box in Step 2 of the form.

Examples

# All observations part of the SAMPLE1 and SAMPLE2 collections
sample <- nc_data_dl(collections = c("SAMPLE1", "SAMPLE2"),
                     username = "sample", info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: collections (SAMPLE1, SAMPLE2); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1      991
#> 2    SAMPLE2      995
#> Total records: 1,986
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 991 / 991
#>   SAMPLE2
#>     Records 1 to 995 / 995

# All observations part of project_id 1042 accessible by "testuser"
p1042 <- nc_data_dl(project_ids = 1042, username = "testuser",
                    info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: collections (ABATLAS1, ABATLAS2, ABBIRDRECS); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1   ABATLAS1   123364
#> 2   ABATLAS2   201357
#> 3 ABBIRDRECS   357264
#> Total records: 681,985
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   ABATLAS1
#>     Records 1 to 5000 / 123364
#>     Records 5001 to 10000 / 123364
#>     Records 10001 to 15000 / 123364
#>     Records 15001 to 20000 / 123364
#>     Records 20001 to 25000 / 123364
#>     Records 25001 to 30000 / 123364
#>     Records 30001 to 35000 / 123364
#>     Records 35001 to 40000 / 123364
#>     Records 40001 to 45000 / 123364
#>     Records 45001 to 50000 / 123364
#>     Records 50001 to 55000 / 123364
#>     Records 55001 to 60000 / 123364
#>     Records 60001 to 65000 / 123364
#>     Records 65001 to 70000 / 123364
#>     Records 70001 to 75000 / 123364
#>     Records 75001 to 80000 / 123364
#>     Records 80001 to 85000 / 123364
#>     Records 85001 to 90000 / 123364
#>     Records 90001 to 95000 / 123364
#>     Records 95001 to 1e+05 / 123364
#>     Records 100001 to 105000 / 123364
#>     Records 105001 to 110000 / 123364
#>     Records 110001 to 115000 / 123364
#>     Records 115001 to 120000 / 123364
#>     Records 120001 to 123364 / 123364
#>   ABATLAS2
#>     Records 1 to 5000 / 201357
#>     Records 5001 to 10000 / 201357
#>     Records 10001 to 15000 / 201357
#>     Records 15001 to 20000 / 201357
#>     Records 20001 to 25000 / 201357
#>     Records 25001 to 30000 / 201357
#>     Records 30001 to 35000 / 201357
#>     Records 35001 to 40000 / 201357
#>     Records 40001 to 45000 / 201357
#>     Records 45001 to 50000 / 201357
#>     Records 50001 to 55000 / 201357
#>     Records 55001 to 60000 / 201357
#>     Records 60001 to 65000 / 201357
#>     Records 65001 to 70000 / 201357
#>     Records 70001 to 75000 / 201357
#>     Records 75001 to 80000 / 201357
#>     Records 80001 to 85000 / 201357
#>     Records 85001 to 90000 / 201357
#>     Records 90001 to 95000 / 201357
#>     Records 95001 to 1e+05 / 201357
#>     Records 100001 to 105000 / 201357
#>     Records 105001 to 110000 / 201357
#>     Records 110001 to 115000 / 201357
#>     Records 115001 to 120000 / 201357
#>     Records 120001 to 125000 / 201357
#>     Records 125001 to 130000 / 201357
#>     Records 130001 to 135000 / 201357
#>     Records 135001 to 140000 / 201357
#>     Records 140001 to 145000 / 201357
#>     Records 145001 to 150000 / 201357
#>     Records 150001 to 155000 / 201357
#>     Records 155001 to 160000 / 201357
#>     Records 160001 to 165000 / 201357
#>     Records 165001 to 170000 / 201357
#>     Records 170001 to 175000 / 201357
#>     Records 175001 to 180000 / 201357
#>     Records 180001 to 185000 / 201357
#>     Records 185001 to 190000 / 201357
#>     Records 190001 to 195000 / 201357
#>     Records 195001 to 2e+05 / 201357
#>     Records 200001 to 201357 / 201357
#>   ABBIRDRECS
#>     Records 1 to 5000 / 357264
#>     Records 5001 to 10000 / 357264
#>     Records 10001 to 15000 / 357264
#>     Records 15001 to 20000 / 357264
#>     Records 20001 to 25000 / 357264
#>     Records 25001 to 30000 / 357264
#>     Records 30001 to 35000 / 357264
#>     Records 35001 to 40000 / 357264
#>     Records 40001 to 45000 / 357264
#>     Records 45001 to 50000 / 357264
#>     Records 50001 to 55000 / 357264
#>     Records 55001 to 60000 / 357264
#>     Records 60001 to 65000 / 357264
#>     Records 65001 to 70000 / 357264
#>     Records 70001 to 75000 / 357264
#>     Records 75001 to 80000 / 357264
#>     Records 80001 to 85000 / 357264
#>     Records 85001 to 90000 / 357264
#>     Records 90001 to 95000 / 357264
#>     Records 95001 to 1e+05 / 357264
#>     Records 100001 to 105000 / 357264
#>     Records 105001 to 110000 / 357264
#>     Records 110001 to 115000 / 357264
#>     Records 115001 to 120000 / 357264
#>     Records 120001 to 125000 / 357264
#>     Records 125001 to 130000 / 357264
#>     Records 130001 to 135000 / 357264
#>     Records 135001 to 140000 / 357264
#>     Records 140001 to 145000 / 357264
#>     Records 145001 to 150000 / 357264
#>     Records 150001 to 155000 / 357264
#>     Records 155001 to 160000 / 357264
#>     Records 160001 to 165000 / 357264
#>     Records 165001 to 170000 / 357264
#>     Records 170001 to 175000 / 357264
#>     Records 175001 to 180000 / 357264
#>     Records 180001 to 185000 / 357264
#>     Records 185001 to 190000 / 357264
#>     Records 190001 to 195000 / 357264
#>     Records 195001 to 2e+05 / 357264
#>     Records 200001 to 205000 / 357264
#>     Records 205001 to 210000 / 357264
#>     Records 210001 to 215000 / 357264
#>     Records 215001 to 220000 / 357264
#>     Records 220001 to 225000 / 357264
#>     Records 225001 to 230000 / 357264
#>     Records 230001 to 235000 / 357264
#>     Records 235001 to 240000 / 357264
#>     Records 240001 to 245000 / 357264
#>     Records 245001 to 250000 / 357264
#>     Records 250001 to 255000 / 357264
#>     Records 255001 to 260000 / 357264
#>     Records 260001 to 265000 / 357264
#>     Records 265001 to 270000 / 357264
#>     Records 270001 to 275000 / 357264
#>     Records 275001 to 280000 / 357264
#>     Records 280001 to 285000 / 357264
#>     Records 285001 to 290000 / 357264
#>     Records 290001 to 295000 / 357264
#>     Records 295001 to 3e+05 / 357264
#>     Records 300001 to 305000 / 357264
#>     Records 305001 to 310000 / 357264
#>     Records 310001 to 315000 / 357264
#>     Records 315001 to 320000 / 357264
#>     Records 320001 to 325000 / 357264
#>     Records 325001 to 330000 / 357264
#>     Records 330001 to 335000 / 357264
#>     Records 335001 to 340000 / 357264
#>     Records 340001 to 345000 / 357264
#>     Records 345001 to 350000 / 357264
#>     Records 350001 to 355000 / 357264
#>     Records 355001 to 357264 / 357264

# Black-capped Chickadees (BCCH) in SAMPLE2 collection in 2013
search_species("black-capped chickadee") # Find the species_id
#> # A tibble: 4 × 5
#>   species_id scientific_name                english_name french_name taxon_group
#>        <int> <chr>                          <chr>        <chr>       <chr>      
#> 1      14280 Poecile atricapillus           Black-cappe… Mésange à … BIRDS      
#> 2      40668 Poecile carolinensis x atrica… Carolina x … Hybride Mé… BIRDS      
#> 3      40669 Poecile carolinensis/atricapi… Carolina/Bl… Mésange de… BIRDS      
#> 4      44466 Poecile atricapillus x Baeolo… Black-cappe… Hybride Mé… BIRDS      
bcch <- nc_data_dl(collection = "SAMPLE2", species = 14280, year = 2013,
                   username = "sample", info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: collections (SAMPLE2); species (14280); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min); start_year (2013); end_year (2013)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE2       14
#> Total records: 14
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE2
#>     Records 1 to 14 / 14

# All BCCH observations since 2015 accessible to user "sample"
bcch <- nc_data_dl(species = 14280, years = c(2015, NA), username = "sample",
                    info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: species (14280); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min); start_year (2015)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1       20
#> 2    SAMPLE2       20
#> Total records: 40
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 20 / 20
#>   SAMPLE2
#>     Records 1 to 20 / 20

# All BCCH observations from mid-July to late October in all years for user "sample"
bcch <- nc_data_dl(species = 14280, doy = c(200, 300), username = "sample",
                    info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: species (14280); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min); start_doy (200); end_doy (300)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1        7
#> 2    SAMPLE2        7
#> Total records: 14
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 7 / 7
#>   SAMPLE2
#>     Records 1 to 7 / 7

# All BCCH observations from a specific bounding box for user "sample"
bcch <- nc_data_dl(species = 14280, username = "sample",
                   region = list(bbox = c(left = -100, bottom = 45,
                                          right = -80, top = 60)),
                    info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: species (14280); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min); bbox_left (-100); bbox_bottom (45); bbox_right (-80); bbox_top (60)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1        3
#> 2    SAMPLE2        2
#> Total records: 5
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 3 / 3
#>   SAMPLE2
#>     Records 1 to 2 / 2

# All American Bittern observations from user "sample"
search_species("american bittern")
#> # A tibble: 1 × 5
#>   species_id scientific_name       english_name     french_name      taxon_group
#>        <int> <chr>                 <chr>            <chr>            <chr>      
#> 1       2490 Botaurus lentiginosus American Bittern Butor d'Amérique BIRDS      
bittern <- nc_data_dl(species = 2490, username = "sample", info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: species (2490); fields_set (BMDE2.00-min)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1        1
#> Total records: 1
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 1 / 1

# Different fields/columns
bittern <- nc_data_dl(species = 2490, fields_set = "core",
                      username = "sample", info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: species (2490); fields_set (BMDE2.00)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1        1
#> Total records: 1
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 1 / 1

bittern <- nc_data_dl(species = 2490, fields_set = "custom",
                      fields = c("Locality", "AllSpeciesReported"),
                      username = "sample", info = "nc_example")
#> Using filters: species (2490); fields_set (custom); fields (Locality, AllSpeciesReported)
#> Collecting available records...
#>   collection nrecords
#> 1    SAMPLE1        1
#> Total records: 1
#> 
#> Downloading records for each collection:
#>   SAMPLE1
#>     Records 1 to 1 / 1

if (FALSE) {
# All collections by request id

# Specific collection by request id
my_data <- nc_data_dl(collections = "ABATLAS1",
                      request_id = 000000, username = "USER",
                      info = "MY REASON")
}

Arguments

Value

NatureCounts account

Species ids (species)

Day of Year (doy)

Regions (region)