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dataRetrieval

Retrieval functions for USGS and EPA hydrologic and water quality data.

A fairly large overhaul of the functions was done on November 31, 2014. Feedback from initial users was incorporated. For questions, bug reports, and suggestions please create an Issue here:

dataRetrieval Issues page

Function Overview

Web service retrieval functions:

Function Inputs Description
readNWISdata ..., service NWIS data using user-specified queries
readNWISdv Common 3, parameterCd, statCd NWIS daily data with Common query
readNWISqw Common 3, parameterCd, expanded NWIS water quality data with Common query
readNWISuv Common 3, parameterCd NWIS instantaneous data with Common query
readNWISpCode parameterCd NWIS parameter code information
readNWISgwl Common 3 NWIS groundwater level data with Common query
readNWISpeak Common 3 NWIS peak flow data with Common query
readNWISmeas Common 3 NWIS surface-water measurement data with Common query
readNWISrating siteNumber, type NWIS rating table for an active USGS streamgage
readNWISsite siteNumber NWIS site information
whatNWISsites ... NWIS site search using user-specified queries
whatNWISdata siteNumber, service NWIS data availability, including period of record and count
readWQPdata ... WQP data using user-specified queries
readWQPqw Common 3 WQP data with Common 3 query and either parameter code or characteristic name
whatWQPsites ... WQP site search using user-specified queries
  • Common 3 = siteNumber, startDate, endDate

##Reporting bugs

Please consider reporting bugs and asking questions on the Issues page:

https://github.com/USGS-R/dataRetrieval/issues

##Subscribe Please email questions, comments, and feedback to: egret_comments@usgs.gov

Additionally, to subscribe to an email list concerning updates to these R packages, please send a request to egret_comments@usgs.gov.

##Package Installation To install the dataRetrieval package, you must be using R 3.0 or greater and run the following command:

	install.packages("dataRetrieval")

##Version updates

###dataRetrieval 2.0.0

  • Changing naming convention. Migrated EGRET specific retrievals to EGRET:

Moved EGRET specific functions to EGRET (version 2.0.0 and greater):

|Information Source | Meta Data | Data | | -------------| -------------| ------------- |:-------------| |NWIS | readNWISInfo | readNWISSample | | | | readNWISDaily | | Water Quality Portal | readWQPInfo| readWQPSample | | User-supplied files | readUserInfo | readUserDaily| | | | readUserSample |

  • Added back WaterML2 parsing tool
  • Added specific groundwater, rating, peak, and surfacewater measurement functions
  • Attached metadata attributes to returned dataframes

###dataRetrieval 1.4.0

  • Changed naming convention:

###dataRetrieval 1.3.3

  • Updated getNWISSiteInfo to retrieve multiple site file datasets at once using a vector of siteNumbers as input argument.
  • Updated error-handling for Web service calls. More information is returned when errors happen
  • Added some basic processing to Water Quality Portal raw data retrievals. Date columns are returned as Date objects, value columns are numeric, and a column is created from the date/time/timezone columns that is POSIXct.
  • Added very generalized NWIS and WQP retrieval functions (getNWISData, getNWISSites, getGeneralWQPData, and whatWQPsites) which allow the user to use any argument available on the Web service platform.

###dataRetrieval 1.3.2

  • Deprecated getQWData, updated readWQPdata to take either parameter code or characteristic name.
  • Changed the name of raw data retrievals to: readNWISqw, getNWISunitData, getNWISdvData, and getWQPqwData (from: readNWISqw, retrieveUnitNWISData, retrieveNWISData, getRawQWData)
  • Added NA warning to getDVData function
  • Updated mergeReport to allow for Sample data with different measurements taken on the same day

##Sample Workflow

Load data from web services:

	library(dataRetrieval)
	Daily <- getNWISDaily("06934500","00060","1979-10-01","2010-09-30")
	Sample <-getNWISSample("06934500","00631","1970-10-01","2011-09-30")
	INFO <-getNWISInfo("06934500","00631", interactive=FALSE)
	Sample <-mergeReport(Daily, Sample)

##Disclaimer This software is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. Geological Survey, an agency of the United States Department of Interior. For more information, see the official USGS copyright policy

Although this software program has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS or the U.S. Government as to the accuracy and functioning of the program and related program material nor shall the fact of distribution constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in connection therewith.

This software is provided "AS IS."