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RCzechia: Spatial Objects of the Czech Republic

Source: R/RCzechia.R
RCzechia-package.Rd

A selection of spatial objects relevant to the Czech Republic. Due to CRAN package size requirements (5 MB) the objects are stored externally (on Amazon S3) - and therefore could not be implemented as datasets. They are functions returning data frames instead.

Details

To save time (and bandwidth) the downloaded objects are saved locally in tempdir directory when requested, and downloaded at most once per R session; out of respect to CRAN Repository Policy a more permanent caching on user's side is not attempted by default – but it can be actively introduced by the user either via a RCzechia::set_home() call or by setting the value of RCZECHIA_HOME environment variable directly, either using a Sys.setenv() call or via editing the .Renviron file.

This means that:

  • a working internet connection is required to use the full resolution objects

  • the first call to an object in a R session will download the object from the internet (and thus take some time)

  • the user an has an option to create a permanent local cache of the objects by setting the RCZECHIA_HOME environment variable in her .Renviron file, gaining a faster access to the objects in the future and sidestepping the requirement of a working internet connection. Out of respect to CRAN Repository Policy this is not default behavior.

For the most frequently used objects - republika, kraje and okresy - a low resolution version is also implemented. The low resolution data sets are stored locally (and working internet connection is not necessary to use them).

All objects are implemented as sf data frames.

Data overview & download sizes

  • republika - borders of the Czech Republic

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 245.8 KB, low res version internal

  • kraje - 14 regions / NUTS3 units

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 982.2 KB, low res version internal

  • okresy - 76 + 1 districts / LAU1 units

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 2.1 MB, low res version internal

  • orp_polygony - 205 + 1 municipalities with extended powers

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 3.1 MB, no low res version

  • obce_polygony - 6.258 municipalities as polygons

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 13.3 MB, no low res version

  • obce_body - 6.258 municipalities as centroids (points)

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 252.0 KB, no low res version

  • casti - 57 city districts (where available)

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 1.5 MB, no low res version

  • senat_obvody - 81 senate districts

    source: Czech Statistical Office, high res object: 10.5 MB, low res object: 50.0 KB

  • volebni_okrsky - 14.733 general election districts

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 75.8 MB, low res object: 5.0 MB

  • katastry - 13.076 cadastral areas of the Czech Republic

    source: RÚIAN / ČÚZK, high res object: 26.1 MB, no low res version

  • zip_codes - 2.671 ZIP code areas

    source: Czech Statistical Office, high res object: 45.4 MB, low res object: 2.1 MB

  • reky - rivers

    source: Data200, high res object: 4.4 MB, low res object: 301.4 KB

  • plochy - water bodies

    source: Data200, high res object: 687.0 KB, no low res version

  • lesy - woodland areas

    source: ArcČR 500 v3.3, high res object: 2.1 MB, no low res version

  • silnice - roads

    source: Data200, high res object: 6.0 MB, no low res version

  • zeleznice - railroads

    source: Data200, high res object: 805.8 KB, no low res version

  • KFME_grid - KFME grid cells (faunistické čtverce)

    source: own work, internal

  • chr_uzemi - protected natural areas

    source: AOPK ČR, high res object: 7.0 MB, no low res version

  • vyskopis - terrain relief

    source: Copernicus EU, high res object: 68.8 MB, no low res version

  • geomorfo - geomorphological divisions

    source: CENIA / INSPIRE, high res object: <1 MB, no low res version

  • historie - historical admin areas and census records, download size ~ 100 KB to 3.5 MB depending on object

    source: URRlab

Utility functions

In addition the following utility functions are implemented to support spatial workflow:

  • geocode - geocoding (from address to coordinates)

  • revgeo - reverse geocoding (from coordinates to address)

References

Lacko J (2023). “RCzechia: Spatial Objects of the Czech Republic.” Journal of Open Source Software, 8(83). doi:10.21105/joss.05082, https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.05082.

See also

Useful links:

Author

Maintainer: Jindra Lacko jindra.lacko@gmail.com (ORCID)

Other contributors:

  • Nick Bearman (ORCID) (Nick reviewed the package for JOSS, providing helpful comments leading to significant improvement of the package.) [reviewer]