Download Geosphere Austria Station Metadata — geosphere_get

Retrieves station metadata from the Geosphere Austria API, typically from a dataset's metadata endpoint. Optionally caches the result to a local file.

Usage

geosphere_get_stations(
  metadata_url =
    "https://dataset.api.hub.geosphere.at/v1/station/historical/klima-v2-1d/metadata",
  output_path = NULL,
  return_format = c("sf", "dataframe"),
  cache_format = c("rds", "csv"),
  crs = 4326,
  verbose = FALSE
)

Arguments

metadata_url: The full URL to the metadata endpoint of a specific Geosphere API dataset that contains station information (e.g., ".../metadata"). Defaults to the metadata URL for the "klima-v2-1d" dataset.
output_path: Optional. A file path (e.g., "stations.rds" or "stations.csv") where the downloaded and processed station data (as an sf object or data frame) should be saved for caching. If the file exists, it will be loaded from the cache instead of downloading. Using ".rds" is recommended for saving the sf object perfectly.
return_format: Character. Either "sf" (default) to return an sf spatial data frame or "dataframe" to return a regular data frame.
cache_format: Character. Format to use for caching if output_path is provided. Either "rds" (default, recommended for sf objects) or "csv". Ignored if output_path is NULL. Note that saving sf objects to CSV loses spatial information unless WKT geometry is explicitly handled.
crs: Coordinate reference system for the output sf object. Defaults to 4326 (WGS 84), assuming the API provides standard longitude/latitude.
verbose: Logical. If TRUE, print informative messages.

Value

An sf spatial data frame (if return_format = "sf") or a regular data frame (if return_format = "dataframe") containing station metadata. Returns NULL if downloading or processing fails and no cache exists.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Ensure sf is installed: install.packages("sf")

# Example 1: Get stations as an sf object (default)
stations_sf <- geosphere_get_stations(verbose = TRUE)
if (!is.null(stations_sf)) {
  print(head(stations_sf))
  plot(st_geometry(stations_sf))
}

# Example 2: Get stations as a data frame and cache to RDS
stations_df <- geosphere_get_stations(
  return_format = "dataframe",
  output_path = "geosphere_stations_cache.rds",
  cache_format = "rds",
  verbose = TRUE
)
# Next time, it will load from "geosphere_stations_cache.rds" if it exists
stations_cached <- geosphere_get_stations(output_path = "geosphere_stations_cache.rds")

# Example 3: Use a different metadata URL (replace with a valid one)
# custom_url <- "https://dataset.api.hub.geosphere.at/v1/..."
# custom_stations <- geosphere_get_stations(metadata_url = custom_url)

} # }