It's a nice idea, but I wouldn't be optimistic about it happening: Each of these public databases no doubt has its own more or less unique API, and the people likely to know the API well enough to write R code to access any particular database will be specialists in that field. They likely won't know much if anything about other public databases. The likelihood of a group forming to develop ** and maintain ** a single R package to access the no-doubt huge variety of public databases strikes me as small.
However, this looks like a great opportunity for a new CRAN Task View. The task view would simply identify which packages connect to which public databases. (sorry, I can't volunteer) -Don p.s. I can mention openair as a package that has tools to access public databases. -- Don MacQueen Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 7000 East Ave., L-627 Livermore, CA 94550 925-423-1062 On 1/13/12 2:12 PM, "MK" <mkao006rm...@gmail.com> wrote: >The WDI package on CRAN already provide access to the World Bank data >through their API, we also have an inhouse package for FAOSTAT here at >FAO but it is not mature enough to be released on CRAN yet. > >Not sure about other international organisations but I do agree that it >would be nice if there is a package which would make these data more >readily to R users. > > >On 13/01/12 22:58, Sarah Goslee wrote: >> R is Open Source. You're welcome to write tools, and submit your >> package to CRAN. I think some part of this has been done, based >> on questions to the list asking about those parts. >> >> Personally, I've been using S-Plus and then R for 18 years, and never >> required data from any of them. Which doesn't make it not important, >> but suggests that public databases aren't the be-all and end-all for >> R use. >> >> Sarah >> >> On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Benjamin Weber<m...@bwe.im> wrote: >>> Dear R Users - >>> >>> R is a wonderful software package. CRAN provides a variety of tools to >>> work on your data. But R is not apt to utilize all the public >>> databases in an efficient manner. >>> I observed the most tedious part with R is searching and downloading >>> the data from public databases and putting it into the right format. I >>> could not find a package on CRAN which offers exactly this fundamental >>> capability. >>> Imagine R is the unified interface to access (and analyze) all public >>> data in the easiest way possible. That would create a real impact, >>> would put R a big leap forward and would enable us to see the world >>> with different eyes. >>> >>> There is a lack of a direct connection to the API of these databases, >>> to name a few: >>> >>> - Eurostat >>> - OECD >>> - IMF >>> - Worldbank >>> - UN >>> - FAO >>> - data.gov >>> - ... >>> >>> The ease of access to the data is the key of information processing >>>with R. >>> >>> How can we handle the flow of information noise? R has to give an >>> answer to that with an extensive API to public databases. >>> >>> I would love your comments and ideas as a contribution in a vital >>>discussion. >>> >>> Benjamin >>> > >______________________________________________ >R-help@r-project.org mailing list >https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >PLEASE do read the posting guide >http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
