wateRinfo facilitates access to waterinfo.be, a website managed by the Flanders Environment Agency (VMM) and Flanders Hydraulics Research. The website provides access to real-time water and weather related environmental variables for Flanders (Belgium), such as rainfall, air pressure, discharge, and water level. The package provides functions to search for stations and variables, and download time series.
To get started, see:
- Get started: an introduction to the package’s main functionalities.
- Function reference: overview of all functions.
- Articles: tutorials on how to use the package.
Installation
You can install the development version of wateRinfo from GitHub with:
# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("ropensci/wateRinfo")
# Or rOpenSci R-universe
install.packages("wateRinfo", repos = "https://ropensci.r-universe.dev")Example
For a number of supported variables (documented by VMM), the stations providing time series data for a given variable can be listed with the command get_stations().
If you want to know the supported variables, ask for the supported variables:
library(wateRinfo)
supported_variables("en")
#> variable_en
#> 1 discharge
#> 6 soil_saturation
#> 7 soil_moisture
#> 8 dew_point_temperature
#> 9 ground_temperature
#> 10 ground_heat
#> 11 irradiance
#> 12 air_pressure
#> 13 air_temperature_175cm
#> 14 rainfall
#> 20 relative_humidity
#> 21 evaporation_monteith
#> 25 evaporation_penman
#> 29 water_velocity
#> 34 water_level
#> 39 water_temperature
#> 40 wind_direction
#> 41 wind_speedListing the available air pressure stations:
get_stations("air_pressure")
#> ts_id station_latitude station_longitude station_id station_no
#> 1 78124042 51.20300 5.439589 12213 ME11_002
#> 2 78005042 51.02263 2.970584 12206 ME01_003
#> 3 78039042 51.24379 4.266912 12208 ME04_001
#> 4 78073042 50.88663 4.094898 12210 ME07_006
#> 5 78107042 51.16224 4.845708 12212 ME10_011
#> 6 78022042 51.27226 3.728299 12207 ME03_017
#> 7 78090042 50.73795 5.141976 12211 ME09_012
#> 8 78056042 50.86149 3.411318 12209 ME05_019
#> station_name stationparameter_name parametertype_name
#> 1 Overpelt_ME Pa Pa
#> 2 Zarren_ME Pa Pa
#> 3 Melsele_ME Pa Pa
#> 4 Liedekerke_ME Pa Pa
#> 5 Herentals_ME Pa Pa
#> 6 Boekhoute_ME Pa Pa
#> 7 Niel-bij-St.-Truiden_ME Pa Pa
#> 8 Waregem_ME Pa Pa
#> ts_unitsymbol dataprovider
#> 1 hPa VMM
#> 2 hPa VMM
#> 3 hPa VMM
#> 4 hPa VMM
#> 5 hPa VMM
#> 6 hPa VMM
#> 7 hPa VMM
#> 8 hPa VMMEach of the stations in the list for a given variable, are represented by a ts_id. These can be used to download the data of a given period with the command get_timeseries_tsid(), for example Overpelt (ts_id = 78124042):
overpelt_pressure <- get_timeseries_tsid("78124042",
from = "2017-04-01",
to = "2017-04-02")
head(overpelt_pressure)
#> Timestamp Value Quality Code
#> 1 2017-04-01 00:00:00 1008.8 130
#> 2 2017-04-01 00:15:00 1008.7 130
#> 3 2017-04-01 00:30:00 1008.7 130
#> 4 2017-04-01 00:45:00 1008.6 130
#> 5 2017-04-01 01:00:00 1008.5 130
#> 6 2017-04-01 01:15:00 1008.4 130Making a plot of the data with ggplot2:
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(overpelt_pressure, aes(x = Timestamp, y = Value)) +
geom_line() +
xlab("") + ylab("hPa") +
scale_x_datetime(date_labels = "%H:%M\n%Y-%m-%d", date_breaks = "6 hours")
Another option is to check the available variables for a given station, with the function get_variables(). Let’s consider again Overpelt (ME11_002) and check the first ten available variables at the Overpelt measurement station:
vars_overpelt <- get_variables("ME11_002")
head(vars_overpelt, 10)
#> station_name station_no ts_id ts_name parametertype_name
#> 1 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78522042 HydJaarMax Ts
#> 2 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78523042 HydJaarMin Ts
#> 3 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78693042 P.15 Ud
#> 4 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 94682042 MaandMin Ta
#> 5 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78531042 P.10 Ts
#> 6 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78518042 DagGem Ts
#> 7 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78521042 HydJaarGem Ts
#> 8 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78524042 KalJaarGem Ts
#> 9 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78533042 P.60 Ts
#> 10 Overpelt_ME ME11_002 78694042 Pv.15 Ud
#> stationparameter_name
#> 1 SoilT
#> 2 SoilT
#> 3 WDir
#> 4 Ta
#> 5 SoilT
#> 6 SoilT
#> 7 SoilT
#> 8 SoilT
#> 9 SoilT
#> 10 WDirDifferent pre-calculated variables are already available and a ts_id value is available for each of them to download the corresponding data. For example, DagGem (= daily mean values) of RH (= relative humidity), i.e. ts_id = 78382042:
overpelt_rh_daily <- get_timeseries_tsid("78382042",
from = "2017-04-01",
to = "2017-04-30")
head(overpelt_rh_daily)
#> Timestamp Value Quality Code
#> 1 2017-04-01 23:00:00 80.19 130
#> 2 2017-04-02 23:00:00 89.58 130
#> 3 2017-04-03 23:00:00 79.56 130
#> 4 2017-04-04 23:00:00 84.13 130
#> 5 2017-04-05 23:00:00 84.19 130
#> 6 2017-04-06 23:00:00 82.71 130
ggplot(overpelt_rh_daily, aes(x = Timestamp, y = Value)) +
geom_line() +
xlab("") + ylab(" RH (%)") +
scale_x_datetime(date_labels = "%b-%d\n%Y", date_breaks = "5 days")
Unfortunately, not all variables are documented, for which the check for the appropriate variable is not (yet) fully supported by the package.
More detailed tutorials are available in the package vignettes!
Note on restrictions of the downloads
The amount of data downloaded from waterinfo.be is limited via a credit system. You do not need to get a token right away to download data. For limited and irregular downloads, a token will not be required.
When you require more extended data requests, please request a download token from the waterinfo.be site administrators via the e-mail address hydrometrie@waterinfo.be with a statement of which data and how frequently you would like to download data. You will then receive a client-credit code that can be used to obtain a token that is valid for 24 hours, after which the token can be refreshed with the same client-credit code.
Get token with client-credit code: (limited client-credit code for testing purposes)
client <- paste0("MzJkY2VlY2UtODI2Yy00Yjk4LTljMmQtYjE2OTc4ZjBjYTZhOjRhZGE4",
"NzFhLTk1MjgtNGI0ZC1iZmQ1LWI1NzBjZThmNGQyZA==")
my_token <- get_token(client = client)
print(my_token)
#> Token:
#> eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJqdGkiOiJiNTFlM2U5MC1iY2FjLTQ4Y2ItYmNmOS0wM2NmMDIwODA5MDIiLCJpYXQiOjE2NTcyMTI0NTAsImlzcyI6Imh0dHA6Ly9sb2NhbGhvc3Q6ODA4MC9LaVdlYlBvcnRhbC9hdXRoIiwiYXVkIjoiMzJkY2VlY2UtODI2Yy00Yjk4LTljMmQtYjE2OTc4ZjBjYTZhIiwiZXhwIjoxNjU3Mjk4ODUwfQ.PQv_g2cfrOCdfcpmINZncTAbZgwchzxXwmSjlJU3WIk
#>
#> Attributes:
#> url: http://download.waterinfo.be/kiwis-auth/token
#> type: Bearer
#> expires: 2022-07-08 18:47:30 CESTReceive information on the validity of the token:
is.expired(my_token)
#> [1] FALSECheck when the token expires:
expires.in(my_token)
#> Time difference of 23.99999 hoursUse token when retrieving data:
get_stations(variable_name = "verdamping_monteith", token = my_token)
#> ts_id station_latitude station_longitude station_id station_no
#> 1 94310042 51.02263 2.970584 12206 ME01_003
#> 2 94516042 50.73795 5.141976 12211 ME09_012
#> 3 94530042 51.16224 4.845708 12212 ME10_011
#> 4 94544042 51.20300 5.439589 12213 ME11_002
#> 5 94474042 51.24379 4.266912 12208 ME04_001
#> 6 94502042 50.88663 4.094898 12210 ME07_006
#> 7 94460042 51.27226 3.728299 12207 ME03_017
#> 8 94488042 50.86149 3.411318 12209 ME05_019
#> station_name stationparameter_name parametertype_name
#> 1 Zarren_ME pET PET
#> 2 Niel-bij-St.-Truiden_ME pET PET
#> 3 Herentals_ME pET PET
#> 4 Overpelt_ME pET PET
#> 5 Melsele_ME pET PET
#> 6 Liedekerke_ME pET PET
#> 7 Boekhoute_ME pET PET
#> 8 Waregem_ME pET PET
#> ts_unitsymbol dataprovider
#> 1 mm VMM
#> 2 mm VMM
#> 3 mm VMM
#> 4 mm VMM
#> 5 mm VMM
#> 6 mm VMM
#> 7 mm VMM
#> 8 mm VMMOther clients
Besides this wateRinfo R client to gather data from waterinfo.be, there is also a Python client available. The pywaterinfo package contains similar functionalities.
The Flanders Hydraulics Research center also distributes clients for R, Python and Matlab upon request to download the data they share on waterinfo.be. For more information, contact them directly via hic@vlaanderen.be.
Acknowledgements
This package is just a small wrapper around waterinfo.be to facilitate researchers and other stakeholders in downloading the data from waterinfo.be. The availability of this data is made possible by de Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij, Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium, Maritieme Dienstverlening & Kust, Waterwegen en Zeekanaal NV en De Scheepvaart NV.
Meta
- We welcome contributions including bug reports.
- License: MIT
- Get citation information for wateRinfo in R doing
citation("wateRinfo"). - Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.