fozy81 / nbn4r Goto Github PK

Really useful package, but since upgrading to R 3.6 (Windows 10) I'm getting the following error on the install_github("fozy81/NBN4R"). The error states there is no RCurl package, but this is already installed and loaded.

installing source package 'NBN4R' ...
using staged installation
R
byte-compile and prepare package for lazy loading
Error in loadNamespace(i, c(lib.loc, .libPaths()), versionCheck = vI[[i]]) :
there is no package called 'RCurl'
Calls: ... loadNamespace -> withRestarts -> withOneRestart -> doWithOneRestart
Execution halted
ERROR: lazy loading failed for package 'NBN4R'
removing 'C:/Users/nras/R/win-library/3.6/NBN4R'
Error: Failed to install 'NBN4R' from GitHub

Hello,

I'm trying to query the NBN database using specieslist() for polygons of various shapes/areas. I have no problems when calculating species richness when using rectangular buffers. When I attempt to use a circular buffer, however, I receive a HTTP 414 error.

After a bit of research, I think this error might be caused by the length of the polygon string that I'm sending to NBN using specieslist(). For example, a simple rectangle can be defined like this:

library(NBN4R)
ext_rectangle<-"POLYGON ((-1.378784 52.09807, -1.378784 52.25807, -1.172791 52.25807, -1.172791 52.09807, -1.378784 52.09807))"
 rectangle_test<-specieslist(wkt = ext_rectangle) 

A small 2km circular buffer around a point, however, has a much longer polygon string (please excuse the inelegant code!):

library(NBN4R)
library(sf)
library(raster)

coords<-as.numeric(c("-0.406494", "51.998410"))
pt <- SpatialPointsDataFrame(data.frame(coords[1], coords[2]), data = data.frame('Pt1'), proj4string = CRS("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +no_defs +ellps=WGS84 +towgs84=0,0,0"))
poly<-st_as_sf(buffer(pt, width = 2000)) # Puts 2km circular buffer around point
ext_circular<-st_as_text(poly$geometry) # Creates a WKT string for specieslist() function
circle_test<-specieslist(wkt = ext_circular)

Error in check_status_code(status_code, on_redirect = on_redirect, on_client_error = on_client_error,  : 
  HTTP status code 414 received.
  Either there was an error with your request or in the NBN4R package, or the servers are down. If this problem persists please notify the NBN4R maintainers by lodging an issue at NBN4R github repo or emailing [email protected]
In addition: Warning messages:
1: In cached_get(url = this_url, type = "filename") :
  URL length may be longer than is allowed by the server
2: In download_to_file(url, outfile = this_outfile, binary_file = identical(type,  :
  URL length may be longer than is allowed by the server

If you inspect the objects ext_rectangle and ext_circular you'll notice the extreme difference in length, ostensibly because it takes more information to define a circle than it does a rectangle. I think that trying to pass a string as long as ext_circular using the specieslist() function is causing the HTTP 414 error.

My question, therefore, is whether there is an easier way of defining a circular buffer around a point, which I can convert to WKT so that specieslist() can function? Is this possible?

Thanks in advance.