DataRetrieval.jl is a Julia alternative to the R dataRetrieval package for obtaining USGS water data directly from web services. There is also a Python dataretrieval package designed to perform the same functionality in the Python language.

Note: Due to the both the relative newness of the Julia language and a lack of knowledge regarding its adoption within the water community, the development of this package will be subject to demand from the community. Consequently, please raise an issue if there is functionality you'd like added to the Julia package.

The package currently must be installed from source. More stable, periodic, releases will be made to the 'main' branch while active development will occur on the 'dev' branch. To install the package, from the 'main' branch, run the following commands in the Julia REPL:

julia> ]
pkg> add https://code.usgs.gov/water/computational-tools/DataRetrieval.jl.git

The package is designed to be used in a similar manner to the R package. For example, to obtain information about a site, you can use the readNWISsite function:

julia> using DataRetrieval
julia> df, response = readNWISsite("05114000")

The readNWISsite function returns a DataFrame containing the site information and a HTTP.Messages.Response object containing the raw API GET query response. The DataFrame can be printed to the console:

julia> df
1×12 DataFrame
 Row │ agency_cd  site_no   station_nm                    site_tp_cd  dec_lat_ ⋯
     │ String7    String15  String31                      String3     String15 ⋯
─────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   1 │ USGS       05114000  SOURIS RIVER NR SHERWOOD, ND  ST          48.99001 ⋯
                                                               8 columns omitted

The HTTP.Messages.Response object can be used to examine the raw API GET query response. For example, we can look at the status of the GET request; a 200 code, for example, indicates a successful response:

julia> response.status
200

The documentation for the package is currently available on RStudio Connect, and can be found here.

Documentation for the "dev" branch is also available, and can be found here.

Contributions to the package are welcome. Please see the contributing guidelines for more information.

The package is licensed per the LICENSE.md file.

The package was developed by @jhariharan.

See DISCLAIMER.md.

For questions or comments about the package, please contact J. Hariharan

When citing DataRetrieval.jl please use:

Hariharan, J.A., 2023, DataRetrieval.jl-Julia package for obtaining USGS water data directly from web services: U.S. Geological Survey software release, Julia package, Reston, Va., https://doi.org/10.5066/P95XLHUH.

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