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bcdata Service Documentation

2021-10-27

Source: vignettes/service_documentation.Rmd
service_documentation.Rmd

DataBC Services used by bcdata

This document is an attempt at a comprehensive list of services and API endpoints accessed by the bcdata R package, as well which return values we rely on from those endpoints.

BC Data Catalogue

API version:

  • PROD: https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/api/3
  • BETA: https://beta-catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/api/3

Endpoints:

  • /action/package_show
  • /action/package_search
    • license_id
    • download_audience
    • res_format
    • sector
    • organization
  • /action/package_list
  • /action/group_show

Response values used:

  • package:
    • title
    • name
    • id
    • license_title
    • type
    • notes
    • layer_name
    • resources (see below)
  • resource:
    • id
    • package_id
    • object_name (This is not always the same as the typeNames parameter in resource.url, as that is sometimes a simplified view - eg., WHSE_ADMIN_BOUNDARIES.ADM_NR_DISTRICTS_SPG vs WHSE_ADMIN_BOUNDARIES.ADM_NR_DISTRICTS_SP)
    • details
      • column_comments
      • column_name
    • bcdc_type (not actually using yet but may be useful)
    • format
    • resource_storage_location
    • name
    • url
  • group:
    • description
    • packages

Web Services

API Version:

Endpoints:

  • wfs: geo/pub/wfs
  • wms: geo/pub/wms

Query Parameters for geo/pub/wfs:

  • query is sent in the body of a POST request (with encode = "form"). If a dataset has > n records (default n = 1000), pagination is used to send sequential requests. Pagination is executed using count, sortBY, and startIndex.
    • SERVICE = “WFS”
    • VERSION = “2.0.0”
    • REQUEST = “GetCapabilities”
    • REQUEST = “GetFeature”
      • outputFormat = “application/json”
      • typeNames (extracted from resource.url and compared against resource.object_name)
      • SRSNAME (default EPSG:3005)
      • CQL_FILTER
      • count
      • propertyName
      • sortBy
      • startIndex