NEWS
inkaR 0.6.6 (2026-06-29)
New Functions
compare_districts() / compare_district(): Filter downloaded datasets by district IDs (Kennziffer) or names.
compare_region(): Singular alias for compare_regions().
Enhancements
plot_inkar() upgrades:
- Added support for
BND (Germany level 0) and GEM (Municipalities level 3) boundaries.
- Added
geom parameter to plot data on custom sf boundaries (e.g. ROR spatial planning regions).
- Added a viridis map output image to the introduction vignette.
- Base R Fuzzy Fallback: Added a fallback using built-in
utils::adist() when the stringdist package is not available.
- CRAN Policy compliance: Relocated usage history tracking from
~/.inkaR_history to tools::R_user_dir("inkaR", which = "config") in interactive sessions, and disabled it entirely in non-interactive sessions.
- API stability: Added a null-response check to parallel request loops to handle timeouts gracefully.
- Documentation: Built a complete
pkgdown package documentation website.
inkaR 0.6.5
New Functions
inkar(): English-first shortcut alias for get_inkar_data() with lang = "en" and year = "latest" as defaults.
compare_regions(): Filter a downloaded data frame to specific regions by partial name match.
inkar_trends(): Plot time series as a ggplot2 line chart for selected regions.
get_themes(): List unique indicator themes from the local metadata for use with theme filtering.
Enhancements
year = "latest": get_inkar_data() now accepts year = "latest" to automatically download only the most recent available year.
plot_inkar() improvements: New highlight, breaks (equal/quantile), and title parameters for richer map customization.
search_indicators() / view_indicators(): New theme parameter to pre-filter by indicator domain (see get_themes()).
- pkgdown support: Added
_pkgdown.yml for documentation website generation.
inkaR 0.6.4
New Features
- Smart ID resolver:
get_inkar_data() now resolves indicator IDs through five fallback tiers (exact, numeric, normalized, partial name, fuzzy).
- Schema guarantee: All 9 expected output columns are always present, even when the API returns partial data.
- Readable wide-format column names: Multi-indicator wide-format output now uses indicator names (e.g.,
Gross_domestic_product) instead of opaque IDs (ind_11).
- Retry & timeout: API requests now include a 30-second timeout and automatic retry.
- Progress bar: Multi-indicator downloads show a
cli progress bar.
- Improved fuzzy search:
search_indicators() now compares against Name_EN only and uses a tighter Jaro-Winkler threshold.
update_indicators() stability: Gracefully handles API 500 errors instead of crashing.
- BLD-level warning: Informative message when BLD-level data is unavailable for a given indicator.
inkaR 0.6.2 (2026-04-02)
Bug Fixes
- CRAN Archive Fix:
get_cache_dir() no longer writes to ~/.cache/R/inkaR/
during non-interactive sessions (e.g. R CMD check). In non-interactive
environments the cache now uses tempdir() (cleaned up at session end),
while interactive sessions continue to use the persistent
tools::R_user_dir("inkaR", which = "cache") directory. This resolves the
NOTE that caused the package to be archived on CRAN
(checking for new files in some other directories).
inkaR 0.6.0
New Features
- Interactive Selection Wizard: Calling
inkaR() without arguments now opens a professional CLI wizard to guide users through selecting an indicator, then an available spatial level, and finally a year or year range.
- Analytical Multi-Indicator Downloads: Users can now pass a vector of IDs (e.g.,
c("bip", "xbev")) or enter multiple IDs in the wizard (separated by spaces).
- Multi-Indicator Joins: Automatically handles the merging of multiple indicators.
format = "long" (default) stacks indicators in a tidy format.
format = "wide" pivots indicators into individual columns for direct comparison and mathematical operations.
- Fuzzy Search Engine: Indicator selection now supports error-tolerant search using the
stringdist package (Jaro-Winkler method).
CLI Enhancements
- Professional Table Display: Rewrote indicator selection and search results using the
cli package for high-end, paginated, and responsive terminal tables.
- Usage History & Favorites: The package now tracks frequently and recently used indicators, highlighting them in green and pinning them to the top of selection lists.
- Intelligent Year Selection: Implemented a professional 4-column layout for year selection with validated user input.
Professional Visualizations
- Premium Themes: Introduced
theme_inkaR(), a high-end ggplot2 theme with dedicated light and dark modes.
- Upgraded Mapping:
plot_inkar() now supports bilingual labels, automatic unit extraction, and professional color palettes (Viridis, Magma).
inkaR 0.4.4 (2026-03-16)
- FIXED: Added graceful handling for SSL certificate verification issues on specific CRAN builders (e.g., Fedora).
- IMPROVED: Wrapped network-dependent examples in
try() to ensure CRAN checks pass even with environment-specific network limitations.
inkaR 0.4.3 (2026-03-13)
- FIXED: Addressed CRAN feedback regarding single quotes in
DESCRIPTION.
- FIXED: Added missing
\value tags to exported .Rd files (e.g., clear_inkar_cache()).
- FIXED: Replaced
\dontrun{} with \donttest{} or if(interactive()) to ensure proper example testing.
- FIXED: Ensured CSV exporting examples do not write to the user home directory (
tempdir()).
inkaR 0.4.2
Enhancements
- Added persistent disk-caching (
tools::R_user_dir) to heavily improve GetGebieteZumRaumbezug lookup times across sessions.
- Implemented parallel API dispatching (
httr2::req_perform_parallel) for exploring spatial levels, eliminating the sequential wait time.
- Introduced
plot_inkar() for native geospatial mapping with ggplot2 and sf by directly downloading and matching GADM polygon data.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed missing mock payloads in
testthat by completely regenerating httptest2 records.
- Avoided decimal conversion errors (
NA) by implementing robust locale-agnostic numeric parsing.
- Addressed spell checking NOTEs caught by win-builder.