A1 Journal article – refereed
Retrieval and Analysis of Eurostat Open Data with the eurostat Package
List of Authors: Lahti L, Huovari J, Kainu M, Biecek P
Publisher: R FOUNDATION STATISTICAL COMPUTING
Publication year: 2017
Journal name in source: R JOURNAL
Journal acronym: R J
Volume number: 9
Issue number: 1
Number of pages: 8
ISSN: 2073-4859
Abstract
The increasing availability of open statistical data resources is providing novel opportunities for research and citizen science. Efficient algorithmic tools are needed to realize the full potential of the new information resources. We introduce the eurostat R package that provides a collection of custom tools for the Eurostat open data service, including functions to query, download, manipulate, and visualize these data sets in a smooth, automated and reproducible manner. The online documentation provides detailed examples on the analysis of these spatio-temporal data collections. This work provides substantial improvements over the previously available tools, and has been extensively tested by an active user community. The eurostat R package contributes to the growing open source ecosystem dedicated to reproducible research in computational social science and digital humanities.