NEWS

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gfwr 2.0.0

gfwr was updated to work with version 3 of our APIs. This results in various breaking changes in parameter names and output formats. We aim to list here the major modifications but please also check the API documentation and the migration guide if anything is new or missing.

Endpoints

• Same endpoints as in v1.1.0

  • get_raster() communicates with the 4Wings API to get fishing effort
  • get_vessel_info() communicates with the Vessels API
  • get_event() communicates with the Events API

• New endpoints:

  • get_events_stats() to get events statistics worldwide or for a specific region
  • get_last_report() to check status of last API request to get_raster()

Note: Some APIs were not implemented because they were primarily designed for a frontend application rather than for data download. These APIs are:

• /v3/4wings/generate-png
• /v3/4wings/tile/:type/:z/:x/:y
• /v3/4wings/interaction/{z}/{x}/{y}/{cells}
• /v3/4wings/bins/:z

Major changes and new features

• General

  • Improved documentation in-package, including two vignettes that can be accessed in our website https://globalfishingwatch.github.io/gfwr/
  • Functions have a new parameter print_request that will print the API request and will be useful when requesting support. Please describe the problem, send a simplified script and copy the string of the request when filling an issue.
  • The region argument for get_raster() and get_event() now accepts sf polygons rather than GeoJSON strings

• get_vessel_info()

  • Incorporated non-fishing vessel types to the datasets. A simple search will return vessels of all vessel types ("CARRIER", "SUPPORT", "PASSENGER", "OTHER_NON_FISHING", "SEISMIC_VESSEL", "BUNKER_OR_TANKER", and "CARGO" in addition to "FISHING")
  • search_type = search replaces search type = "basic" and "advanced". Instead, use parameter query for basic search or parameter where for advanced search (i.e. when using SQL expressions)
  • Registry information is now available: Parameter includes allows the search to include ownership information, public authorizations from public registries, and the criteria for matching with AIS data

• get_event()

  • Vessel types supported now include non-fishing vessels: "FISHING", "CARRIER", "SUPPORT", "PASSENGER", "OTHER_NON_FISHING", "SEISMIC_VESSEL", "BUNKER_OR_TANKER", and "CARGO"
  • Event types now include fishing, gaps in AIS transmission, encounters, loitering events and port visits. Fishing events are specific to fishing vessels, loitering events are specific to carrier vessels. Port visits and encounters are available for all vessel types. Parameter confidence (1 to 4) allows filtering for high confidence port visits.
  • All parameters must now be specified using UPPER CASE (ex. event_type = "FISHING" instead of event_type = "fishing")
  • A user-defined shapefile can now be sent in the requests, as an sf object

• get_raster()

  • All parameters must now be specified using UPPER CASE (ex. spatial_resolution = "LOW" instead of spatial_resolution = "low")
  • The region argument now accepts sf polygons rather than a GeoJSON string
  • Parameters start_date and end_date replace date_range for consistency with other functions

Additional changes

• Option USER_JSON has been renamed to USER_SHAPEFILE for clarity (addresses #161)

gfwr 1.1.0

New features:

• In addition to your own JSON region, can now pass EEZ or MPA id to get_raster() function to query specific region

• get_region_id() now takes id and returns label. This allows you to get the label for the id values returned by certain endpoints (e.g. get_event())

• Considerable speed increases in get_event() function

Bug fixes:

• get_event() prints "Your request returned zero results" and returns NULL when the API response contains no results instead of causing an error.

Other news:

Updated documentation

• get_raster(): requires group_by and appropriate parameter name is gearType

• Added a NEWS.md file to track changes to the package.

gfwr 1.0.0

• Initial release of the gfwr package. It includes functions to access three GFW APIs - Vessels API, Events API, and Map Visualization (4Wings) API.