Using IBTrACS csv file format for Storm Dataset

[dooceye]

I've been trying to use the .csv version of IBTrACS data as the dataset in the defStormsDataset() function, but I can't seem to read it in. Using the example code given in the article seems to open up the .nc despite me having a .csv file with the same name in the same folder.

fileName <- system.file("extdata", "test_dataset.csv", package = "StormR")
SP_2015_2020_csv <- defStormsDataset(seasons = c(2010, 2021))

#> Warning: No basin argument specified. StormR will work as expected
#>              but cannot use basin filtering for speed-up when collecting data
#> === Loading data  ===
#> Open database... /home/runner/work/_temp/Library/StormR/extdata/test_dataset.nc opened
#> Collecting data ...
#> === DONE ===

If I remove the test_dataset.nc file from the folder, or try and get it to open a .csv which is stored in a different location I get the following error:

fileName <- system.file("extdata", "test_dataset.csv", package = "StormR")
SP_2015_2020_csv <- defStormsDataset(seasons = c(2010, 2021))
=== Loading data  ===
Open database... Error in ncdf4::nc_open(filename) : 
  Passed a filename that is NOT a string of characters!
In addition: Warning message:
In checkInputsdefStormsDataset(filename, fields, basin, seasons,  :
  No basin argument specified. StormR will work as expected
             but cannot use basin filtering for speed-up when collecting data

The csv I have been using is downloaded from: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/international-best-track-archive-for-climate-stewardship-ibtracs/v04r00/access/csv/

Is there a different way of formatting the csv file that needs to happen before it can be recognised?

[thomasarsouze]

Hi @dooceye ,
sorry for this very late reply: somehow I didn't get any notification from your message.

This feature of using .csv dataset is quite new and so far only available on the github version.
So you should install the latest version of the package using

devtools::install_github("umr-amap/StormR")

We will soon update the CRAN version so that it matches the documentation.