The wikilake package provides functions to scrape the metadata tables from lake pages on Wikipedia.
Usage
# metadata only, see units of numeric fields with wikilake::unit_key_()
lake_wiki("Lake Mendota")
#> Retrieving data from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mendota
#> Name Location Type
#> 1 Lake Mendota Dane County, Wisconsin,United States Natural freshwater lake
#> Primary inflows Primary outflows Catchment area Basin countries Max. length
#> 1 Yahara River Yahara River 562 United States 9.04
#> Max. width Surface area Average depth Max. depth Water volume Residence time
#> 1 6.61 39.41654 12.8 25.3 NA 4.5
#> Shore length1 Surface elevation Frozen Lat
#> 1 34.8 259 December 20 (average freezing date) 43.1066
#> Lon
#> 1 -89.4247
# use the clean = FALSE argument to get raw data
# (i.e. avoid parsing of numeric fields)
lake_wiki("Lake Mendota", clean = FALSE)
#> Retrieving data from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mendota
#> Name Location Type
#> 1 Lake Mendota Dane County, Wisconsin,United States Natural freshwater lake
#> Primary inflows Primary outflows Catchment area Basin countries Max. length
#> 1 Yahara River Yahara River 562 [km^2] United States 9.04 [km]
#> Max. width Surface area Average depth Max. depth Water volume
#> 1 6.61 [km] 9740 [acres] 12.8 [m] 25.3 [m] 500 million cubic metres
#> Residence time Shore length1 Surface elevation
#> 1 4.5 [years] 34.8 [km] 259 [m]
#> Frozen Lat Lon
#> 1 December 20 (average freezing date) 43.1066 -89.4247
# pretty printing metadata| name | values_numeric | values_raw |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Lake Mendota | Lake Mendota |
| Location | Dane County, Wisconsin,United States | Dane County, Wisconsin,United States |
| Type | Natural freshwater lake | Natural freshwater lake |
| Primary inflows | Yahara River | Yahara River |
| Primary outflows | Yahara River | Yahara River |
| Catchment area | 562 | 562 [km^2] |
| Basin countries | United States | United States |
| Max. length | 9.04 | 9.04 [km] |
| Max. width | 6.61 | 6.61 [km] |
| Surface area | 39.4165392201752 | 9740 [acres] |
| Average depth | 12.8 | 12.8 [m] |
| Max. depth | 25.3 | 25.3 [m] |
| Water volume | NA | 500 million cubic metres |
| Residence time | 4.5 | 4.5 [years] |
| Shore length1 | 34.8 | 34.8 [km] |
| Surface elevation | 259 | 259 [m] |
| Frozen | December 20 (average freezing date) | December 20 (average freezing date) |
| Lat | 43.1066 | 43.1066 |
| Lon | -89.4247 | -89.4247 |
# metadata + map
lake_wiki("Gull Lake (Michigan)", map = TRUE)
#> Retrieving data from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull_Lake_(Michigan)
#> Name Location
#> 1 Gull Lake Kalamazoo / Barry counties, Michigan, United States
#> Primary outflows Basin countries Surface area Max. depth Surface elevation
#> 1 Gull Creek [1] United States 8 34 268
#> Lat Lon
#> 1 42.399 -85.411
lake_wiki("Gull Lake (Michigan)", map = TRUE, database = "usa")
#> Retrieving data from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull_Lake_(Michigan)
#> Name Location
#> 1 Gull Lake Kalamazoo / Barry counties, Michigan, United States
#> Primary outflows Basin countries Surface area Max. depth Surface elevation
#> 1 Gull Creek [1] United States 8 34 268
#> Lat Lon
#> 1 42.399 -85.411
lake_wiki("Lake Nipigon", map = TRUE, regions = "Canada")
#> Retrieving data from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nipigon
#> Name Location Lake type Primary outflows Catchment area
#> 1 Lake Nipigon Ontario Glacial Nipigon River 25400
#> Basin countries Surface area Average depth Max. depth Water volume
#> 1 Canada 4848 54.9 165 2.48e+11
#> Shore length1 Surface elevation Lat Lon
#> 1 1044 260 49.83 -88.5
lake_wiki("Cass Lake (Michigan)", map = TRUE, database = "state", regions = "Michigan")
#> Retrieving data from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cass_Lake_(Michigan)
#> Name Location Basin countries Surface area Max. depth
#> 1 Cass Lake Oakland County, Michigan United States 5.179997 37
#> Surface elevation Lat Lon
#> 1 283 42.606 -83.365