ausOpenData

ausOpenData provides simple, reproducible access to Austin-related datasets from the
Austin Open Data Portal platform — directly from R, with no API keys or manual downloads required. Working directly with Socrata APIs can be cumbersome — ausOpenData simplifies this process into a clean, reproducible workflow.

Version 0.1.0 introduces a streamlined, catalog-driven interface for Austin Open Data, extending the open data ecosystem beyond New York to support cross-city analysis and comparative civic research.

The package provides three core functions:

aus_list_datasets() — Browse available datasets from the live Austin Open Data catalog
aus_pull_dataset() — Pull any cataloged dataset by key, with filtering, ordering, and optional date controls
aus_any_dataset() — Pull any Austin Open Data dataset directly via its Socrata JSON endpoint

Datasets pulled via aus_pull_dataset() automatically apply sensible defaults from the catalog (such as default ordering and date fields), while still allowing user control over:

limit
filters
date / from / to
where
order
clean_names
coerce_types

This redesign reduces maintenance burden, improves extensibility, and provides a more scalable interface for working with Austin Open Data.

All functions return clean tibble outputs and support filtering via
filters = list(field = "value").

Installation

Development version (GitHub)

devtools::install_github("martinezc1/ausOpenData")

Example

library(ausOpenData)

aus_vacent_buildings <- aus_pull_dataset(
  dataset = "golf_courses_in_austin",
  limit = 10
)

head(aus_vacent_buildings)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 14
#>   name                       phone computed_region_8spj…¹ computed_region_q9nd…²
#>   <chr>                      <chr>                  <dbl>                  <dbl>
#> 1 Lions Municipal Golf Cour… 512-…                     10                      5
#> 2 Joe Balander Short Course  512-…                      2                      4
#> 3 Morris Williams Golf Cour… 512-…                      9                     10
#> 4 Roy Kizer Golf Course      512-…                      2                      4
#> 5 Hancock Golf Course        512-…                      9                     10
#> 6 Jimmy Clay Golf Course     512-…                      2                      4
#> # ℹ abbreviated names: ¹computed_region_8spj_utxs, ²computed_region_q9nd_rr82
#> # ℹ 10 more variables: computed_region_e9j2_6w3z <dbl>,
#> #   computed_region_m2th_e4b7 <dbl>, computed_region_rxpj_nzrk <dbl>,
#> #   computed_region_a3it_2a2z <dbl>, website_url <chr>,
#> #   online_tee_time_url <chr>, scorecard_url <chr>, location_latitude <dbl>,
#> #   location_longitude <dbl>, location_human_address <chr>

About

ausOpenData makes Austin’s civic datasets accessible to students,
educators, analysts, and researchers through a unified and user-friendly R interface.

Developed to support reproducible research, open-data literacy, and real-world analysis.

Comparison to Other Software

While the RSocrata package provides a general interface for any Socrata-backed portal, ausOpenData is specifically tailored for Austin Open Data Portal.

This package is part of a broader ecosystem of tools for working with open data:

nycOpenData — streamlined access to NYC Open Data
nysOpenData — streamlined access to NY State Open Data
mtaOpenData — streamlined access to MTA-related NY State Open Data
chiOpenData — streamlined access to Chicago-related City Open Data
laOpenData — streamlined access to Los Angeles-related City Open Data

Together, these packages provide a consistent, user-friendly interface for working with civic data across jurisdictions.

Ease of Use: No need to hunt for 4x4 dataset IDs (e.g., 9t4d-g238); use catalog-based keys instead.
Open Literacy: Designed specifically for students and researchers to lower the barrier to entry for civic data analysis.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! If you find a bug or would like to request a wrapper for a specific Austin dataset, please open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

Authors & Contributors

Authors

Christian A. Martinez 📧 c.martinez0@outlook.com
GitHub: @martinezc1

Emma Tupone 📧 emmatupone@gmail.com
GitHub: @emmatup0205

Maintainer

Christian A. Martinez 📧 c.martinez0@outlook.com
GitHub: @martinezc1