The cansim
package provides R bindings to Statistics Canada’s
main socioeconomic time series database, previously known as (and
frequently referred to in this package, and elsewhere, as) CANSIM. Data
can be accessed by table number, vector or both table number and
coordinate. The package accepts both old and new (NDM) CANSIM table
catalogue numbers.
The cansim
package is available on CRAN and can be
installed directly using the default package installation process:
install.packages("cansim")
Alternatively, the latest development version of the package can be downloaded from Github using the devtools or remotes packages.
# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("mountainmath/cansim")
library(cansim)
If you know the data table catalogue number you are interested in,
use get_cansim
to download the entire table.
data <- get_cansim("14-10-0293")
#> Accessing CANSIM NDM product 14-10-0293 from Statistics Canada
#> Parsing data
head(data)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 24
#> REF_DATE GEO DGUID Labour force characte…¹ Statistics UOM UOM_ID
#> <chr> <fct> <chr> <fct> <fct> <chr> <chr>
#> 1 2001-03 Canada 2016A000011124 Population Estimate Pers… 249
#> 2 2001-03 Canada 2016A000011124 Labour force Estimate Pers… 249
#> 3 2001-03 Canada 2016A000011124 Labour force Standard … Pers… 249
#> 4 2001-03 Canada 2016A000011124 Labour force Standard … Pers… 249
#> 5 2001-03 Canada 2016A000011124 Employment Estimate Pers… 249
#> 6 2001-03 Canada 2016A000011124 Employment Standard … Pers… 249
#> # ℹ abbreviated name: ¹`Labour force characteristics`
#> # ℹ 17 more variables: SCALAR_FACTOR <chr>, SCALAR_ID <chr>, VECTOR <chr>,
#> # COORDINATE <chr>, VALUE <dbl>, STATUS <chr>, SYMBOL <chr>,
#> # TERMINATED <chr>, DECIMALS <chr>, GeoUID <chr>, `Hierarchy for GEO` <chr>,
#> # `Classification Code for Labour force characteristics` <chr>,
#> # `Hierarchy for Labour force characteristics` <chr>,
#> # `Classification Code for Statistics` <chr>, …
By default, the data tables retrieved by the package comes in the original format provided by Statistics Canada and is enriched by several added columns and transformations.
Date
column is added that tries to
intelligently infer a Date object from the REF_DATE
column.val_norm
column is added, that applies
the appropriate scaling factor to the VALUE
column. So if
data is coded as “thousands of dollars”, a value of 2.4
in
the VALUE
column is converte to a value of
2400
in the val_norm
column. Similarly, a
percentage of 12.2
in the VALUE
column is
converted to a value of 0.122
in the val_norm
column.Taking a look at an overview of the data within a table is a common
first step. This is implemented in the package with the
get_cansim_table_overview(table_number)
function.
get_cansim_table_overview("14-10-0293")
#> Reading CANSIM NDM product 14-10-0293 information from cache.
#> Labour force characteristics by economic region, three-month moving average, unadjusted for seasonality, last 5 months, inactive
#> CANSIM Table 14-10-0293
#> Start Reference Period: 2001-03-01, End Reference Period: 2020-12-01, Frequency: Monthly
#>
#> Column Geography (76)
#> Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, ...
#>
#> Column Labour force characteristics (10)
#> Labour force, Not in labour force, Employment, Unemployment, Full-time employment, Part-time employment, Population, Unemployment rate, Participation rate, Employment rate
#>
#> Column Statistics (3)
#> Estimate, Standard error of estimate, Standard error of year-over-year change
When a table number is unknown, you can browse the available tables or search by survey name, keyword or title.
search_cansim_cubes("housing price indexes")
#> Retrieving cube information from StatCan servers...
#> # A tibble: 2 × 19
#> cansim_table_number cubeTitleEn cubeTitleFr productId cansimId cubeStartDate
#> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <date>
#> 1 18-10-0073 New housing … Indices de… 18100073 327-0005 1981-01-01
#> 2 18-10-0095 New housing … Indices de… 18100095 327-0029 1981-01-01
#> # ℹ 13 more variables: cubeEndDate <date>, releaseTime <dttm>, archived <lgl>,
#> # subjectCode <chr>, surveyCode <chr>, frequencyCode <chr>,
#> # corrections <chr>, dimensionNameEn <chr>, dimensionNameFr <chr>,
#> # surveyEn <chr>, surveyFr <chr>, subjectEn <chr>, subjectFr <chr>
Individual series in Statistics Canada data tables can also be
accessed by using individual numbered vectors. This is especially useful
when building reports using specific indicators. For convenience, the
cansim
package allows users to specify named vectors, where
the label
field will be added to the returned data frame
containing the specified name for each vector.
get_cansim_vector(c("Metro Van Apartment Construction Price Index"="v44176267",
"Metro Van CPI"="v41692930"),
start_time = "2015-05-01",
end_time="2015-08-01")
#> Accessing CANSIM NDM vectors from Statistics Canada
#> # A tibble: 5 × 17
#> DECIMALS VALUE REF_DATE releaseTime SYMBOL frequencyCode SCALAR_ID COORDINATE
#> <int> <dbl> <chr> <chr> <int> <int> <int> <chr>
#> 1 1 122. 2015-05-… 2021-07-28… 0 6 0 27.2.0.0.…
#> 2 1 122. 2015-06-… 2021-07-28… 0 6 0 27.2.0.0.…
#> 3 1 122. 2015-07-… 2021-07-28… 0 6 0 27.2.0.0.…
#> 4 1 123. 2015-08-… 2021-07-28… 0 6 0 27.2.0.0.…
#> 5 1 153 2015-07-… 2015-11-10… 0 9 0 8.7.1.0.0…
#> # ℹ 9 more variables: VECTOR <chr>, cansimTableNumber <chr>, label <chr>,
#> # val_norm <dbl>, Date <date>, GEO <fct>,
#> # `Products and product groups` <fct>, `Type of building` <fct>,
#> # `Major sub-trade group` <fct>
The code in this package is licensed under the MIT license. The bundled table metadata in Sysdata.R, as well as all Statistics Canada data retrieved using this package is made available under the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement, a copy of which is included in the R folder. The Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement requires that:
Subject to this agreement, Statistics Canada grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to:
- use, reproduce, publish, freely distribute, or sell the Information;
- use, reproduce, publish, freely distribute, or sell Value-added Products; and,
- sublicence any or all such rights, under terms consistent with this agreement.
In doing any of the above, you shall:
- reproduce the Information accurately;
- not use the Information in a way that suggests that Statistics Canada endorses you or your use of the Information;
- not misrepresent the Information or its source;
- use the Information in a manner that does not breach or infringe any applicable laws;
- not merge or link the Information with any other databases for the purpose of attempting to identify an individual person, business or organization; and
- not present the Information in such a manner that gives the appearance that you may have received, or had access to, information held by Statistics Canada about any identifiable individual person, business or organization.
Subject to the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement, licensed products using Statistics Canada data should employ the following acknowledgement of source:
Acknowledgment of Source
(a) You shall include and maintain the following notice on all licensed rights of the Information:
- Source: Statistics Canada, name of product, reference date. Reproduced and distributed on an "as is" basis with the permission of Statistics Canada.
(b) Where any Information is contained within a Value-added Product, you shall include on such Value-added Product the following notice:
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, name of product, reference date. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.