The wikilake package provides functions to scrape the
metadata tables from lake pages on Wikipedia.
install.packages("wikilake")
devtools::install_github("jsta/wikilake")
library(wikilake)
#> Loading required package: maps# 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 -85.411lake_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 -85.411lake_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 -88.5lake_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