[R-pkg-devel] new maintainer sought for maps packages

[Alex Deckmyn]

Hi, 

I have made a beta version of the new maps package available at 
https://github.com/adeckmyn/maps/archive/v3.0-beta.1.tar.gz. 
If things go smoothly, I will probably submit it to CRAN early September. 

I will also announce and clarify this on R-sig-Geo. 

- Martin, the old data base is now called 'legacy_world', but can alternatively also be accessed as 'world' by calling world.legacy(TRUE) or by an environment setting. The last is meant for people who need to run code quickly without editing it. 
- Jon, I quite liked the suggestion of enabling ISO3166. I have added a simple table and lookup function which could be used as 
> map('world',region=iso3166(c('BE','NL'))) 

There will soon be an updated high resolution map too (it is already accessible in a test package https://github.com/adeckmyn/mapdataNE). 

Alex 
--- 
Dr. Alex Deckmyn e-mail: alex.deckmyn at meteo.be 
Royal Meteorological Institute http://www.meteo.be 
Ringlaan 3, 1180 Ukkel, Belgium tel. (32)(2)3730646 


From: "Jonathan Callahan" <jonathan at mazamascience.com> 
To: "Alex" <alex.deckmyn at meteo.be> 
Cc: "Martin Maechler" <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch>, r-package-devel at r-project.org 
Sent: Friday, 31 July, 2015 21:04:31 
Subject: Re: [R-pkg-devel] new maintainer sought for maps packages 

Please do make the new code available for testing. Those of us developing packages that import 'maps' would love the chance to test our code against the new version of the package. 

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 11:59 AM, Alex Deckmyn < alex.deckmyn at meteo.be > wrote: 


Martin, 

The old data set will certainly stay for a while (or indeed indefinitely, why not). To make the transition as smooth as possible (I am aware that "maps" is used in more places than I can ever check myself) I am including the possibility of switching back to "legacy" mode using an environment variable (or an extra function "world.legacy(TRUE)"), so that any code that runs into trouble can be switched to the old database without needing to edit the code itself. 

Would it be a good idea to make the new maps package (beta) available (e.g. via github) prior to submitting to CRAN? It is more or less ready. Given the many packages that call maps, this could give maintainers a chance to check things. For the moment, it's only the country borders & names that have changed. 

Alex 

From: "Martin Maechler" < maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch > 

> I think R-sig-Geo is the best place to discuss future developments and will be posting there soon. 

I agree ... but the following is not about 'maps' in particular, 
but package maintenance / compatibility .... 

> As Ray mentioned, I (with his help & feedback) have been preparing an updated world map. I am going to be very cautious, but the many changes in country names (post-1990 Europe!) mean that any package or code that uses maps by calling map('world',region=...) to create a map using country names, could be affected. Maintainers of packages calling "maps" may want to contact me to make sure I don't break anything. In any case, I am currently testing a beta version that includes the old data set as a fall back. 

I know these data sets are not very small, but I would still 
strongly recommend that you 
keep the old map, say as "world198x" (and change the "x" to a 
digit if you know which one, or the "8x" to "7y" ... etc). 
Storage and bandwidth have become considerably cheaper and so 
the package could provide (almost) back compatibility ... and 
also something interesting in itself (comparison of two very 
similar maps with R; teaching, history, ...). 

Best regards, 
Martin 

> Alex 

> --- 
> Dr. Alex Deckmyn e-mail: alex.deckmyn at meteo.be 
> Royal Meteorological Institute http://www.meteo.be 
> Ringlaan 3, 1180 Ukkel, Belgium tel. (32)(2)3730646 



> I have been somewhat surprised by the number of positive responses to my 
> message. I have found a candidate for the position of maintainer of the 
> maps, mapdata and mapproj packages. I have confidence that Alex Deckmyn 
> < alex.deckmyn at meteo.be > will do at least as good a job as I have done in 
> this regard. 




> The current (recent) releases of the packages still have my name as 
> maintainer, but the address specified points to my (now) old work 
> address which will autorespond to say I have now retired. However in 
> practise, I will still be able to read and respond to such emails for 
> the foreseeable future. 

> Among other improvements, Alex is working on setting up a more accurate 
> "world" database for maps and will submit this once it has been fully 
> tested. 

> Thanks everyone for your support. 
> Ray Brownrigg 

> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] 

> ______________________________________________ 
> R-package-devel at r-project.org mailing list 
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel 

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