link for the main repository: https://github.com/UbiLab-UW/environment-canada-data-mining

Envcanlib

Python3 package to download information from Environment Canada: Whether Information

Description

This is a python3 package of functions developed in order to assist in the processing of canadian weather information.

Functions Available

envcanlib.downloadData(IDs, start, end, method='hourly', path='', dataFormat='default', continuous=True, metaData=None)

Pull daily and hourly information from the Government of Canada official website of a specified period of time and save the data in the disk.

Parameters:

    IDs : list of strings, array_like as str type

        List of staions  IDs.

    start : tuple as int type
        
        A tuple containing year and month to start.
    
    end : tuple as int type
        
        A tuple containing year and month to end.

    method : string, optional
        
        'hourly' for hourly information and 'daily' for daily information.

    path : string, optional
        
        Path to save the data in the disk. The default directory is the root directory.

    dataFormat: string, optional

        'default' means that it will be saved one file for each ID in IDs. 'oneFile' means that
        one file containing all pulled information will be saved.

    continuous: bool, optional

        If True all information between start and end will be pulled, otherwise it will be pulled just the information between start month and end month from start year until end year. 
        For instance, if start = (2014,5) and end = (2015,7) and continuous = False, then it will be pulled just the months 5,6 and 7 of 2014 and 2015. If continuous = True, all the data between March 2014 and July 2015 will be pulled. 
        This can be useful if it is desired to have slices of a period of time.

    metaData: pandas.DataFrame, optional

        In case dataFormat is passed as 'oneFile' this dataframe will be used to get more information about the stations. This parameter is always optional.

Returns:

    None.

Dependencies

• Numpy
• Urllib3
• Pandas

Installation

In order to install it on Ubuntu systems just execute the following command in the root directory as superuser: python3 install.py

Exemplo of use

    # import library after the installation
    import envcanlib as ecl

    # It downloads daily data of the stations 140 and 159 from February untill June, 2016.
    ecl.downloadData(["140", "159"], (2016,2), (2016,5), 'daily')