Retrieve Ontario postal code points as a layer

Returns every Ontario postal-code centroid in the OPCC M1 release as an sf POINT layer, so postal codes can be used as a crosswalk or map layer without supplying a list of codes. The release is downloaded, checksum-verified, and cached by the same machinery resolve_postal_points() uses.

Usage

retrieve_postal_points(bbox = NULL, refresh = FALSE)

Arguments

bbox

Optional sf bbox or numeric xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax vector in EPSG:4326. When supplied, only points inside the envelope are returned. The full province is 299,782 points, which is more than most maps or spatial joins can carry, so window the layer whenever the use case allows.

refresh

Logical. If TRUE, discards the cached release and re-downloads it. Defaults to FALSE.

Value

An sf POINT layer in EPSG:4326 with postal_code, point_source, and point_method columns, and source_name, source_url, and retrieved_at attributes attached for provenance. Postal codes without coordinates (the 14 codes whose point_source is "none") are dropped silently, so the layer has one row per postal code that can be placed.

See also

resolve_postal_points() to look up a known list of postal codes.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Whole province: 299,782 points.
postal_points <- retrieve_postal_points()

# A downtown Toronto window, which is what an interactive map should ask
# for.
toronto <- retrieve_postal_points(
  bbox = c(xmin = -79.42, ymin = 43.63, xmax = -79.36, ymax = 43.68)
)
nrow(toronto)
} # }