[acs-r] acs package update / 2.1.3: 2016 5-year data fix

[Ezra Haber Glenn]

Dear acs.R users:

In order to address some pesky issues related to fetching 2016 ACS
data, we've updated the acs package with a quick patch. Pretty much
everything should work the same --- no improvements, no new features,
just a patch to allow you to get 2016 data.

Please note: this fix is more of a "workaround" than a true fix:
starting with the 2016 release, the Census Bureau changed the format
for the XML variable lookup tables and calls to acs.lookup (and
acs.fetch) were failing; the quick solution was to simply use the 2015
lookup tables for these requests, which should be safe in most
situations, since table numbers and variable codes generally do not
change from year to year. (In some situations this assumption is not
true: see ?acs.lookup and
<https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/table-and-geography-changes/2016/5-year.html>
for details.)

No other aspects of the package were changed with this release. 


** Downloading and installing

To install the updated version, simply fire up an R session and type:

> install.packages("acs", clean=T)
> acs.tables.install()

If you're updating from a previous version, don't forget to re-install
or "api.key.migrate()" your api key if it doesn't seem to have been
migrated during install. We also strongly recommend you run
"acs.tables.install()" as well – you only need to do this once per
installation (or update), and it will really speed up the package.


Thanks for using the package, and please continue to let me know if
you notice any problems or odd behavior.

--Ezra

--
Ezra Haber Glenn, AICP
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 7-346
Cambridge, MA 02139
eglenn at mit.edu 
http://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/ezra-glenn
617.253.2024 (w)
617.721.7131 (c)