StreamCat Application Programming Interface (API) and StreamCatTools R Package
StreamCat is a centralized dataset of watershed characteristics built to assist researchers and managers in sustainability of our Nation’s waters. StreamCat is a published dataset characterizing the watershed features of ~2.65 million stream segments within the conterminous U.S. The StreamCat dataset is built on the framework of the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 2 (NHDPlusV2). Over 200 landscape metrics are summarized for every NHDPlusV2 catchment (i.e., the immediate landscape draining directly into a stream segment) and full upstream watersheds (i.e., the local catchment and all upstream catchments). The StreamCat data has been published as comma-separated value files on an FTP (file transfer protocol) server, but we have now developed an API (application programming interface) for StreamCat that allows simple, modern, and integrated data delivery for the StreamCat data. Additionally, we’ve built an R programming library to leverage this API for easy integration of StreamCat data in the R programming environment.