Issue with downloading updated IUCN data (2023-1)

[Gopal-Murali]

Hello,
The rl_sp(all = TRUE) function returns the previous version’s data (153,732 species). But the total assessed IUCN species count in the recent update (2023-1; December 11 2023 release) appears to be 157,190 (according to rl_sp_count).

I am in need of habitat and threat data for the 2023-1 version, but without the IUCN species names, I could not use the rl_habitats function to retrieve the updated information.

Is there an alternative approach to access the updated 2023-1 version?

Thank you,
Gopal

[willgearty]

Thanks for reporting this issue @Gopal-Murali. I'm able to reproduce the inconsistency between rl_sp and rl_sp_count. However, both of these functions are pulling straight from the IUCN API with very little manipulation after the fact, so the issue is most likely on their end. For example, you'll see the last page of species in the API has 3732 species, matching the previous version's data. However, the species count in the API lists 157,190, matching the newest release.

Based on discussion on #52, it seems like the API is currently having various issues and a new version is currently under development, which may explain the inconsistency. Perhaps @simon-tarr can provide some insight or a viable alternative?

[simon-tarr]

Sorry folks, I've only just seen this. The counts were out due to a caching issue on the database after the 2023-1 update. We flushed the cache and numbers should be reporting correctly now.

The v4 API is coming along nicely, we're nearly ready for beta testers (hopefully in the next week or two)

@willgearty this issue can probably be closed now.

[willgearty]

Yes, both endpoints now report 160,647 species in the API, thanks @simon-tarr!