arctosr: An interface to the Arctos Database for R

This project will create an R package that will act as an interface to the Arctos Museum Database's API. This will allow users to create R scripts to download data (or custom subsets of data) from Arctos and have that data be machine readable and immediately usable for further data analysis or processing. Arctos has an extensive database that connects >100 data fields to physical specimen records using standard DarwinCore vocabulary, many of which are only accessible through its web interface. Data can be accessed through the web interface, but downloads are memory intensive, such that only a subset of fields or specimens can be queried at once. By creating an R package, this project has the potential to improve the workflows of many researchers who rely on Arctos for biodiversity data.