README.md

statbotData

The project

This repo is part of the Statbot Swiss Project.

Have a look at this repo for the final results of the research project with ZHAW.

The project has following parts:

• Statbot Postgres DB: A Postgres DB that is filled with open data from Swiss Statistical offices (Federal Office of Statistics and selected Cantonal Statistical Offices)
• Statbot Training Data: Training and test data for the Statbot Chatbot, see below.
• Statbot Chatbot: An ML Model for a Chatbot that turns questions into sql queries in order to derive answers to these questions by running the sql queries on the Statbot Postgres DB. It uses the Statbot Training Data for its model training.

This repo takes care of the following two tasks:

• it provides functions and pipelines to fill and update the Statbot Postgres DB

• it provides questions and queries as Statbot Training Data for the Statbot Chatbot:

flowchart TD
    Fed[Federal Datasets] -->|Preprocess| Scripts[Statbot scripts]
    Scripts -->|Upload| DB(Statbot postgress DB)
    Can[Cantonal Datasets] -->|Preprocess| Scripts
    User -->|Ask Questions| Chatbot(Statbot Swiss)
    Chatbot -->|query| DB(Statbot postgreSQL DB)

Loading

Content of the repo

The repo consists of the following parts:

• input datasets: contains the list input datasets for the pipelines and also a list of Swiss adminstative units, that are linked to each dataset
• R package statbotData: the functions in the directory R make up a R package of reusable functions, that are used throughout the pipelines and scripts
• pipelines per dataset: they contain scripts for downloading datasets from their origin and preprocessing them for the postgres integration into Statbot Postgres DB. They also include other files that relate to the dataset such as the Statbot Training Data.
• scripts: the scripts directory contains sample scripts that can be used to do chores on the datasets and pipelines, such as uploading the dataset and its metadata to the Statbot Postgres DB](#statbot-postgres-db)
• app: app.R is a local shiny app that gives an overview about the repo and its pipelines: this app is only meant to support the development process and is not deployed anywhere

Statbot input data

The data/const directory consists of two files:

• statbot_input_data.csv: this is a csv file of all the datasets that have been uploaded to Statbot Postgres DB
• spatial_unit_postgres.csv: this is a csv file for Swiss adminstrative units. It corresponds to the table spatial_unit in the Statbot Postgres DB.

Dataset Input Data

The statbot input data statbot_input_data.csv describes datasets that are available as opendata and have the following properties:

classDiagram
    Dataset <|-- PxCube
    Dataset <|-- CsvFile
    Dataset <|-- ExcelSheet
    Dataset <|-- LINDAS
    Dataset : data_indicator
    Dataset : status
    Dataset : name
    Dataset : format
    Dataset : lang
    Dataset : publisher
    Dataset : organization
    Dataset: +create_dataset()
    Dataset: +download_data()
    class PxCube{
      px_id
      access_url
      size
      encoding
    }
    class CsvFile{
      download_url
    }
    class ExcelSheet{
      download_url
    }
    class LINDAS{
      query_url
    }

Loading

mandatory properties:

• data_indicator: an identifier for the dataset pipeline such as A1: this identifier serves also the directory name for the pipeline files in the repo
• status: only the statuses uploaded or remote are relevant and indicates that the dataset is already in postgres, any other status can be chosen as needed. The status uploaded indicates the dataset was uploaded to postgres via this statbotData repository. The status remote indicates that the dataset was uploaded to postgres previously.
• name: the table name in postgres for this dataset
• format: the format determines how the data is retrieved from its origin: px, csv, xlsx, rdf are the current options
• lang: the language of the dataset, currently this can be either en, de or fr
• publisher: the publisher of the dataset
• organization: the organization that the dataset belongs to

Optional properties for the px file format: for the px file format the following parameter needs to be specified:

• px_id: id of the px file

Additional optional parameters for this file format are:

• size: large triggers a different download method for large files
• encoding: UTF-8 or latin1: for large px files the encoding needs to be specified

By default the R package BFS is used to retrive the data by default. It gets the data via api calls in batches. In the case of a large dataset the api limit might be an obstacle. Therefore if the dataset is classified as large the the package pxRRead is used for the download.

Properties for the data access:

• access_url: url to access the original dataset
• query_url: if the format is rdf: a url for the SPARQL endpoint is required
• download_url: for file format csv or xlsx the file download url is required

Statbot Postgres DB

One goal of this repo ist to fill up the Statbot Postgres DB. This database has the following tables:

erDiagram
    metadata_tables
    metadata_table_columns
    dataset_observation }o--|| spatial_unit : spatial_scope

Loading

dataset: each dataset is uploaded into exactly one table in Statbot Postgres DB: all tables contain these two mandatory columns:

• year: year of the observation
• spatialunit_uid: Swiss administrative unit that the observation refers to

Besides these tables, there are extra tables.

spatial unit table: contains spatial units for all administrative units in Switzerland. spatialinit_uid is the primary key in that table. The spatialunit_uid column in the dataset tables serves as foreign key in the dataset tables.

extra metadata_tables: there are two extra metadata tables: their task is to provide additional metadata to the dataset tables.

• metadata_table_columns: contains descriptions of all table columns except spatialunit_uid and year
• metadata_tables: contains metadata on the dataset itself.

metadata_tables

This metadata table has the following fields:

• name: the name of the table in postgres
• language: language of the dataset that was used for the postgres import
• last_pipeline_run: date when the dataset was last imported from its source
• data_source_url: access url of the dataset source
• title: title of the dataset in the language of the dataset
• title_en: title of the dataset in English
• description: description of the table in the language of the dataset
• description_en: description of the table in English
• temporal_coverage: year from to
• update_frequency: update frequency as in EU frequency vocabulary
• spatial_coverage: spatial coverage: canton or country for example

metadata_table_columns

This metadata table has the following fields:

• name: name of the column in the table
• table_name: name of the postgres table the column belongs to
• data_type: either numeric or categorical
• title: Title of the column in the datasets language
• title_en: English translation of the column title
• example_values: 3 to five example values in this column

Statbot Training Data

The statbot training data consists of questions in natural language and the corresponding sql queries. The queries relate to a single input dataset that has been uploaded to the Statbot Postgres DB. The queries don't have joins instead of one possible join on the spatial_unit table.

Below is an examples for the Statbot Training Data:

-- Wieviele Abstimmungsvorlagen gab es im Jahr 2000?
SELECT COUNT(*) as anzahl_abstimmungsvorlagen_im_jahr_2000
FROM abstimmungsvorlagen_seit_1971 as T
JOIN spatial_unit as S on T.spatialunit_uid = S.spatialunit_uid
WHERE S.name_de='Schweiz' AND S.country=TRUE AND T.jahr=2000;

-- Wieviele Abstimmungsvorlagen gab es seit dem Jahr 1971?
SELECT COUNT(*) as anzahl_abstimmungsvorlagen
FROM abstimmungsvorlagen_seit_1971 as T
JOIN spatial_unit as S on T.spatialunit_uid = S.spatialunit_uid
WHERE S.name_de='Schweiz' AND S.country=TRUE;

Statbot Chatbot

The Chatbot is not yet publically available and currently under active development. More information on this part of the project will be added later.

The Pipelines

The pipelines are intended to process datasets, that have been selected in the input dataset list statbot_input_data.csv and prepare them for the Statbot Postgres DB. Besides the dataset preprosessing script the pipeline directory also contains the training data as Statbot Training Data

Content of the pipelines

Each pipeline has a directory in pipelines by the name of the data_indicator (from the input data). It consists of the following files:

• <data_indicator>.R: a script for downloading a dataset, processing it and preparing it for the postgres export
• metadata_table_columns.csv: metadata for the postgres table, describing the fields, besides year and `spatialunit_uid``
• metadata_tables.csv: metadata for the postgres_table
• queries.sql: Natural language questions and corresponding sql queries to answer these questions. This is the [Statbot Training Data]
• queries.log: Log of the latest run of the sql queries either locally on the ds$postgres_export` or remote on the postgres database
• sample.csv: sample of ds$postgres_export as csv file

Working on the pipelines

To work on a pipeline, open the file <data_indicator>.R and run the pipeline, adjust where needed. Once you are happy with ds$postgres_export you can open a script in the scripts directory to upload the dataset to postgres.

More details on the file types in the pipelines

queries.sql

The queries.sql files contain the Statbot Training Data for each dataset. See this section for a detailed description of these files.

queries.log

These files are the output of a run of statbotData::testrun_queries(ds) on the queries in the queries.sql file of the dataset. A timestamp indicates the date and time of the run. It also contains information on whether the file was run on the remote postgres instance REMOTE or on the local ds$postgres data frame.

metadata_tables.csv

These are metadata for a table in postgres. They are loaded into the postgres metadata table metadata_tables, see section on the Statbot Postgres DB above.

metadata_table_columns_.csv

These are metadata for the table columns in postgres. They are loaded into the postgres metadata table metadata_table_columns, see Statbot Postgres DB for details.

Scripts

But the code for these chores is always the same and consists of using the appropriate functions of the package statbotData. It does not depend on the specific pipeline or dataset, but on the situation and the status of the dataset. Therefore this code has been extracted from the pipelines and put into a directory of its own with a selection of different sample scripts that relate to certain scenarios:

• scripts/upload_new_dataset.R: for uploading a new dataset with its metadata
• scripts/dataset_in_postgres.R: for testrunning queries for a dataset as part of the Statbot Training Data and checking its metadata
• scripts/update_existing_dataset.R: for updating a dataset and its metadata on postgres in case the dataset has changed at its origin (a new release of the dataset might have been published with an additional year of statistics added for example)
• scripts/operate_on_db.R: for checking on the Statbot Postgres DB: listing its tables and checking on metadata for the tables

Access to the Statbot Postgres DB

In order to run the functions, pipelines and scripts in this repo access to the Statbot Postgres DB is needed. This access is set up via an environment file:

cp sample.env .env

Afterwards you need to fill in your credentials into the .env file. Otherwise all fuctions that need postgres access won't work.

StatbotData package

The functions of the statbotData package consist of reusable functions that are used in the pipelines, the app and the scripts. There are man pages for the package, that explain the usage and arguments of these functions in more detail. This section will just provide a short overview on these functions.

Function to create the dataset class

• ds <- create_dataset(<data_indicator>): this function sets up the dataset class whenever work on a dataset should be done. This must always be done first.

Functions for data download and preprocessing

• download_data: this function downloads the data for a dataset from its source. The chosen download method depends on the properties of the dataset in statbot_input_data.csv, see section on the input data above.

Functions to run if ds$postgres_export has been generated

ds$postgres_export is the processed dataset that can be uploaded to the postgres instance Statbot Postgres DB](#statbot-postgres-db). To build this is the goal of each of the pipelines. Certain function in statbotData perform operations on this tibble, in case the dataset is not yet in the status uploaded or remote:

• statbotData::dataset_sample: this function generates a sample of the dataset from ds$postgres_export
• statbotData::testrun_queries: this runs the queries from a file queries.sql in the pipeline directory ds$dir and writes a logfile queries.log into the same directory
• statbotData::generate_metadata_templates: generate templates for the metadata files that are needed to upload metadata on the dataset to postgres
• statbotData::update_pipeline_last_run_date: update the pipeline_last_run property in the metadata_tables on file; this should be done whenever the dataset has been rebuild from its origin and is uploaded to postgres
• statbotData:read_metadata_tables_from_file: checks the metadata and reads them from file. This should be checked before the metadata is uploaded to postgres

Functions that run on the remote postgres instance and concern one dataset

• statbotData::create_postgres_table: this uploads the data frame ds$postgres to postgres. ds$postgres is build by the pipelines for the dataset
• statbotData::update_metadata_in_postgres: this uploads the metadata on file to postgres. Make sure the metadata are not there yet before this function is run for a dataset, otherwise delete the metadata for the table first
• statbotData::testrun_queries: this runs the queries on postgres once the dataset status has been set to uploaded in the in the statbot input data

Functions that run on the remote postgres instance and concern one postgres table

• statbotData::delete_table_in_postgres: delete a table in postgres
• statbotData::delete_metadata_from_postgres: delete the metadata for a table in postgres

Functions for listing content of the remote postgres instance

• statbotData::list_tables_in_statbot_db: lists all tables in postgres
• statbotData::list_tables_with_metadata_in_statbot_db: lists all tables that have metadata in postgres
• statbotData::load_dataset_list lists the statbot input data

Functions for the mappings of spatial units

• statbotData::map_ds_spatial_units: maps cantons and country
• statbotData::map_ds_municipalities: maps municipalities
• statbotData::map_ds_residential_areas: maps residential areas

Shiny App

The repo also contains an app: app.R: It can be started from R studio and provides an overview over all elements in the repo:

• the status of the pipelines: whether a dataset has already been uploaded to Statbot Postgres DB
• the list of the statbot input datasets
• the queries as statbot training data
• samples of the datasets