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gerda 0.6.0

New Features

• Exposed 25 additional datasets via load_gerda_web() and gerda_data_list():
  • County (Kreistag) elections (4): county_elec_unharm, county_elec_harm_21, county_elec_harm_21_cty, county_elec_harm_21_muni
  • European Parliament elections (2): european_muni_unharm, european_muni_harm
  • Mayoral elections (7): mayoral_unharm, mayoral_harm, mayoral_candidates, mayor_panel, mayor_panel_harm, mayor_panel_annual, mayor_panel_annual_harm
  • Boundary-specific harmonizations (4): municipal_harm_25, state_harm_21, state_harm_23, state_harm_25
  • Additional crosswalks (7): ags_1990_to_2023_crosswalk, ags_1990_to_2025_crosswalk, crosswalk_ags_2021_to_2023, crosswalk_ags_2021_2022_to_2023, crosswalk_ags_2023_to_2025 (RDS only), crosswalk_ags_2023_24_to_2025 (RDS only), crosswalk_ags_2024_to_2025 (RDS only)
  • Alternative-boundary covariates (1): ags_area_pop_emp_2023

Deprecations

• federal_cty_unharm now also exposes county_code and election_year columns, matching the schema used by all other county-level GERDA datasets. This allows the dataset to be piped into add_gerda_covariates() without manual renaming.
• The original ags (5-digit county code) and year columns remain for backwards compatibility but are deprecated and scheduled for removal in v0.7. Please update code that references federal_cty_unharm$ags or federal_cty_unharm$year to use county_code and election_year instead. A one-time message is printed on each load.

Bug Fixes

• load_gerda_web() now downloads datasets to a tempfile before reading them. This fixes loading of xz-compressed RDS files (e.g. ags_1990_to_2025_crosswalk), which readr::read_rds() could not stream from a URL.
• Download timeout is temporarily raised to 300s inside load_gerda_web() so the larger GERDA files (mayor_panel_annual_harm, federal_muni_harm_21) no longer time out on first pull over slower connections. The user’s original timeout is restored on exit.
• Fixed the add_gerda_covariates() help example, which grouped on a non-existent county_code_21 column after merging covariates into municipal data.

Usability

• load_gerda_web() gains an on_error argument ("warn" default, "stop" for pipelines). Set options(gerda.on_error = "stop") to flip the default globally. Previous behaviour (warning + NULL) is unchanged.
• party_crosswalk() now lists all 21 available destinations in the help page and in its error message. A typo like party_crosswalk(..., "family_nme") now tells you exactly which column names are valid.
• gerda_data_list(print_table = TRUE) prints each row on a single uncut line. Dataset pairs like federal_muni_harm_21 and federal_muni_harm_25 are now distinguishable by description in narrow terminals.
• load_gerda_web() help now documents that major-party vote-share columns do not sum to 1: the remainder is held by smaller-party columns and the other bucket.
• Vignette gains a “Joining GERDA datasets” section listing the id and time columns for every dataset family, so manual left_join() calls don’t trip on year vs election_year or on the municipal county column not being a 5-digit AGS code.

Docs

• DESCRIPTION updated to list all six election families and the correct federal coverage window (federal county-level since 1953).
• README.md install section documents build_vignettes = TRUE for development installs from GitHub.
• knitr moved from Imports to Suggests (only needed as VignetteBuilder).

Tests

• Test suite reorganized: tests/testthat/test-load_gerda_web.R split into five focused files (-validation, -fuzzy, -extensions, -catalog, -schema) to keep concerns separable as the catalog grows.
• Catalog coverage extended to all 39 exposed datasets, grouped by family.
• Added regression tests for the xz RDS load, the federal_cty_unharm alias + deprecation message, and the new on_error argument. Suite grew from 240 to 300 tests.

gerda 0.5.0

New Features

• Census 2022 module – 3 new exported functions for municipality-level demographic data:
  • gerda_census() – access Census 2022 data (10,786 municipalities, 16 variables)
  • gerda_census_codebook() – data dictionary for census variables
  • add_gerda_census() – merge census data with election data (supports both municipality and county level)
• Extended INKAR covariates – expanded from 20 to 30 variables, adding healthcare, childcare, public finances, and transport categories

Other Changes

• Added stats to Imports (for weighted.mean() in county-level census aggregation)
• Removed Strukturdaten module (functionality consolidated into census and covariates modules)
• New tests for gerda_covariates and gerda_census modules
• Updated vignette and README with census and expanded covariates documentation

gerda 0.4.0

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Improved error messages for deprecated federal_muni_harm dataset with clear migration guidance
• Enhanced fuzzy matching to prioritize prefix matches (e.g., federal_muni_harm now correctly suggests federal_muni_harm_21 and federal_muni_harm_25)
• Added references to gerda_data_list() in all error messages to help users discover available datasets
• Updated README and vignette to reflect current data coverage (1990-2025)
• Fixed function references in documentation (gerda_covariates and gerda_covariates_codebook)

gerda 0.3.0

New Features

• Added county-level covariates functionality: Easy access to socioeconomic and demographic indicators (1995-2022)
  • New function: add_gerda_covariates() - One-step helper to merge covariates with election data
  • New function: gerda_covariates() - Access raw covariate data (400 counties, 20 variables)
  • New function: gerda_covariates_codebook() - View data dictionary with variable descriptions
  • Works with both county-level and municipal-level election data
  • 400 German counties with covariates from INKAR
  • Includes demographics, economy, labor market, education, and income variables
  • Data source: Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR)
  • Function-based API prevents namespace pollution and merge errors

Other Changes

• Updated R dependency to >= 3.5.0 (required for internal data serialization)

gerda 0.2.1

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Improved error message clarity for file extensions
• Changed message from “Format ignored” to “File extension (.rds or .csv) not required - adding it is optional”
• Simplified user messages by removing redundant information about data format independence
• Updated tests to match improved message format

gerda 0.2.0

New Features

• Added support for 2025 German federal election data
• New datasets available:
  • federal_muni_harm_21: Federal elections harmonized to 2021 boundaries (1990-2025)
  • federal_muni_harm_25: Federal elections harmonized to 2025 boundaries (1990-2025)

Breaking Changes

• Removed federal_muni_harm dataset (replaced by boundary-specific versions)
• Users should now use federal_muni_harm_21 or federal_muni_harm_25 depending on their boundary harmonization needs

Improvements

• Updated data coverage to include 2025 federal election results
• Improved dataset descriptions to clarify boundary harmonization
• Enhanced error messages with helpful suggestions for deprecated dataset names

Bug Fixes

• Updated all URLs to reflect new repository structure
• Fixed dataset count in documentation and tests

gerda 0.1.0

• Initial CRAN submission
• Access to German election data from 1990-2021
• Support for municipal, state, and federal election data
• Geographically harmonized datasets
• Cross-walk tables for boundary changes

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.