Match target terms with an ontology

This function takes a table to replace the values of various columns with harmonised values listed in the project specific gazetteer.

.matchOntology(
  table = NULL,
  columns = NULL,
  dataseries = NULL,
  ontology = NULL,
  colsAsClass = TRUE,
  groupMatches = FALSE,
  stringdist = TRUE,
  strictMatch = FALSE,
  parentClasses = FALSE,
  beep = NULL,
  verbose = FALSE
)

Arguments

table

data.frame(1)
a table that contains columns that should be harmonised by matching with the gazetteer.

columns

character(1)
the columns containing the concepts

dataseries

character(1)
the source dataseries from which territories are sourced.

ontology

onto
path where the ontology/gazetteer is stored.

colsAsClass

logical(1)
whether or not to match columns by their name with the respective classes, or with concepts of all classes.

groupMatches

logical(1)
whether or not to group harmonized concepts (in the output) when there are more than one match (for example for broader or narrower matches).

stringdist

logical(1)
whether or not to use string distance to find matches (should not be used for large datasets/when a memory error is shown).

strictMatch

logical(1)
whether or not matches are strict, i.e., there should be clear one-to-one relationships and no changes in broader concepts.

parentClasses

logical(1)
whether or not to search for matches in classes that are hierarchically higher than the target class.

beep

integerish(1)
Number specifying what sound to be played to signal the user that a point of interaction is reached by the program, see beep.

verbose

logical(1)
whether or not to give detailed information on the process of this function.

Value

Returns a table that resembles the input table where the target columns were translated according to the provided ontology.