Mali violence map ACLED

mali_violence_acled.R

library(tidyverse)
library(sf)
library(rgeoboundaries) ## remotes::install_github("wmgeolabs/rgeoboundaries")
library(racled) ## remotes::install_gitlab("dickoa/racled")
library(cowplot)

### Get Mali country boundaries
mli_adm0 <- gb_adm0("mali")

### Get Mali ACLED data
mli_acled <- read_acled("mali")
glimpse(mli_acled) ## check the data

## Create spatial objects, lumping event_type
mli_acled_pts <- mli_acled |>
  filter(year >= 2013,
         year <= 2021,
         fatalities >= 1) |>
  mutate(event_type2 = fct_lump(event_type,
                                n = 3,
                                other_level = "Other events")) |>
  drop_na(longitude, latitude) |>
  st_as_sf(coords = c("longitude", "latitude"),
           crs = 4326)

## Color palette
pal <- c("Battles" = "#BF1154",
         "Explosions/Remote violence" = "#DA7C5D",
         "Violence against civilians" = "#F2D16D",
         "Other events" = "#525A61")

### The chart
ggplot() +
  geom_sf(data = mli_adm0) +
  geom_sf(data = mli_acled_pts,
          aes(size = fatalities,
              fill = event_type2),
          shape = 21,
          stroke = 0.1,
          alpha = 0.7) +
  labs(title = "Violence in Mali since 2013",
       subtitle = "Events resulting in more than one fatality",
       caption = "Source: ACLED") +
  scale_fill_manual("", values = pal,
                    guide = guide_legend(override.aes = list(size = 3))) +
  scale_size(name = "Dead",
             breaks = c(10, 157),
             range = c(1, 4),
             guide = guide_legend(title.position = "right")) +
  facet_wrap(vars(fct_rev(as.factor(year)))) +
  theme_map() +
  theme(legend.position = "top",
        legend.direction = "horizontal",
        plot.caption = element_text(hjust = 0, vjust = 1),
        plot.caption.position = "plot")

Thanks @dickoa . I have done so, using my email and key and returns the following

Error in file(file, "rt") : cannot open the connection
In addition: Warning message:
In file(file, "rt") :
cannot open URL 'https://api.acleddata.com/acled/read.csv?key=xxxx&email=xxxxk&limit=0&terms=accept&iso=404': HTTP status was '500 Internal Server Error'

using my email and key, I can however, download the data from https://acleddata.com/data-export-tool/ as a csv

I also tried the option in the instructions: You can also call the ACLED API directly. In order to retrieve data from the API, you must make a GET or POST request to the following URL: https://api.acleddata.com/acled/read/?key=****************1234&email=you@youremail.com

It returns
{"status":403,"success":false,"count":0,"error":{"status":403,"message":"Your account is restricted to only downloading the data via the Data Export Tool. Please contact access@acleddata.com to discuss extending your access to the API."}}

Hi @Pete-254,
You should contact access@acledata.com to ask them if you can use your key to query it via the API. I remember that I had a similar issue, and they fixed it.

Hi @dickoa,
thank you