How to convert SpatVector column to datetime format in R?

Question

I would like to convert a SpatVector column from character to POSIXct in R. Using as.POSIXct() doesn't throw an error or warning but the column is still character after.

f <- system.file("ex/lux.shp", package="terra")
v <- vect(f)

v$DateTime <- "2022-03-02 01:23:45"
class(v) # class = character

v$DateTime <- as.POSIXct(v$DateTime)
class(v) # class = character

class(as.POSIXct(v$DateTime)) # class = POSIXct

SpatVector does not yet support date/time values. I will add that soon. — Robert Hijmans, Mar 02 '22 at 20:31
@RobertHijmans any updates on when date/time support will be added? — W. Kessler, Aug 18 '23 at 18:01

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 24 '23 at 16:38

This is available in terra >= 1.7-39

library(terra)
#terra 1.7.39
f <- system.file("ex/lux.shp", package="terra")
v <- vect(f)
v$DateTime <- "2022-03-02 01:23:45"
class(v$DateTime) 
#[1] "character"

v$DateTime <- as.POSIXct(v$DateTime)
class(v$DateTime) 
#[1] "POSIXct" "POSIXt"

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 07 '22 at 14:48

As Robert mentioned, there is no support in terra yet. Below solution with sf package:

f <- system.file("ex/lux.shp", package="terra")
library(sf)

v <- st_read(f)
v$DateTime <- as.POSIXct("2022-03-02 01:23:45")

class(v$DateTime)
#> [1] "POSIXct" "POSIXt"

^{Created on 2022-03-07 by the reprex package (v2.0.1)}

How to convert SpatVector column to datetime format in R?

2 Answers2