Offline accessibility vs One online platform + two API packages

[avallecam]

I sync with the view of having:

• WHO platform, with a homologized database format, providing unique ID per study and parameter, to relate parameters, and report in papers. (similar to genbank or biomodels)
• {epireview}, as an API with entry summarising and systematic review functions **
• {epiparameter}, as an API with reading functions to plug them into analysis workflows **

** broadly speaking, can rephrase for precision

However, internet accessibility may be a bottleneck to using the packages if they at some moment only rely on an online API. Some concept packages that aim to cover this accessibility issue are {deployer} and {nomad} at the reconhub org. (accessing ~2000-3000 CRAN packages, ~10-20 GitHub packages, according to available slides)

An intermediate solution (I imaging) would be:

• having a package/function to pre-save locally the latest JSON parameter database from the online platform (which makes the current infrastructure useful for this aim), and
• provide a read-in function in both APIs to let the user decide whether to read from the Online platform or local JSON copy.