diff --git a/.Rbuildignore b/.Rbuildignore
index 9cbabd6..8fbecb1 100644
--- a/.Rbuildignore
+++ b/.Rbuildignore
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 ^CONDUCT\.md$
 ^NEWS\.md$
 ^docs$
+^data-raw$
+^analysis$
 ^pkgdown$
 ^LICENSE$
 ^.*-logo\..*$
diff --git a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
index 8a86ab2..2c39720 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
-# For help debugging build failures open an issue on the RStudio community with the 'github-actions' tag.
-# https://community.rstudio.com/new-topic?category=Package%20development&tags=github-actions
+# Workflow derived from https://github.com/r-lib/actions/tree/v2/examples
+# Need help debugging build failures? Start at https://github.com/r-lib/actions#where-to-find-help
 on:
   push:
-    branches:
-      - main
-      - master
+    branches: [main, master]
   pull_request:
-    branches:
-      - main
-      - master
+    branches: [main, master]
 
 name: R-CMD-check
 
@@ -22,73 +18,32 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         config:
+          - {os: macos-latest,   r: 'release'}
           - {os: windows-latest, r: 'release'}
-          - {os: macOS-latest, r: 'release'}
-          - {os: ubuntu-20.04, r: 'release', rspm: "https://packagemanager.rstudio.com/cran/__linux__/focal/latest"}
-          - {os: ubuntu-20.04, r: 'devel', rspm: "https://packagemanager.rstudio.com/cran/__linux__/focal/latest"}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'devel', http-user-agent: 'release'}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'release'}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'oldrel-1'}
 
     env:
-      R_REMOTES_NO_ERRORS_FROM_WARNINGS: true
-      RSPM: ${{ matrix.config.rspm }}
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      R_KEEP_PKG_SOURCE: yes
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v1
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v2
+
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
         with:
           r-version: ${{ matrix.config.r }}
+          http-user-agent: ${{ matrix.config.http-user-agent }}
+          use-public-rspm: true
 
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v1
-
-      - name: Query dependencies
-        run: |
-          install.packages('remotes')
-          saveRDS(remotes::dev_package_deps(dependencies = TRUE), ".github/depends.Rds", version = 2)
-          writeLines(sprintf("R-%i.%i", getRversion()$major, getRversion()$minor), ".github/R-version")
-        shell: Rscript {0}
-
-      - name: Restore R package cache
-        if: runner.os != 'Windows'
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r-dependencies@v2
         with:
-          path: ${{ env.R_LIBS_USER }}
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('.github/R-version') }}-1-${{ hashFiles('.github/depends.Rds') }}
-          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('.github/R-version') }}-1-
-
-      - name: Install system dependencies
-        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
-        run: |
-          while read -r cmd
-          do
-            eval sudo $cmd
-          done < <(Rscript -e 'writeLines(remotes::system_requirements("ubuntu", "20.04"))')
-
-      - name: Install system dependencies on MacOS (X11, gdal)
-        if: runner.os == 'macOS'
-        run: |
-          brew install --cask xquartz
-          brew install pkg-config
-          brew install proj
-          brew install gdal
-
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        run: |
-          remotes::install_deps(dependencies = TRUE)
-          remotes::install_cran("rcmdcheck")
-        shell: Rscript {0}
-
-      - name: Check
-        env:
-          _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_REMOTE_: false
-        run: |
-          options(crayon.enabled = TRUE)
-          rcmdcheck::rcmdcheck(args = c("--no-manual", "--as-cran"), error_on = "warning", check_dir = "check")
-        shell: Rscript {0}
+          extra-packages: any::rcmdcheck
+          needs: check
 
-      - name: Upload check results
-        if: failure()
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@main
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
         with:
-          name: ${{ runner.os }}-r${{ matrix.config.r }}-results
-          path: check
+          upload-snapshots: true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-coverage.yaml b/.github/workflows/test-coverage.yaml
index 505321e..cd22477 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-coverage.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-coverage.yaml
@@ -12,15 +12,16 @@ name: test-coverage
 
 jobs:
   test-coverage:
-    runs-on: macOS-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 120
+    runs-on: windows-latest
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      PASS: ${{secrets.PASS}}
+
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v1
-
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v1
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v2
 
       - name: Query dependencies
         run: |
@@ -29,20 +30,14 @@ jobs:
           writeLines(sprintf("R-%i.%i", getRversion()$major, getRversion()$minor), ".github/R-version")
         shell: Rscript {0}
 
-      - name: Restore R package cache
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
-        with:
-          path: ${{ env.R_LIBS_USER }}
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('.github/R-version') }}-1-${{ hashFiles('.github/depends.Rds') }}
-          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('.github/R-version') }}-1-
-          
-      - name: Install system dependencies on MacOS (X11, gdal)
-        if: runner.os == 'macOS'
+      - name: Install system dependencies
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
         run: |
-          brew install --cask xquartz
-          brew install pkg-config
-          brew install proj@7
-          brew install gdal
+          while read -r cmd
+          do
+            eval sudo $cmd
+          done < <(Rscript -e 'writeLines(remotes::system_requirements("ubuntu", "20.04"))')
+          sudo apt-get install libgdal-dev libproj-dev libgeos-dev libudunits2-dev netcdf-bin libsodium-dev libsodium23
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
@@ -53,4 +48,4 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Test coverage
         run: covr::codecov()
-        shell: Rscript {0}
+        shell: Rscript {0}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 1059265..b859f81 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -15,19 +15,20 @@ Description: Programmatic interface to the Harmonized World Soil Database
     or your computer. Routines for both single pixel data downloads and
     gridded data are provided.
 Depends:
-    R (>= 3.6)
+    R (>= 4.2)
 Imports:
     sf,
     terra,
-    httr
+    httr,
+    dplyr,
+    utils
 License: AGPL-3
 LazyData: true
 ByteCompile: true
-RoxygenNote: 7.2.1
+RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
 Encoding: UTF-8
 Suggests:
     ncdf4,
-    magrittr,
     knitr,
     markdown,
     covr,
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 7826f15..cc23fcb 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 
+export(ws_download)
 export(ws_get)
 export(ws_subset)
diff --git a/R/data.R b/R/data.R
index 0609013..57201e7 100644
--- a/R/data.R
+++ b/R/data.R
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#' HWSD meta-data
+#' HWSD v1.2 (ORNL DAAC) meta-data
 #'
 #' Data frame with meta-data on the ORNL DAAC parameters one can query
 #' using the THREDDS server. In addition a brief description of the
@@ -11,4 +11,14 @@
 #'   \item{description}{general description of the variable}
 #'   \item{units}{units of the variable}
 #' }
-"hwsd_meta_data"
\ No newline at end of file
+"hwsd_meta_data"
+
+
+#' HWSD v2.0 database
+#'
+#' Database holding the full HWSD v2.0 database layer information
+#' for the main soil type specified. For the fields included (i.e.
+#' the column names I refer to the FAO documentation).
+#' 
+#' @format data.frame
+"hwsd2"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/R/ws_download.R b/R/ws_download.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75007bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/ws_download.R
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+#' Download HWSD v2.0 data
+#'
+#' Downloads both the database and gridded HWSD v2.0 data products
+#' to a desired output path for subsetting.
+#' 
+#' When an existing path is used which is not the temporary directory
+#' an environmental variable WS_PATH will be set. This variable will
+#' override the default temporary directory if it exists. This allows
+#' the gridded data to be stored elsewhere and be forgotten (while using the
+#' {hwsdr} package for HWSD v2.0).
+#' 
+#' Should you delete the gridded file, than it can be downloaded again but
+#' the environmental variable should be set again using the new_path = TRUE
+#' flag.
+#'
+#' @param ws_path the path / directory where to store the HWSD v2.0 database
+#' @param new_path update the path, i.e. dowload data to a new local
+#'  location (logical, default FALSE)
+#'
+#' @return current data path
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @examples
+#' 
+#' \dontrun{
+#'  
+#'  # Download the gridded soil map of
+#'  # HWSD v2.0 to the temporary directory
+#'  ws_download()
+#'  
+#'  # download the same data to a specific
+#'  # directory (which should exist)
+#'  ws_download(
+#'  ws_path = "~/my_path"
+#'  )
+#'  
+#'  # download the same data to a specific
+#'  # directory (which should exist) and
+#'  # update the environmental variable
+#'  ws_download(
+#'  ws_path = "~/my_path",
+#'  new_path = TRUE
+#'  )
+#' }
+
+ws_download <- function(
+    ws_path = file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db"),
+    new_path = FALSE
+) {
+  
+  # check if environmental variable is set
+  # if so use dir as overriding location
+  if(Sys.getenv("WS_PATH") != "" & !new_path ) {
+    ws_path <- Sys.getenv("WS_PATH")
+  }
+  
+  if (ws_path == file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db")) {
+    
+    message(
+      sprintf(
+        "Creating temporary HWSD v2.0 files at:\n %s", ws_path )
+    )
+    
+    # create storage path
+    if (!dir.exists(ws_path)) {
+      dir.create(ws_path, recursive = TRUE)
+    }
+    
+  } else {
+    
+    if (!dir.exists(ws_path)) {
+      stop(
+        "Database directory does not exist, please create the directory first!"
+      )
+    } else {
+
+      if(Sys.getenv("WS_PATH") == "" | new_path) {
+        Sys.setenv("WS_PATH" = ws_path)  
+      }
+            
+      if (file.exists(file.path(ws_path, "HWSD2.bil"))) {
+        message("Grid file exists, skipping download!")
+        return(ws_path)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  
+  # grab urls
+  urls <- server(version = "2.0")
+  
+  # download zipped gridded data
+  httr::GET(
+    urls$grid,
+    httr::write_disk(
+      file.path(ws_path, "hwsd2_raster.zip"),
+      overwrite = TRUE
+      )
+    )
+  
+  utils::unzip(
+    file.path(ws_path, "hwsd2_raster.zip"),
+    exdir = ws_path
+  )
+  
+  # clean up zip files
+  status <- file.remove(
+    c(
+      file.path(ws_path, "hwsd2_raster.zip")
+    )
+  )
+  
+  message(
+    sprintf(
+      "Saving HWSD v2.0 files in at:\n %s", ws_path )
+  )
+  
+  # exit statement
+  message("Downloaded HWSD v2.0 files")
+  return(ws_path)
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/R/ws_get.R b/R/ws_get.R
index c79f23c..b395e83 100644
--- a/R/ws_get.R
+++ b/R/ws_get.R
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ ws_get <- function(
   # formulate query to pass to httr
   query <- list(
     "var" = var,
-    "south" = location[1],
-    "west" = location[2],
-    "east" = location[4],
-    "north" = location[3],
+    "south" = location[2],
+    "west" = location[1],
+    "east" = location[3],
+    "north" = location[4],
     "disableProjSubset" = "on",
     "horizStride"= 1,
     "accept"="netcdf4"
diff --git a/R/ws_subset.R b/R/ws_subset.R
index 3001576..3c018b6 100644
--- a/R/ws_subset.R
+++ b/R/ws_subset.R
@@ -6,14 +6,21 @@
 #' disk.
 #' 
 #' @param site sitename for the extracted location
-#' @param location location of a bounding box c(lat, lon, lat, lon) defined
-#' by a bottom-left and top-right coordinates, a single location (lat, lon)
-#' or a data frame with various locations listed (site, lat, lon)
+#' @param location location of a bounding box c(lon, lat, lon, lat) defined
+#' by a bottom-left and top-right coordinates, a single location (lon, lat)
 #' @param param soil parameters to provide, the default setting is ALL, this 
 #' will download all available soil parameters.Check
 #' https://daac.ornl.gov/SOILS/guides/HWSD.html for parameter descriptions.
+#' @param layer which soil depth layer of HWSD v2.0 to consider, layers are
+#'  named D1 to D7 from top to bottom
 #' @param path path where to download the data to (only applicable to
 #' spatial data)
+#' @param ws_path path to the gridded HWSD v2.0 data, only required/used if
+#'  querying v2.0 data
+#' @param version version of HWSD to query (numeric value). By default the
+#'  package will query the ORNL DAAC v1.2 via their API. If specifying the
+#'  later version (2.0) it will download or require the gridded spatial data
+#'  in addition to the included HWSD v2.0 database with soil parameters.
 #' @param internal do not store the data on disk
 #' @param rate request rate in seconds, determines how long to wait between 
 #'  queries to avoid bouncing because of rate limitations
@@ -43,123 +50,275 @@
 #'     internal = TRUE
 #'    )
 #'    
-#'  raster::plot(t_sand)
+#'  terra::plot(t_sand)
 #' }
 
 ws_subset <- function(
   location = c(32, -81, 34, -80),
   site = "HWSD",
   param = "ALL",
+  layer = "D1",
   path = tempdir(),
+  ws_path = file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db"),
   internal = TRUE,
-  rate = 0.1
+  rate = 0.1,
+  version = 1.2
 ){
   
-  # grab meta-data from package
-  meta_data <- hwsdr::hwsd_meta_data
-  
-  if(tolower(param) != "all" & any(!(param %in% meta_data$parameter))){
-    stop("One or more soil parameters are not valid!")
-  }
-  
   # check coordinate length
   if (!(length(location) == 2 || length(location) == 4)){
     stop("Location parameters of insufficient length, check coordinates!")
   }
   
-  # check if there are enough coordinates specified
-  if (length(location) != 4){
-    bbox <- FALSE
-    
-    # pad the point locations
-    # as the query needs a bounding box
-    location <- c(
-      location[1] - 0.05,
-      location[2] - 0.05,
-      location[1] + 0.05,
-      location[2] + 0.05
-    )
+  if (as.numeric(version) < 2) {
     
-  } else {
-    bbox <- TRUE
-  }
-  
-  # check the parameters we want to download in case of
-  # ALL list all available parameters for each frequency
-  if (any(grepl("ALL", toupper(param)))) {
-    
-    # Use meta-data file to select all but the CLM
-    # parameters when calling ALL
-    param <- meta_data$parameter[
-        meta_data$parameter != "HWSD_SOIL_CLM_RES"
-        ]
-  }
-  
-  ws_stack <- 
-    lapply(param, function(par){
-      # Wait to avoid rate limitations
-      Sys.sleep(rate)
+    # grab meta-data from package
+    meta_data <- hwsdr::hwsd_meta_data
+    
+    if(tolower(param) != "all" & any(!(param %in% meta_data$parameter))){
+      stop("One or more soil parameters are not valid!")
+    }
+    
+    # check if there are enough coordinates specified
+    if (length(location) != 4){
+      bbox <- FALSE
       
-      # get data
-      ws_get(
-        location = location,
-        param = par,
-        path = tempdir())
-      }
-    )
-  
-  if(all(is.null(ws_stack))){
-    warning("No data retrieved!")
-    return(NULL)
-  }
+      # pad the point locations
+      # as the query needs a bounding box
+      location <- c(
+        location[1] - 0.05,
+        location[2] - 0.05,
+        location[1] + 0.05,
+        location[2] + 0.05
+      )
+      
+    } else {
+      bbox <- TRUE
+    }
+    
+    # check the parameters we want to download in case of
+    # ALL list all available parameters for each frequency
+    if (any(grepl("ALL", toupper(param)))) {
+      
+      # Use meta-data file to select all but the CLM
+      # parameters when calling ALL
+      param <- meta_data$parameter[
+          meta_data$parameter != "HWSD_SOIL_CLM_RES"
+          ]
+    }
+    
+    ws_stack <- 
+      lapply(param, function(par){
+        
+        # Wait to avoid rate limitations
+        Sys.sleep(rate)
+        
+        # get data
+        ws_get(
+          location = location,
+          param = par,
+          path = tempdir())
+        }
+      )
+    
+    if(all(is.null(ws_stack))){
+      warning("No data retrieved!")
+      return(NULL)
+    }
+    
+    # convert the nested list to a nice
+    # raster stack
+    ws_stack <- terra::rast(ws_stack)
+    
+    # if only a single location is provided
+    # extract the pixel values and return
+    # as a data frame
+    if(!bbox){
+      
+      # define sf point location
+      p <- sf::st_as_sf(data.frame(
+        lat = location[2],
+        lon = location[1]),
+        coords = c("lon","lat"),
+        crs = 4326)
+      
+      # extract values
+      values <- terra::extract(ws_stack, p)
+      
+      # convert to tidy data
+      values <- data.frame(
+        site = site,
+        parameter = names(values),
+        latitude = location[2],
+        longitude = location[1], 
+        value = t(values),
+        row.names = NULL
+      )
+      
+      # return data
+      return(values)
+    }
   
-  # convert the nested list to a nice
-  # raster stack
-  ws_stack <- terra::rast(ws_stack)
+    # if internal return the raster stack
+    # otherwise write to file as a geotiff
+    # in the desired path
+    if(internal){
+      return(ws_stack)
+    } else {
+      suppressWarnings(
+        terra::writeRaster(
+          ws_stack,
+          filename = file.path(path,
+                               sprintf("%s.tif",
+                                       site)),
+          overwrite = TRUE)   
+      )
+    }
   
-  # if only a single location is provided
-  # extract the pixel values and return
-  # as a data frame
-  if(!bbox){
-    
-    # define sf point location
-    p <- sf::st_as_sf(data.frame(
-      lat = location[1],
-      lon = location[2]),
-      coords = c("lon","lat"),
-      crs = 4326)
-    
-    # extract values
-    values <- terra::extract(ws_stack, p)
-    
-    # convert to tidy data
-    values <- data.frame(
-      site = site,
-      parameter = names(values),
-      latitude = location[1],
-      longitude = location[2], 
-      value = t(values),
-      row.names = NULL
-    )
-    
-    # return data
-    return(values)
-  }
-
-  # if internal return the raster stack
-  # otherwise write to file as a geotiff
-  # in the desired path
-  if(internal){
-    return(ws_stack)
   } else {
-    suppressWarnings(
+    
+    # CRAN fix
+    LAYER <- HWSD2_SMU_ID <- NULL
+    
+    # grab the full database
+    hwsd2 <- hwsdr::hwsd2 |>
+      dplyr::filter(
+        LAYER == layer
+      )
+
+    # split out the meta-data (column names)
+    meta_data <- hwsd2 |>
+      names()
+    
+    if(all(tolower(param) != "all") & any(!(param %in% meta_data))){
+      stop("One or more soil parameters are not valid!")
+    }
+    
+    # download the gridded data if not available in
+    # the tempdir() or elsewhere
+    if (ws_path == file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db")) {
+      if(!dir.exists(file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db"))) {
+        ws_path <- ws_download(
+          ws_path = file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db")
+        )
+      } else {
+        if(!file.exists(file.path(ws_path, "HWSD2.bil"))) {
+          ws_path <- ws_download(
+            ws_path = file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db")
+          )
+        }
+      }
+      
+    } else {
+      if (!dir.exists(ws_path)) {
+        stop(
+          "          ws_path does not exist! 
+          check the path location for your gridded
+          data file (to download with ws_download())
+          "
+          )
+      }
+    }
+    
+    ws_stack <- 
+      lapply(param, function(par){
+        
+        # read in raster grid, i.e IDs linking locations to
+        # database values
+        ids <- terra::rast(file.path(ws_path, "HWSD2.bil"))
+        
+        if (length(location) > 2) {
+          
+          # set filename
+          filename <- file.path(
+            path,
+            paste0(par, ".nc")
+          )
+          
+          # set the extent of the subset
+          e <- terra::ext(location)
+          
+          # crop the full image to extent
+          c <- terra::crop(ids, e)
+          
+          # map values to the gridded indices
+          output <- try(
+            terra::subst(
+              c,
+              from = hwsd2$HWSD2_SMU_ID,
+              to = hwsd2[par]
+            )
+          )
+          
+          if(inherits(output, "try-error")){
+            stop(
+            "Value subsitution requires numeric values,\n check selected values!"
+            )
+          }
+          
+          return(output)
+        } else {
+          # define sf point location
+          p <- sf::st_as_sf(data.frame(
+            lon = location[1],
+            lat = location[2]),
+            coords = c("lon","lat"),
+            crs = 4326
+            )
+          
+          # extract values
+          pixel_id <- terra::extract(
+            ids,
+            p
+          )
+          
+          # select and filter output
+          output <- hwsd2 |>
+            dplyr::filter(
+              HWSD2_SMU_ID == pixel_id$HWSD2
+            ) |>
+            dplyr::select( 
+              dplyr::all_of(par)
+            ) |>
+            dplyr::mutate(
+              latitude = location[2],
+              longitude = location[1],
+              site = site,
+              parameter = par
+            ) |>
+            dplyr::rename(
+              "value" = !!par
+            )
+          
+          return(output)
+        }
+      })
+    
+    if(all(is.null(ws_stack))){
+      warning("No data retrieved!")
+      return(NULL)
+    }
+    
+    if (length(location) == 2) {
+      ws_stack <- dplyr::bind_rows(ws_stack)
+      return(ws_stack)
+    }
+    
+    if (length(location) == 4) {
+      ws_stack <- terra::rast(c(ws_stack))
+    }
+    
+    # if internal return the raster stack
+    # otherwise write to file as a geotiff
+    # in the desired path
+    if(internal & length(location) == 4){
+      return(ws_stack)
+    } else {
       terra::writeRaster(
         ws_stack,
-        filename = file.path(path,
-                             sprintf("%s.tif",
-                                     site)),
-        gdal = c("COMPRESS=DEFLATE"),
-        overwrite = TRUE)   
-    )
+        file.path(path, paste0(c(site, layer, ".tif"), collapse = "_")),
+        overwrite = TRUE
+      )
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/R/zzz.R b/R/zzz.R
index a81ef30..b151e03 100644
--- a/R/zzz.R
+++ b/R/zzz.R
@@ -1,6 +1,21 @@
 # server end points
-server <- function(){
-  url <- "https://thredds.daac.ornl.gov/thredds/ncss/ornldaac/1247"
-  return(url)
+server <- function(
+  version = "1.2"  
+  ){
+  
+  # fao AWS base url
+  fao_base <- "https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.gaezdev.aws.fao.org" 
+  
+  if (version == "1.2") {
+    # return ORNL DAAC url for HWSD v1.2
+    url <- "https://thredds.daac.ornl.gov/thredds/ncss/ornldaac/1247"
+    return(url)  
+  } else {
+    # return both files for HWSD v2.0
+    url <- list(
+      mdb = file.path(fao_base, "HWSD/HWSD2_DB.zip"),
+      grid = file.path(fao_base, "HWSD/HWSD2_RASTER.zip")
+    )
+    return(url)  
+  }
 }
-
diff --git a/analysis/generate_db_file.R b/analysis/generate_db_file.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6cda0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/analysis/generate_db_file.R
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+# Convert Microsoft Access database file to an
+# R serialized dataframe for inclusion in the
+# package (only the grid layout will be 
+# downloaded externally to the package)
+# 
+# The data returned by this routine will also
+# only cover the main soil type, not the associated
+# soil types.
+#
+# This data is included in the package as the main
+# database is provided in a proprietary format which
+# is difficult to read without additional tools.
+
+library(dplyr)
+
+#---- define MS Access reading function ----
+
+# This function requires mdbtools to be installed
+# on the system that runs the code (either linux
+# or macOS).
+# 
+# on Ubuntu run: sudo apt install mdbtools
+
+mdb_read <- function(file)
+{
+  
+  tables = c(
+    "HWSD2_LAYERS",
+    "HWSD2_SMU"
+  )
+  
+  # dump database content to temporary file
+  df <- lapply(tables, function(table){
+    
+    f <- tempfile()
+    system2(
+      command = 'mdb-export',
+      args = paste('-b strip', file, shQuote(table)),
+      stdout = f
+    )
+    
+    # read in CSV file
+    data <- readr::read_csv(f)
+    
+    if (table == "HWSD2_SMU") {
+      data <- data |>
+        dplyr::select(
+          HWSD2_SMU_ID,
+          WRB4
+        ) |>
+        rename(
+          'WRB_main' = 'WRB4'
+        )
+    }
+    
+    # return mdb data of sub-table
+    data
+  })
+  
+  # left join both tables on common HWSD2_SMU_ID
+  # and filter the main WRB (dominant soil layer)
+  # from the data
+  df <- do.call("left_join", df) |>
+    dplyr::filter(
+      WRB4 == WRB_main
+    ) |>
+    select(
+      -WRB_main
+    )
+  
+  # return the whole data frame
+  return(df)
+}
+
+#---- download MS access HWSD v2.0 database ----
+
+if(!dir.exists("./data-raw")) {
+  dir.create("./data-raw")
+}
+
+curl::curl_download(
+  unlist(server(version = "2.0")$mdb),
+  destfile = "./data-raw/HWSD2.zip"
+)
+
+unzip(
+  "./data-raw/HWSD2.zip",
+  exdir = "./data-raw/"
+  )
+
+file.remove("./data-raw/HWSD2.zip")
+
+#---- grab the database values for tables ----
+
+db <- mdb_read("./data-raw/HWSD2.mdb")
+
+# save as rda object
+saveRDS(db, "data/hwsd2.rda", compress = "xz")
+
diff --git a/data/hwsd2.rda b/data/hwsd2.rda
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d43b820
Binary files /dev/null and b/data/hwsd2.rda differ
diff --git a/man/hwsd2.Rd b/man/hwsd2.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e2510d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/hwsd2.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/data.R
+\docType{data}
+\name{hwsd2}
+\alias{hwsd2}
+\title{HWSD v2.0 database}
+\format{
+data.frame
+}
+\usage{
+hwsd2
+}
+\description{
+Database holding the full HWSD v2.0 database layer information
+for the main soil type specified. For the fields included (i.e.
+the column names I refer to the FAO documentation).
+}
+\keyword{datasets}
diff --git a/man/hwsd_meta_data.Rd b/man/hwsd_meta_data.Rd
index 23123bc..4adabd6 100644
--- a/man/hwsd_meta_data.Rd
+++ b/man/hwsd_meta_data.Rd
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 \docType{data}
 \name{hwsd_meta_data}
 \alias{hwsd_meta_data}
-\title{HWSD meta-data}
+\title{HWSD v1.2 (ORNL DAAC) meta-data}
 \format{
 data.frame
 \describe{
diff --git a/man/ws_download.Rd b/man/ws_download.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be04539
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/ws_download.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/ws_download.R
+\name{ws_download}
+\alias{ws_download}
+\title{Download HWSD v2.0 data}
+\usage{
+ws_download(ws_path = file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db"), new_path = FALSE)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{ws_path}{the path / directory where to store the HWSD v2.0 database}
+
+\item{new_path}{update the path, i.e. dowload data to a new local
+location (logical, default FALSE)}
+}
+\value{
+current data path
+}
+\description{
+Downloads both the database and gridded HWSD v2.0 data products
+to a desired output path for subsetting.
+}
+\details{
+When an existing path is used which is not the temporary directory
+an environmental variable WS_PATH will be set. This variable will
+override the default temporary directory if it exists. This allows
+the gridded data to be stored elsewhere and be forgotten (while using the
+{hwsdr} package for HWSD v2.0).
+
+Should you delete the gridded file, than it can be downloaded again but
+the environmental variable should be set again using the new_path = TRUE
+flag.
+}
+\examples{
+
+\dontrun{
+ 
+ # Download the gridded soil map of
+ # HWSD v2.0 to the temporary directory
+ ws_download()
+ 
+ # download the same data to a specific
+ # directory (which should exist)
+ ws_download(
+ ws_path = "~/my_path"
+ )
+ 
+ # download the same data to a specific
+ # directory (which should exist) and
+ # update the environmental variable
+ ws_download(
+ ws_path = "~/my_path",
+ new_path = TRUE
+ )
+}
+}
diff --git a/man/ws_subset.Rd b/man/ws_subset.Rd
index 084df61..142fc6e 100644
--- a/man/ws_subset.Rd
+++ b/man/ws_subset.Rd
@@ -8,15 +8,17 @@ ws_subset(
   location = c(32, -81, 34, -80),
   site = "HWSD",
   param = "ALL",
+  layer = "D1",
   path = tempdir(),
+  ws_path = file.path(tempdir(), "ws_db"),
   internal = TRUE,
-  rate = 0.1
+  rate = 0.1,
+  version = 1.2
 )
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{location}{location of a bounding box c(lat, lon, lat, lon) defined
-by a bottom-left and top-right coordinates, a single location (lat, lon)
-or a data frame with various locations listed (site, lat, lon)}
+\item{location}{location of a bounding box c(lon, lat, lon, lat) defined
+by a bottom-left and top-right coordinates, a single location (lon, lat)}
 
 \item{site}{sitename for the extracted location}
 
@@ -24,13 +26,24 @@ or a data frame with various locations listed (site, lat, lon)}
 will download all available soil parameters.Check
 https://daac.ornl.gov/SOILS/guides/HWSD.html for parameter descriptions.}
 
+\item{layer}{which soil depth layer of HWSD v2.0 to consider, layers are
+named D1 to D7 from top to bottom}
+
 \item{path}{path where to download the data to (only applicable to
 spatial data)}
 
+\item{ws_path}{path to the gridded HWSD v2.0 data, only required/used if
+querying v2.0 data}
+
 \item{internal}{do not store the data on disk}
 
 \item{rate}{request rate in seconds, determines how long to wait between 
 queries to avoid bouncing because of rate limitations}
+
+\item{version}{version of HWSD to query (numeric value). By default the
+package will query the ORNL DAAC v1.2 via their API. If specifying the
+later version (2.0) it will download or require the gridded spatial data
+in addition to the included HWSD v2.0 database with soil parameters.}
 }
 \value{
 Local geotiff data, or a data frame with HWSD soil information
@@ -64,6 +77,6 @@ disk.
     internal = TRUE
    )
    
- raster::plot(t_sand)
+ terra::plot(t_sand)
 }
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_hwsd2_downloads.r b/tests/testthat/test_hwsd2_downloads.r
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b8a533
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_hwsd2_downloads.r
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+context("test hwsd v2 routines")
+
+test_that("check download to disk.",{
+  skip_on_cran()
+  data <- ws_subset(
+    site = "HWSD",
+    location = c(-81, 34),
+    param = "SAND",
+    layer = "D1",
+    version = "2.0"
+  )
+  
+  expect_type(data, "list")
+})
+
+test_that("test sf bbox method",{
+  skip_on_cran()
+  a <- sf::st_sf(a = 1:2,
+                geom = sf::st_sfc(
+                  sf::st_point(c(34, -81)),
+                  sf::st_point(c(32, -80))),
+                crs = 4326)
+
+  data <- a |>
+    sf::st_bbox() |>
+    ws_subset(
+      param = "SAND",
+      layer = "D1",
+      version = "2.0"
+    )
+  
+  expect_s4_class(data, "SpatRaster")
+})
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_hwsd_downloads.r b/tests/testthat/test_hwsd_downloads.r
index eedb3aa..64ff2d3 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_hwsd_downloads.r
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_hwsd_downloads.r
@@ -27,10 +27,8 @@ test_that("check download to disk.",{
   expect_true(file.exists(file.path(tempdir(), "HWSD.tif")))
 })
 
-
 test_that("check point download",{
   skip_on_cran()
-  
   data <- ws_subset(
     site = "HWSD",
     location = c(34, -81),
@@ -51,7 +49,6 @@ test_that("check coordinate length",{
       internal = TRUE
     )
   )
-  
 })  
 
 test_that("faulty param",{
@@ -69,15 +66,14 @@ test_that("faulty param",{
 
 test_that("test sf bbox method",{
   skip_on_cran()
-  library(magrittr)
   a <- sf::st_sf(a = 1:2,
                 geom = sf::st_sfc(
                   sf::st_point(c(34, -81)),
                   sf::st_point(c(32, -80))),
                 crs = 4326)
 
-  data <- a %>%
-    sf::st_bbox() %>%
+  data <- a |>
+    sf::st_bbox() |>
     ws_subset(param = "T_SAND")
   
   expect_s4_class(data, "SpatRaster")