Create README.md

README.md

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+---
+language:
+- fr
+tags:
+- france
+- legislation
+- law
+- loi
+- codes
+- embeddings
+- open-data
+- government
+- legifrance
+pretty_name: French Consolidated Legislation Dataset (LEGI)
+size_categories:
+- 100K<n<1M
+license: etalab-2.0
+---
+
+# 🇫🇷 French Consolidated Legislation Dataset (LEGI)
+
+This dataset contains a **semantic-ready and embedded version** of the French **full consolidated text of national legislation and regulations** as published in the official **LEGI** database by Légifrance.
+The original data is downloaded from [the dedicated **DILA** open data repository](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/LEGI) and is also published on [data.gouv.fr](https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/legi-codes-lois-et-reglements-consolides/).
+
+The original and full **LEGI** dataset includes:
+- All **laws, codes, decrees, circulars, deliberations, decree-laws, ordinances etc...** since 1945.
+- A selection of consolidated **ministerial orders (arrêtés)**.
+- All **73 official codes in force**, and **29 repealed codes**.
+- And more ...
+  
+In this version, only versions of articles that are currently **in force** (`VIGUEUR`) or **abrogated deferred** (`ABROGE_DIFF`) are included.
+
+Each article is chunked and vectorized using the [`BAAI/bge-m3`](https://huggingface.co/BAAI/bge-m3) embedding model, enabling use in **semantic search**, **retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)**, and **legal research** systems for example.
+
+---
+
+## 🗂️ Dataset Contents
+
+The dataset is provided in **Parquet format** and includes the following columns:
+
+| Column Name         | Type     | Description                                                                 |
+|---------------------|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| `chunk_id`          | `str`    | Unique chunk identifier.                                                    |
+| `cid`               | `str`    | LEGI article source identifier.                                             |
+| `chunk_number`      | `int`    | Index of the chunk within the article.                                      |
+| `nature`            | `str`    | Nature of the text (e.g., `Article`).                                       |
+| `category`          | `str`    | Type of legislative document (e.g., `LOI`, `DECRET`, `ARRETE`, etc.).       |
+| `ministry`          | `str`    | Ministry responsible for the publication, if applicable.                    |
+| `status`            | `str`    | Status of the article: `VIGUEUR` (in force) or `ABROGE_DIFF` (abrogated deferred).|
+| `title`             | `str`    | Short title of the legislative document.                                    |
+| `full_title`        | `str`    | Full formal title of the text.                                              |
+| `subtitles`         | `str`    | Subtitle(s) indicating article grouping or section.                         |
+| `number`            | `str`    | Article or section number.                                     |
+| `start_date`        | `str`    | Date the article entered into force (format: YYYY-MM-DD).                   |
+| `end_date`          | `str`    | End of validity date (or `2999-01-01` if still in force).                   |
+| `nota`              | `str`    | Additional notes, if present.                                               |
+| `text`              | `str`    | Textual content chunk of the article (or subsection).                       |
+| `chunk_text`        | `str`    | Formatted full chunk including `full_title`, `number`, formatted `subtitles` and `text`.|
+| `embeddings_bge-m3` | `str`    | Embedding vector of `chunk_text` using `BAAI/bge-m3`, stored as JSON array string.     |
+
+---
+
+## 🛠️ Data Processing Methodology
+
+### 📥 1. Field Extraction
+The following fields were extracted and/or transformed from the original source:
+
+- **Basic fields**:
+  - `cid`, `nature`, `category`, ,`ministry`,`status`, `title`, `full_title`, `subtitles`, `number`, and `start_date`, `end_date` are extracted directly from the metadata of each article.
+
+- **Generated fields**:
+  - `chunk_id`: a generated unique identifier combining the `cid` and `chunk_number`.
+  - `chunk_number`: index of the chunk from the original decision.
+
+- **Textual fields**:
+  - `nota`: additional notes, also directly extracted from metadatas.
+  - `text`: chunk of the main text content.
+  - `chunk_text`: generated by concatenating `full_title`, article `number`, formatted `subtitles` and `text`.
+
+### ✂️ 2. Generation of 'chunk_text'
+
+Each article is naturally isolated and has its own `cid` value. But in case the article is too long, we have to split it in several chunks.
+The Langchain's `RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter` function was used to make these chunks, which correspond to the `text` value. The parameters used are :
+
+- `chunk_size` = 5000
+- `chunk_overlap` = 250
+- `length_function` = len
+
+For each chunk (`text`), a `chunk_text` is constructed as follows:
+
+``` text
+"{full_title} - Article {number}
+{formatted subtitles}
+{text}"
+```
+
+### 🧠 3. Embeddings Generation
+
+Each `chunk_text` was embedded using the [**`BAAI/bge-m3`**](https://huggingface.co/BAAI/bge-m3) model.
+The resulting embedding vector is stored in the `embeddings_bge-m3` column as a **string**, but can easily be parsed back into a `list[float]` or NumPy array.
+
+## 📌 Embedding Use Notice
+
+⚠️ The `embeddings_bge-m3` column is stored as a **stringified list** of floats (e.g., `"[-0.03062629,-0.017049594,...]"`). 
+To use it as a vector, you need to parse it into a list of floats or NumPy array. For example, if you want to load the dataset into a dataframe :
+
+```python
+import pandas as pd
+import json
+
+df = pd.read_parquet("legi-latest.parquet")
+df["embeddings_bge-m3"] = df["embeddings_bge-m3"].apply(json.loads)
+```
+
+## 📚 Source & License
+
+## 🔗 Source : 
+- [**DILA** open data repository](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/LEGI)
+- [Data.gouv.fr : LEGI: Codes, lois et règlements consolidés ](https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/legi-codes-lois-et-reglements-consolides/)
+
+## 📄 Licence : 
+**Open License (Etalab)** — This dataset is publicly available and can be reused under the conditions of the Etalab open license.