qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
austraits vs geodist
A side-by-side editorial comparison of austraits and geodist — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
austraits vs geodist: at a glance
What is austraits?
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
austraits is the R access layer for the AusTraits plant trait database, and its release history is almost entirely a record of keeping pace with two upstream systems it does not control: the austraits.build data releases and the Zenodo archive that hosts them. The most recent release adds a version-dispatch layer so the same package can read both v4.x and v5.0.0 data. Three of the four visible tags were backfilled to GitHub within 23 minutes of each other, so version order and publication order do not agree.
What is geodist?
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
geodist computes geodesic distances between coordinate pairs in C with no dependencies, offering several measures that trade accuracy for speed — including a 'cheap' approximation used by default. The API is small and largely finished; 0.1.0 added geodist_min() for nearest-match lookups and 0.1.1 is a compiler warning fix.
austraits vs geodist: editorial side-by-side
austraits
0.0ANALYTICS
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
◆ Current state
austraits is the R access layer for the AusTraits plant trait database, and its release history is almost entirely a record of keeping pace with two upstream systems it does not control: the austraits.build data releases and the Zenodo archive that hosts them. The most recent release adds a version-dispatch layer so the same package can read both v4.x and v5.0.0 data. Three of the four visible tags were backfilled to GitHub within 23 minutes of each other, so version order and publication order do not agree.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is converging on a stable public vocabulary and a versioned internal. Sites became locations across every join, plot and extract function; the extract_ and print family filled out at 1.0.0; and by 2.2.2 the core functions each carry a switch on the detected data version rather than assuming one schema. The visible cost of that is dependency churn — plotting packages moved to Suggests, which the notes admit can leave core functions unable to run.
◆ Prediction
Given that every release so far has been triggered by an upstream austraits.build or Zenodo change, the next one most likely follows the next data release rather than any independent roadmap. The entries do not indicate new analysis capability being planned in the client itself.
geodist
0.0ANALYTICS
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
◆ Current state
geodist computes geodesic distances between coordinate pairs in C with no dependencies, offering several measures that trade accuracy for speed — including a 'cheap' approximation used by default. The API is small and largely finished; 0.1.0 added geodist_min() for nearest-match lookups and 0.1.1 is a compiler warning fix.
◆ Where it's heading
Development has been about making the speed-accuracy trade visible rather than hiding it. The 0.0.6 release added messages telling users to pick a different measure once the default cheap approximation is applied beyond 100km, where its error stops being negligible. Around that, the work is input handling — tibble support, better lon/lat column matching, vector inputs — and hardening the C code. It is a package that treats being small and correct as the feature.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued low-frequency maintenance: compiler warnings and geodesic source updates account for three of the last six releases, and the function surface has grown by only two entries in five years.
Alternatives to austraits and geodist
Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either austraits or geodist.
constants
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
ggdemetra
A ggplot2 layer for seasonal adjustment output, filling in one plot type at a time.
fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
See all austraits alternatives → · See all geodist alternatives →
Recent activity from austraits and geodist
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agogeodistgeodist 0.1.1 clears a clang warning in geodesic.c
- 2y agogeodistgeodist 0.1.0 adds geodist_min() for nearest matches
- 2y agoaustraitsSupport for AusTraits 5.0.0 data and the rebuilt Zenodo API
- 3y agoaustraitsextract_taxa, lookup_trait and print methods arrive
- 3y agoaustraitsVignette build and extract_ function polish
- 3y agoaustraitssite becomes location across the API; AusTraits 3.0.2+ support
- 3y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.8 updates geodesic source, fixes clang warnings
- 5y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.7 improves lon/lat column matching and tibbles
- 5y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.6 warns when cheap distances exceed 100km
- 6y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.4 adds geodist_vec() for vector inputs
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between austraits and geodist?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. austraits and geodist are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is austraits better than geodist?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. austraits and geodist are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to austraits?
Top austraits alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "austraits alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/austraits-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to geodist?
Top geodist alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "geodist alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/geodist-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.