qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
austraits vs spanishoddata
A side-by-side editorial comparison of austraits and spanishoddata — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:open-data
austraits vs spanishoddata: 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 spanishoddata?
spanishoddata spent a year finding out its 2020-2021 data was quietly incomplete.
spanishoddata provides access to Spain's open mobility origin-destination datasets from the Ministry of Transport, converting them into DuckDB and parquet for analysis at scale. Nearly every release in this window is a data-fidelity fix rather than a feature: district-to-municipal reaggregation was wrong for the 2020-2021 vintage, literal 'NA' strings in the source CSVs broke DuckDB enum casting, and the Amazon S3 metadata bucket turned out to be truncated at March 2021, silently hiding data.
austraits vs spanishoddata: 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.
spanishoddata
0.0ANALYTICS
spanishoddata spent a year finding out its 2020-2021 data was quietly incomplete.
◆ Current state
spanishoddata provides access to Spain's open mobility origin-destination datasets from the Ministry of Transport, converting them into DuckDB and parquet for analysis at scale. Nearly every release in this window is a data-fidelity fix rather than a feature: district-to-municipal reaggregation was wrong for the 2020-2021 vintage, literal 'NA' strings in the source CSVs broke DuckDB enum casting, and the Amazon S3 metadata bucket turned out to be truncated at March 2021, silently hiding data.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is in a trust-building phase. The pattern across 0.2.1 through 0.2.6 is the maintainers repeatedly discovering that upstream metadata and the package's own aggregation were misrepresenting what data existed, then fixing it and adding a check so it surfaces next time. That is now backed by infrastructure: comprehensive unit tests plus weekly live-data runs on GitHub workers that alert maintainers when the upstream ministry changes something. The last feature release sits outside the six-entry window, which is itself the story.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued upstream-tracking fixes as the ministry's API and S3 layout shift, with the experimental quick-access and checksum functions the most likely candidates for promotion to stable.
Alternatives to austraits and spanishoddata
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 spanishoddata.
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 spanishoddata alternatives →
Recent activity from austraits and spanishoddata
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agospanishoddataRedirected district files identified in v1 metadata
- 2mo agospanishoddataS3 metadata truncation at March 2021 bypassed via XML feed
- 4mo agospanishoddataLiteral NA strings no longer break DuckDB casting
- 4mo agospanishoddataLarge urban area zones can be reloaded again
- 5mo agospanishoddatatime_slot column removed; test coverage goes live-weekly
- 1y agospanishoddataDistrict-to-municipal reaggregation corrected for 2020-2021
- 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
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between austraits and spanishoddata?
Both compete on the same themes — open-data — within Analytics. austraits and spanishoddata 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 spanishoddata?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. austraits and spanishoddata 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 spanishoddata?
Top spanishoddata alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spanishoddata alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spanishoddata for the full list with editorial commentary on each.