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Pattern fills for ggplot2, hardened against the ways users write sizes
Comparison · Analytics
bayestools vs nswgeo
A side-by-side editorial comparison of bayestools and nswgeo — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
bayestools vs nswgeo: at a glance
What is bayestools?
The JAGS toolkit under RoBMA, shipping the standardization machinery its downstream rewrite needed
BayesTools provides the shared JAGS fitting, prior and summary infrastructure that the author's meta-analysis packages build on. The 0.2.x line filled in modeling primitives — prior_mixture() and mixed-posterior objects in 0.2.18, expression-valued priors and lme4-style uncorrelated random effects in 0.2.20, then a run of small diagnostic fixes for mixture and spike-and-slab priors. Version 0.3.0 in May 2026 adds automatic standardization of continuous predictors, default priors for unspecified factor and continuous terms, and functions to transform prior and posterior samples back to the original scale.
What is nswgeo?
NSW boundary data for R, refreshed as the official sources move
nswgeo packages New South Wales geographic boundaries for R — suburbs, postcodes, local government areas, Primary Health Networks and Local Health Districts — as ready-to-plot sf datasets. The 0.6.0 release refreshes nearly all of them against new upstream sources, moving postcodes to 2021 ABS boundaries and taking LHD boundaries from a new official feed. It is maintained by cidm-ph alongside the mapping packages that consume it, including ggmapinset.
bayestools vs nswgeo: editorial side-by-side
bayestools
0.0ANALYTICS
The JAGS toolkit under RoBMA, shipping the standardization machinery its downstream rewrite needed
◆ Current state
BayesTools provides the shared JAGS fitting, prior and summary infrastructure that the author's meta-analysis packages build on. The 0.2.x line filled in modeling primitives — prior_mixture() and mixed-posterior objects in 0.2.18, expression-valued priors and lme4-style uncorrelated random effects in 0.2.20, then a run of small diagnostic fixes for mixture and spike-and-slab priors. Version 0.3.0 in May 2026 adds automatic standardization of continuous predictors, default priors for unspecified factor and continuous terms, and functions to transform prior and posterior samples back to the original scale.
◆ Where it's heading
This package's releases are best read against what depends on them. The 0.2.x fixes track features appearing in RoBMA one version later, and 0.3.0 landed a single day before RoBMA 4.0.0 — the standardization and sample-transformation functions are the substrate that rewrite needed. The direction of the work is toward sensible defaults: default priors by predictor type, automatic standardization for sampling stability, and transformation back to interpretable scale so the convenience does not cost the user their units.
◆ Prediction
Given how tightly its releases track downstream needs, the next version is most likely driven by gaps surfacing in RoBMA 4.0.x rather than by independent feature work.
nswgeo
0.0ANALYTICS
NSW boundary data for R, refreshed as the official sources move
◆ Current state
nswgeo packages New South Wales geographic boundaries for R — suburbs, postcodes, local government areas, Primary Health Networks and Local Health Districts — as ready-to-plot sf datasets. The 0.6.0 release refreshes nearly all of them against new upstream sources, moving postcodes to 2021 ABS boundaries and taking LHD boundaries from a new official feed. It is maintained by cidm-ph alongside the mapping packages that consume it, including ggmapinset.
◆ Where it's heading
Every release is dictated by an upstream release calendar rather than a roadmap: the 2023 ASGS, then 2024, then the 2021 ABS postcode boundaries and the new LHD source. That makes field-name churn the package's defining hazard — LGA_NAME_2021 to LGA_NAME_2023 to LGA_NAME_2024, and now lhd_name carrying a Local Health District suffix. The maintainer's habit of registering compatibility aliases through cartographer shows an awareness that these renames break downstream code silently.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to track the following ASGS edition with another round of field renames, and any new content to stay in the health-geography area the package's users work in.
Alternatives to bayestools and nswgeo
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 bayestools or nswgeo.
gcube
gcube's recent releases are all packaging metadata, not simulation code
cubist
The R port of Quinlan's Cubist gets reproducibility fixes, not new modelling
ggstats
ggstats keeps widening what a coefficient or Likert plot can be
ecodive
ecodive rebuilt itself into a broad diversity-metric library, breaking as it went
simStateSpace
State-space data simulation for R, filled in one function at a time
See all bayestools alternatives → · See all nswgeo alternatives →
Recent activity from bayestools and nswgeo
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agobayestoolsAdds automatic predictor standardization and type-based default priors
- 4mo agonswgeoSuburb, postcode, PHN and LHD boundaries all refreshed
- 6mo agonswgeonswgeo 0.5.1
- 8mo agobayestoolsBayesTools 0.2.23
- 8mo agobayestoolsBayesTools 0.2.22
- 11mo agobayestoolsBayesTools 0.2.21
- 1y agobayestoolsBayesTools 0.2.20
- 1y agobayestoolsBayesTools 0.2.19
- 1y agonswgeoUpdated to the 2024 ASGS release
- 2y agonswgeoTerritories, PHN maps and the outline() helper added
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bayestools and nswgeo?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. bayestools and nswgeo 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 bayestools better than nswgeo?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. bayestools and nswgeo 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 bayestools?
Top bayestools alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "bayestools alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bayestools for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to nswgeo?
Top nswgeo alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "nswgeo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nswgeo for the full list with editorial commentary on each.