tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
Comparison · Analytics
CatastRo vs grex
A side-by-side editorial comparison of CatastRo and grex — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
CatastRo vs grex: at a glance
What is CatastRo?
Spain's cadastre client spent 1.0.0 breaking its own cache to become a tidy, httr2-native package.
CatastRo pulls parcels, buildings, addresses and WMS map layers from the Spanish Cadastre into R. The 1.0.0 line rebuilt the codebase on httr2, reorganized the cache into topic-based subfolders and moved persistent storage from rappdirs to tools::R_user_dir(), a change that invalidates every pre-1.0.0 cache. The two releases since are documentation and an AI-assisted internal refactor.
What is grex?
grex is a lookup table with a version number — it ships when the annotation moves.
grex converts the deprecated Ensembl gene IDs found in GTEx data into current gene symbols and identifiers, using org.Hs.eg.db as its reference. Its value is entirely in that bundled reference data, so a release either refreshes the mapping or does nothing to it. The 2025 release does nothing to it: GitHub Actions for the docs site, a check-note fix, and a smaller vignette.
CatastRo vs grex: editorial side-by-side
CatastRo
0.0ANALYTICS
Spain's cadastre client spent 1.0.0 breaking its own cache to become a tidy, httr2-native package.
◆ Current state
CatastRo pulls parcels, buildings, addresses and WMS map layers from the Spanish Cadastre into R. The 1.0.0 line rebuilt the codebase on httr2, reorganized the cache into topic-based subfolders and moved persistent storage from rappdirs to tools::R_user_dir(), a change that invalidates every pre-1.0.0 cache. The two releases since are documentation and an AI-assisted internal refactor.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc is consolidation, not expansion: the retrieval surface has been stable since 0.3.0 added street names to addresses, while the maintainer has spent the releases since standardizing transport, output types and messaging. All functions now return tibbles or sf objects with tibble data, and cli handles user-facing output. The same modernization is being applied across the maintainer's other Spanish-data packages.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next releases to stay in the 1.0.x patch range — documentation, cli wording and CRAN upkeep — unless the Cadastre publishes a new service worth wrapping.
grex
0.0ANALYTICS
grex is a lookup table with a version number — it ships when the annotation moves.
◆ Current state
grex converts the deprecated Ensembl gene IDs found in GTEx data into current gene symbols and identifiers, using org.Hs.eg.db as its reference. Its value is entirely in that bundled reference data, so a release either refreshes the mapping or does nothing to it. The 2025 release does nothing to it: GitHub Actions for the docs site, a check-note fix, and a smaller vignette.
◆ Where it's heading
The annotation refreshes stopped. Between 2017 and 2019 the package tracked org.Hs.eg.db through four versions and added the GTEx V7 identifier set; since then the reference has stood still while the releases turned to packaging. That gap matters more here than it would elsewhere — a stale mapping table silently returns outdated symbols rather than failing, so the package's core asset ages invisibly.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these entries signals a planned data refresh, and the six-year pattern suggests the next release will again be infrastructure. Users needing current annotations should check which org.Hs.eg.db version is bundled rather than assume the version number reflects it.
Alternatives to CatastRo and grex
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 CatastRo or grex.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
ggmagnify
A single-purpose ggplot2 inset tool, refining the same three arguments.
symengine
An R symbolic-maths binding whose changelog is really the C++ core's release notes.
gtfstools
gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.
quantities
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
See all CatastRo alternatives → · See all grex alternatives →
Recent activity from CatastRo and grex
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agoCatastRoAI-assisted internal refactor and cli message pass
- 3mo agoCatastRoDocumentation-only patch release
- 5mo agoCatastRo1.0.0 rebuilds on httr2 and invalidates every existing cache ⚡
- 1y agogrexgrex 1.9.1: pkgdown on Actions, smaller vignette
- 1y agoCatastRoDocumentation and URL refresh
- 2y agoCatastRoCadastre service entry points updated
- 2y agoCatastRohttr to httr2 migration, declared invisible to users
- 7y agogrexgrex 1.9 refreshes the reference to org.Hs.eg.db 3.8.2
- 8y agogrexgrex 1.8 adds GTEx V7 IDs, updates to org.Hs.eg.db 3.6.0
- 8y agogrexgrex 1.7 updates the reference to org.Hs.eg.db 3.4.2
- 8y agogrexgrex 1.6 drops Google Fonts from vignettes
- 9y agogrexgrex 1.5 adds a pkgdown site and refreshes the reference
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between CatastRo and grex?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. CatastRo and grex 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 CatastRo better than grex?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. CatastRo and grex 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 CatastRo?
Top CatastRo alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "CatastRo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/catastro for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to grex?
Top grex alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "grex alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/grex-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.