n2kanalysis
n2kanalysis has spent eight years wiring INLA models to an S3 bucket.
Comparison · Analytics
CatastRo vs rncl
A side-by-side editorial comparison of CatastRo and rncl — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
CatastRo vs rncl: 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 rncl?
A phylogenetics parser on life support, shipping only what CRAN's compilers demand.
rncl wraps the Nexus Class Library so R can read Newick and NEXUS tree files. Every release since 2016 has been custodial: 0.8.9 exists solely to pull upstream NCL changes so the bundled C++ compiles under the C++20 standard. No user-facing function has changed in close to a decade.
CatastRo vs rncl: 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.
rncl
2.5ANALYTICS
A phylogenetics parser on life support, shipping only what CRAN's compilers demand.
◆ Current state
rncl wraps the Nexus Class Library so R can read Newick and NEXUS tree files. Every release since 2016 has been custodial: 0.8.9 exists solely to pull upstream NCL changes so the bundled C++ compiles under the C++20 standard. No user-facing function has changed in close to a decade.
◆ Where it's heading
The release cadence tracks toolchain deprecations rather than user demand: gcc 12 removing binary_function in 2022, a deprecated Rcpp call in 2025, C++20 in 2026. The package is maintained as a stable parsing dependency for phylogenetics tooling, and the goal visible in these entries is keeping it installable, not extending it.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release only when a compiler or CRAN policy change breaks the build again; nothing in these entries points to new parsing features.
Alternatives to CatastRo and rncl
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 rncl.
n1qn1c
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
ggstatsplot
ggstatsplot reached 1.0 by adding tests, having outsourced its statistics years ago.
collapse
collapse got a JSS paper and a 7x fmean speedup in the same release.
gtsummary
gtsummary is quietly rebuilding itself around analysis results data, one table verb at a time.
broadcast
broadcast is filling in NumPy-style array broadcasting for R, operator by operator.
See all CatastRo alternatives → · See all rncl alternatives →
Recent activity from CatastRo and rncl
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 15d agornclNCL sources refreshed for C++20 compilation
- 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 ⚡
- 8mo agornclDeprecated Rcpp call removed in maintenance release
- 1y agoCatastRoDocumentation and URL refresh
- 2y agoCatastRoCadastre service entry points updated
- 2y agoCatastRohttr to httr2 migration, declared invisible to users
- 4y agornclBuild fixed for gcc 12 and clang 14
- 6y agornclMaintenance release clearing CRAN check warnings
- 8y agornclCRAN check notes and warnings cleared
- 9y agornclSingleton removal moves to C++ for a 3x speedup
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between CatastRo and rncl?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. rncl is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is CatastRo better than rncl?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. rncl is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. 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 rncl?
Top rncl alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rncl alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rncl-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.