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Comparison · Infra & APIs
checkhelper vs usmap
A side-by-side editorial comparison of checkhelper and usmap — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
checkhelper vs usmap: at a glance
What is checkhelper?
checkhelper grew from a check wrapper into a CRAN pre-submission auditor.
1.0.0 added a whole audit_* family — audit_downloads(), audit_description(), audit_dontrun() and audit_citation() — each parsing package source statically and returning a tibble of hits paired with a suggested fix. The package is now defending that position: 1.0.1 rc1 is a submission candidate answering a CRAN archival notice, after roxygen2 8.x moved DESCRIPTION's RoxygenNote field and broke a find_missing_tags() test fixture.
What is usmap?
Ten years in, US mapping splits its data out and finally adds Puerto Rico.
usmap plots US state and county maps in an Alaska- and Hawaii-inset projection and joins user data to them by FIPS code. Over the last two years it has been rebuilt underneath: the map data moved out to a companion usmapdata package, the geometry became sf, and a data_year parameter lets a plot match the vintage of the data being plotted. Version 1.0.0 marks ten years of the project and adds Puerto Rico across every function.
checkhelper vs usmap: editorial side-by-side
checkhelper
2.5INFRA · APIS
checkhelper grew from a check wrapper into a CRAN pre-submission auditor.
◆ Current state
1.0.0 added a whole audit_* family — audit_downloads(), audit_description(), audit_dontrun() and audit_citation() — each parsing package source statically and returning a tibble of hits paired with a suggested fix. The package is now defending that position: 1.0.1 rc1 is a submission candidate answering a CRAN archival notice, after roxygen2 8.x moved DESCRIPTION's RoxygenNote field and broke a find_missing_tags() test fixture.
◆ Where it's heading
The design commitment is static analysis — AST walks via getParseData(), line-by-line Rd reading, no eval() and no namespace loading — so the tool can report on a package it never runs. That commitment is what made the roxygen2 8.x break survivable: the audit pipeline itself was verified correct under 8.1.0 and only the test scaffolding had to go, now guarded by a dedicated regression test. fix_globals(write = TRUE) is being sanded down in parallel, no longer flattening per-function grouping comments or writing a degenerate empty globalVariables() shell.
◆ Prediction
The immediate move is the 1.0.1 submission itself, clearing the archival notice. Beyond that, each additional CRAN incoming-check rule remains a candidate for another audit_* function; the open question these notes still leave is whether the family ever gets a single combined entry point.
usmap
0.0INFRA · APIS
Ten years in, US mapping splits its data out and finally adds Puerto Rico.
◆ Current state
usmap plots US state and county maps in an Alaska- and Hawaii-inset projection and joins user data to them by FIPS code. Over the last two years it has been rebuilt underneath: the map data moved out to a companion usmapdata package, the geometry became sf, and a data_year parameter lets a plot match the vintage of the data being plotted. Version 1.0.0 marks ten years of the project and adds Puerto Rico across every function.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has separated what it draws from how it draws, and that separation is what makes the recent releases possible: annual map vintages ship in usmapdata without touching usmap, and Puerto Rico could be backfilled into every existing year at once. The remaining work is coverage and defaults rather than architecture, and the Puerto Rico exclusion default is already governed by an environment variable rather than a code change.
◆ Prediction
Expect the annual map vintage to keep arriving through usmapdata, with usmap itself changing only where a new territory or a projection default needs handling.
Alternatives to checkhelper and usmap
Other Infra & APIs 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 checkhelper or usmap.
ggalign
Composable aligned layouts, rebuilt on S7 while ggplot2 4.0 lands underneath.
prioritizr
Conservation planning absorbs the literature's target-setting rules as code.
jSDM
Joint species distribution models in Gibbs-sampled C++, quiet since 2023.
rsofun
An ecosystem model starts tracking carbon isotopes and land-use change.
trackeR
Fitness-tracking analysis in slow maintenance, still absorbing upstream breakage.
See all checkhelper alternatives → · See all usmap alternatives →
Recent activity from checkhelper and usmap
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agocheckhelpercheckhelper 1.0.1 rc1 (CRAN submission candidate)
- 3mo agocheckhelperA static audit_* family for CRAN pre-submission checks ⚡
- 11mo agousmapPuerto Rico added across every usmap function and map year
- 1y agousmapdata_year parameter threaded through the plotting functions
- 2y agousmapPopulation and poverty data refreshed; ggplot2 3.5 legend fix
- 2y agocheckhelperTest fixes for roxygen2 changes
- 2y agousmapMap data becomes sf; usmap_transform() returns geometry ⚡
- 2y agousmapDocumentation links updated
- 2y agousmapMap data extracted to a companion usmapdata package ⚡
- 3y agocheckhelpercheckhelper 0.1.0 - First CRAN Release
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between checkhelper and usmap?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. checkhelper 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 checkhelper better than usmap?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. checkhelper 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to checkhelper?
Top checkhelper alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "checkhelper alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/checkhelper for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to usmap?
Top usmap alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "usmap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/usmap for the full list with editorial commentary on each.