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Comparison · Analytics
climaemet vs tmap
A side-by-side editorial comparison of climaemet and tmap — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
climaemet vs tmap: at a glance
What is climaemet?
climaemet added weather alerts and wildfire risk, then spent two years managing rate limits.
climaemet wraps Spain's AEMET meteorological API — station data, historical climate series, forecasts, and the plotting helpers that go with them. Its capability surface widened decisively in 1.4.0 with meteorological alerts and wildfire risk rasters. Everything since has been about surviving the API rather than extending it: multiple API keys, quota-aware key selection, and httr2 throttling pinned to AEMET's stated 40-connections-per-minute policy.
What is tmap?
Two years after a from-scratch rewrite, tmap is filling in the layers v4 promised.
tmap draws thematic maps in R across static and interactive modes. The 4.0 rewrite replaced the layer syntax with explicit visual variables, scales, legends and charts, and opened the package to extensions; the 4.x line since has been steady capability fill-in. The 4.4 release adds tm_circles with fixed unit-based radii, a blend argument on every layer, and hitboxes so small objects stay clickable in view mode.
climaemet vs tmap: editorial side-by-side
climaemet
0.0ANALYTICS
climaemet added weather alerts and wildfire risk, then spent two years managing rate limits.
◆ Current state
climaemet wraps Spain's AEMET meteorological API — station data, historical climate series, forecasts, and the plotting helpers that go with them. Its capability surface widened decisively in 1.4.0 with meteorological alerts and wildfire risk rasters. Everything since has been about surviving the API rather than extending it: multiple API keys, quota-aware key selection, and httr2 throttling pinned to AEMET's stated 40-connections-per-minute policy.
◆ Where it's heading
Two forces shape this package, and neither is feature demand. The first is AEMET's own churn — new response codes, a fires endpoint that switched to six risk levels returned as named factors, municipality datasets refreshed annually. The second is the maintainer's cross-package modernization, visible here as the API key store moving to tools::R_user_dir() with automatic migration, a configurable timeout, cli messaging, and an R 4.1 floor. The 1.6.0 refactor is stated as AI-assisted, matching the maintainer's other packages.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to track another AEMET endpoint change rather than add a data domain; the throttling and multi-key machinery suggests quota pressure is the constraint the maintainer keeps returning to.
tmap
0.0ANALYTICS
Two years after a from-scratch rewrite, tmap is filling in the layers v4 promised.
◆ Current state
tmap draws thematic maps in R across static and interactive modes. The 4.0 rewrite replaced the layer syntax with explicit visual variables, scales, legends and charts, and opened the package to extensions; the 4.x line since has been steady capability fill-in. The 4.4 release adds tm_circles with fixed unit-based radii, a blend argument on every layer, and hitboxes so small objects stay clickable in view mode.
◆ Where it's heading
The extension mechanism introduced in 4.0 is where the interesting work is migrating: PMTiles support arrived through a separate experimental tmap.sources package, mode cycling became configurable via tmap_mode_pool() so packages like tmap.mapgl can register themselves, and shiny dispatch methods were added specifically to let other modes integrate. The core package is increasingly a rendering contract that satellite packages plug into.
◆ Prediction
Expect more rendering backends to land as sibling packages rather than in tmap itself, with the core continuing to absorb the dispatch and mode-management plumbing they need.
Alternatives to climaemet and tmap
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 climaemet or tmap.
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 climaemet alternatives → · See all tmap alternatives →
Recent activity from climaemet and tmap
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agotmapDocumentation-only patch tidying man-page titles
- 1mo agotmaptm_circles, layer blending and clickable small objects
- 2mo agoclimaemetAPI keys move to R_user_dir; fire risk returns named factors
- 4mo agoclimaemetVignettes migrated to Quarto
- 7mo agoclimaemetRequest throttling pinned to AEMET's 40-per-minute policy
- 1y agoclimaemetggwindrose rebuilt on coord_radial
- 1y agoclimaemetHighest-quota API key now chosen per call
- 1y agotmaptmap v4 rewritten from scratch with a new layer syntax ⚡
- 1y agotmapFinal 3.x release before the v4 rewrite
- 1y agoclimaemetWeather alerts and wildfire risk rasters added ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between climaemet and tmap?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. climaemet and tmap 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 climaemet better than tmap?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. climaemet and tmap 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 climaemet?
Top climaemet alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "climaemet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/climaemet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tmap?
Top tmap alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tmap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tmap-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.