qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
constants vs tidytransit
A side-by-side editorial comparison of constants and tidytransit — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
constants vs tidytransit: at a glance
What is constants?
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
constants exposes the CODATA recommended values of the physical constants to R, as a data frame plus symbol lists that carry units, uncertainties, or both. The package reached 1.0.0 on the 2018 CODATA release and has shipped once since, purely to track a units package update. Its surface is small and its release cadence is bound to CODATA, which revises every few years.
What is tidytransit?
tidytransit tracks the GTFS spec as it grows, one reader and one router feature at a time.
tidytransit reads GTFS transit feeds into tidy data frames and computes travel times using a RAPTOR implementation. Recent work splits between the reader keeping pace with the spec — locations.geojson in 1.7.0, empty strings parsed as NA in 1.8.0 — and the router gaining realism, most recently in-seat transfers. Feed specifications are now pulled from the automatically parsed GTFS reference rather than maintained by hand.
constants vs tidytransit: editorial side-by-side
constants
0.0ANALYTICS
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
◆ Current state
constants exposes the CODATA recommended values of the physical constants to R, as a data frame plus symbol lists that carry units, uncertainties, or both. The package reached 1.0.0 on the 2018 CODATA release and has shipped once since, purely to track a units package update. Its surface is small and its release cadence is bound to CODATA, which revises every few years.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction set at 1.0.0 was to stop being a curated convenience wrapper and become a mechanical mirror of NIST. Hand-crafted symbol names were replaced with NIST's own ASCII symbols, categories adopted NIST's, and uncertainty switched from relative to absolute — all framed by the maintainer as necessary to make future CODATA updates routine. On top of that the package gained a correlation matrix and optional integration with the quantities package, moving it from a lookup table toward something that can propagate uncertainty.
◆ Prediction
Having rebuilt the symbol table specifically so CODATA revisions become mechanical, the next substantive release most likely tracks a new CODATA dataset rather than adding API. The experimental correlated-value support, disabled by default at 1.0.0, is the one part these entries flag as unfinished.
tidytransit
0.0ANALYTICS
tidytransit tracks the GTFS spec as it grows, one reader and one router feature at a time.
◆ Current state
tidytransit reads GTFS transit feeds into tidy data frames and computes travel times using a RAPTOR implementation. Recent work splits between the reader keeping pace with the spec — locations.geojson in 1.7.0, empty strings parsed as NA in 1.8.0 — and the router gaining realism, most recently in-seat transfers. Feed specifications are now pulled from the automatically parsed GTFS reference rather than maintained by hand.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has settled into tracking an external standard, which is why the changelog reads as a sequence of spec conformance items rather than a roadmap. Parsing responsibility keeps shifting outward to gtfsio, and data sources have moved with the ecosystem, from the retired transitfeeds API to MobilityData. Router changes are rarer than reader changes but land in the same releases.
◆ Prediction
Further GTFS spec features are the safest expectation, with GTFS-Flex the likeliest area now that locations.geojson reading is in place.
Alternatives to constants and tidytransit
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 constants or tidytransit.
austraits
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
ggdemetra
A ggplot2 layer for seasonal adjustment output, filling in one plot type at a time.
fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
See all constants alternatives → · See all tidytransit alternatives →
Recent activity from constants and tidytransit
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agotidytransitIn-seat transfers supported in raptor() and travel_times()
- 11mo agotidytransitstop_group_distances() no longer ignores the by parameter
- 1y agotidytransitlocations.geojson reading; specs parsed from the GTFS reference
- 2y agotidytransitfare_media_id added to fare_products spec
- 3y agotidytransitinterpolate_stop_times() added; router updated
- 3y agotidytransitDuplicated primary key check improved
- 5y agoconstantsCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 5y agoconstantsconstants 1.0.0 ⚡
- 8y agoconstantsUnit handling fixes ahead of the 1.0.0 rebuild
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between constants and tidytransit?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. constants and tidytransit 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 constants better than tidytransit?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. constants and tidytransit 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 constants?
Top constants alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "constants alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/constants-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tidytransit?
Top tidytransit alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tidytransit alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tidytransit-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.