TidyDensity
A distribution catalogue that grows by one family at a time, and rarely breaks anything.
Comparison · Analytics
crossmap vs nflfastR
A side-by-side editorial comparison of crossmap and nflfastR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:deprecations
crossmap vs nflfastR: at a glance
What is crossmap?
crossmap's roadmap is set by purrr and furrr — it deprecates what upstream deprecates.
A small package for mapping over combinations of arguments, following purrr and furrr conventions. Its own functional additions stopped after xpluck() in 2023 and the cross_fit() clustering work in 2022. Everything since tracks upstream: xmap_raw() and future_xmap_raw() are now defunct because purrr removed map_raw() and furrr removed future_pmap_raw(), and re-exported parallel helpers now come from parallelly rather than future.
What is nflfastR?
nflfastR is shedding surface to the rest of nflverse and consolidating on one stats API.
The play-by-play backbone of nflverse, shipping one or two releases a year with long bug-fix lists against decades of NFL data. Since 5.0.0 the package has had a single calculate_stats() entry point that replaces the older calculate_player_stats*() family, backed by an exported nfl_stats_variables table describing every returned column. The last two releases hand work outward — standings moved to nflseedR, and the loaders are now straight re-exports of nflreadr — while fast_scraper_roster(), fast_scraper_schedules() and report() are formally deprecated.
crossmap vs nflfastR: editorial side-by-side
crossmap
0.0ANALYTICS
crossmap's roadmap is set by purrr and furrr — it deprecates what upstream deprecates.
◆ Current state
A small package for mapping over combinations of arguments, following purrr and furrr conventions. Its own functional additions stopped after xpluck() in 2023 and the cross_fit() clustering work in 2022. Everything since tracks upstream: xmap_raw() and future_xmap_raw() are now defunct because purrr removed map_raw() and furrr removed future_pmap_raw(), and re-exported parallel helpers now come from parallelly rather than future.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has settled into being a compatible extension rather than an independent one — its release notes read as a mirror of purrr's and furrr's deprecation schedules. Note that the release stamps are unreliable here: several versions were backfilled minutes apart and the 0.3.x tags carry timestamps in reverse version order, so feed position says nothing about what shipped when.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to be driven by another purrr or furrr change rather than new functionality, since that has been the sole trigger for the last four.
nflfastR
0.0ANALYTICS
nflfastR is shedding surface to the rest of nflverse and consolidating on one stats API.
◆ Current state
The play-by-play backbone of nflverse, shipping one or two releases a year with long bug-fix lists against decades of NFL data. Since 5.0.0 the package has had a single calculate_stats() entry point that replaces the older calculate_player_stats*() family, backed by an exported nfl_stats_variables table describing every returned column. The last two releases hand work outward — standings moved to nflseedR, and the loaders are now straight re-exports of nflreadr — while fast_scraper_roster(), fast_scraper_schedules() and report() are formally deprecated.
◆ Where it's heading
nflfastR is becoming the parsing and modelling core rather than the whole toolkit. Every recent release either narrows its own API or points users at a sibling package, and the documentation strategy follows: re-exported functions are deliberately undocumented here so nflreadr stays the single source. The remaining in-house work is data correctness — duplicated play IDs, scramble identification, new penalty types — plus keeping the xgboost-backed models running as that dependency moves.
◆ Prediction
The deprecated scrapers and report() are the next things to be removed outright, and the calculate_player_stats*() family should follow, leaving calculate_stats() as the only supported path.
Alternatives to crossmap and nflfastR
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 crossmap or nflfastR.
cfbfastr
College football's open data client hit v2 — and now reports how many API calls you have left.
rnpn
The USA phenology data client rebuilt its entire stack and stopped handing users -9999 as a number.
GeneNMF
GeneNMF rebuilt how it derives meta-programs, changing every result it had produced.
rempsyc
Publication-ready psychology tables and plots, tracking APA style as closely as the software allows.
sdsfun
A spatial-statistics utility package exists to be depended on, and is built accordingly.
See all crossmap alternatives → · See all nflfastR alternatives →
Recent activity from crossmap and nflfastR
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agonflfastRLoaders re-exported from nflreadr; legacy scrapers deprecated
- 6mo agocrossmapRaw-vector mapping functions removed
- 6mo agocrossmapRe-exports moved to the parallelly namespace
- 11mo agocrossmapFuture-backed tests skipped on CRAN
- 11mo agocrossmapInternal test fixes
- 1y agonflfastRStandings handed to nflseedR; R 4.1 now required
- 1y agonflfastRnflfastR 5.0.0 ⚡
- 2y agonflfastRSeason-level conversion rate aggregation fixed
- 2y agonflfastRRaw play-by-play can now be cached and parsed locally
- 3y agocrossmapxpluck adds multi-index plucking
- 3y agonflfastRReverse-dependency tests and dplyr compatibility fixes
- 4y agocrossmapCluster specifications supported in cross_fit
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between crossmap and nflfastR?
Both compete on the same themes — deprecations — within Analytics. crossmap and nflfastR 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 crossmap better than nflfastR?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. crossmap and nflfastR 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 crossmap?
Top crossmap alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "crossmap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/crossmap for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to nflfastR?
Top nflfastR alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "nflfastR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nflfastr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.