STACAS
Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
crossmap vs rtrek
A side-by-side editorial comparison of crossmap and rtrek — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
crossmap vs rtrek: 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 rtrek?
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
rtrek bundles Star Trek datasets — book series, timelines, episode transcripts, species and homeworlds, map tile sets — and layers live retrieval on top through memory_alpha() and memory_beta() plus their ma_* and mb_* helpers. Recent releases are almost entirely repairs to that retrieval layer as the source wikis change their page structure.
crossmap vs rtrek: 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.
rtrek
0.0ANALYTICS
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
◆ Current state
rtrek bundles Star Trek datasets — book series, timelines, episode transcripts, species and homeworlds, map tile sets — and layers live retrieval on top through memory_alpha() and memory_beta() plus their ma_* and mb_* helpers. Recent releases are almost entirely repairs to that retrieval layer as the source wikis change their page structure.
◆ Where it's heading
The package's centre of gravity shifted once, at 0.2.0, from shipping static data to querying Memory Alpha and Memory Beta at runtime. Everything since has been the maintenance bill for that decision: HTML update fixes, parser improvements, portal retrieval bugs. Note that version numbers on this feed do not track time — 0.2.5 is stamped a year before 0.1.0, and three tags were backfilled within four minutes in November 2020 — so neither rank nor version ordering here indicates release sequence.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to fix retrieval against another Memory Alpha layout change, which is what the last four have done. The entries give no indication of new datasets or functions in progress.
Alternatives to crossmap and rtrek
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 rtrek.
ggtrace
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
kde1d
A univariate density estimator that added zero-inflated data and reopened its C++ API to do it.
svines
Stationary vine copulas for time series, released in lockstep with the rest of Nagler's vine stack.
gghighlight
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
eiaapi
A thin EIA energy-data client whose whole story is making bulk queries survive the API's limits.
See all crossmap alternatives → · See all rtrek alternatives →
Recent activity from crossmap and rtrek
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 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 agortrekMemory Alpha series portal retrieval fix
- 1y agortrekrtrek 0.5.1 release
- 2y agortrekParser improvements for wiki retrieval
- 2y agortrekDead external content and data dependencies removed
- 3y agocrossmapxpluck adds multi-index plucking
- 4y agocrossmapCluster specifications supported in cross_fit
- 5y agortrekFixes for source website HTML changes
- 5y agortrekMemory Alpha and Memory Beta web APIs added ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between crossmap and rtrek?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. crossmap and rtrek 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 rtrek?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. crossmap and rtrek 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 rtrek?
Top rtrek alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rtrek alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rtrek for the full list with editorial commentary on each.