rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
dtplyr vs timetk
A side-by-side editorial comparison of dtplyr and timetk — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
dtplyr vs timetk: at a glance
What is dtplyr?
dtplyr stopped hijacking data.table objects and became an opt-in translator
dtplyr converts dplyr and tidyr code into data.table syntax, and 1.3.0 redrew its boundary: verbs no longer dispatch to dtplyr translations just because dtplyr is loaded, so lazy_dt() has to be called explicitly. Since then the work has been translation coverage — reframe(), case_match(), consecutive_id() — plus a long tail of correctness fixes in grouping and .by.
What is timetk?
timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years
timetk handles time series wrangling, visualization, and feature engineering in a tidyverse idiom. Its defining recent move was absorbing the anomalize package outright in 2.9.0, bringing anomaly detection, cleaning, and the associated plots inside timetk rather than leaving them in a sibling package. Development then paused for nearly two years before 2.9.1, a robustness and documentation release.
dtplyr vs timetk: editorial side-by-side
dtplyr
0.0ANALYTICS
dtplyr stopped hijacking data.table objects and became an opt-in translator
◆ Current state
dtplyr converts dplyr and tidyr code into data.table syntax, and 1.3.0 redrew its boundary: verbs no longer dispatch to dtplyr translations just because dtplyr is loaded, so lazy_dt() has to be called explicitly. Since then the work has been translation coverage — reframe(), case_match(), consecutive_id() — plus a long tail of correctness fixes in grouping and .by.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is trailing dplyr's own feature releases rather than leading them, adding each new verb once it settles upstream. Performance work is targeted at specific verbs where data.table has a faster primitive: setorder() for arrange(), reference drops for select(), rleid() for consecutive_id(). Release cadence has thinned considerably since 2023.
◆ Prediction
Expect further one-for-one translations as dplyr adds verbs, and continued fixes around .by and non-standard column names; the entries show no sign of a broader redesign.
timetk
0.0ANALYTICS
timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years
◆ Current state
timetk handles time series wrangling, visualization, and feature engineering in a tidyverse idiom. Its defining recent move was absorbing the anomalize package outright in 2.9.0, bringing anomaly detection, cleaning, and the associated plots inside timetk rather than leaving them in a sibling package. Development then paused for nearly two years before 2.9.1, a robustness and documentation release.
◆ Where it's heading
The trajectory before the pause was consolidation: fold in adjacent functionality, then make the visualization layer handle many series at once via trelliscopejs, then broaden feature generation with tk_tsfeatures(). The recent release works on the least glamorous layer — internal generics so date parsing and sequence generation behave consistently across Date, POSIXct, hms, yearmon, and yearqtr — which is the kind of foundation work a package does when it has accumulated too many special cases. The long gap and the CI-refresh content suggest maintenance attention rather than a new direction.
◆ Prediction
The stated gap is the unimplemented twitter method for anomalize(), which is the one concrete outstanding item the release notes name; beyond that the recent work points to consolidation rather than expansion.
Alternatives to dtplyr and timetk
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 dtplyr or timetk.
writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
See all dtplyr alternatives → · See all timetk alternatives →
Recent activity from dtplyr and timetk
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 11mo agodtplyrreframe(), case_match() and consecutive_id() gain translations
- 11mo agotimetktimetk 2.9.1 makes date parsing consistent across time classes
- 2y agotimetktimetk 2.9.0 absorbs the anomalize package ⚡
- 3y agodtplyrcrayon dependency dropped
- 3y agodtplyrVerbs stop auto-dispatching; lazy_dt() now required ⚡
- 3y agodtplyrdtplyr 1.2.2
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.1 exposes trelliscope plotting parameters
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.0 adds trelliscopejs support for many-series plots
- 4y agodtplyrdtplyr 1.2.1
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.7.0 adds tk_tsfeatures() for grouped feature matrices
- 4y agodtplyrEight tidyr verbs gain data.table translations
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.6.2 adds .week_start and facet direction controls
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between dtplyr and timetk?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. dtplyr and timetk 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 dtplyr better than timetk?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. dtplyr and timetk 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 dtplyr?
Top dtplyr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "dtplyr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dtplyr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to timetk?
Top timetk alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "timetk alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/timetk for the full list with editorial commentary on each.