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Comparison · Analytics
epiworldR vs mapSpain
A side-by-side editorial comparison of epiworldR and mapSpain — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
epiworldR vs mapSpain: at a glance
What is epiworldR?
epiworldR is a thin R shell whose releases track the C++ simulator underneath it
Almost every release here is a version bump of the underlying epiworld C++ library, wrapped and pushed to CRAN. The substantive R-side work is narrow and consistent: exposing simulation outputs that were already computed but not reachable from R — outbreak size, active cases, hospitalizations and their savers. The newest release addresses an AddressSanitizer finding, which is the kind of thing CRAN checks surface on a compiled package.
What is mapSpain?
mapSpain's 1.0.0 broke every user cache to get the package onto modern foundations.
mapSpain provides administrative boundaries, tile providers and geographic dictionaries for Spain, pulling from GISCO, SIANE, INE and IGN sources. The 1.0.0 release in January 2026 rebuilt it: requests moved to httr2, the cache reorganized into topic-based subfolders under tools::R_user_dir() instead of rappdirs, R 4.1 became the floor, and every function now returns tidy objects. Existing caches are explicitly incompatible and must be rebuilt.
epiworldR vs mapSpain: editorial side-by-side
epiworldR
0.0ANALYTICS
epiworldR is a thin R shell whose releases track the C++ simulator underneath it
◆ Current state
Almost every release here is a version bump of the underlying epiworld C++ library, wrapped and pushed to CRAN. The substantive R-side work is narrow and consistent: exposing simulation outputs that were already computed but not reachable from R — outbreak size, active cases, hospitalizations and their savers. The newest release addresses an AddressSanitizer finding, which is the kind of thing CRAN checks surface on a compiled package.
◆ Where it's heading
The R package's job is staying current with the simulator and satisfying CRAN, not evolving its own interface. What direction it has shows in which model outputs get exposed next, and in a steady tidy-up of the build — the custom configure script was dropped in favour of R's built-in C++17 and OpenMP settings, and test coverage has been filled in across several releases with automated assistance.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to track another epiworld version bump, with any R-side addition most likely being one more exposed metric or saver, following the pattern of get_hospitalizations and get_outbreak_size.
mapSpain
0.0ANALYTICS
mapSpain's 1.0.0 broke every user cache to get the package onto modern foundations.
◆ Current state
mapSpain provides administrative boundaries, tile providers and geographic dictionaries for Spain, pulling from GISCO, SIANE, INE and IGN sources. The 1.0.0 release in January 2026 rebuilt it: requests moved to httr2, the cache reorganized into topic-based subfolders under tools::R_user_dir() instead of rappdirs, R 4.1 became the floor, and every function now returns tidy objects. Existing caches are explicitly incompatible and must be rebuilt.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has finished its modernization and moved into consolidation. 1.1.0 added a configurable query timeout and pinned httr2 for compatibility with giscoR, the sibling package it shares plumbing with; 1.2.0 was a declared internal-only refactor with the public API held fixed and the work described as AI-assisted with human review. The data-source expansion that characterized the 0.9.x and 0.10.x line — comarcas by type, simplified INE geometries, SIANE vintages — has paused while the foundations settle.
◆ Prediction
Expect a return to source coverage now that the refactor is done: new SIANE or INE vintages and additional boundary types are the pattern this package has repeated. The entries show no further architectural work queued.
Alternatives to epiworldR and mapSpain
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 epiworldR or mapSpain.
tidytransit
tidytransit tracks the GTFS spec as it grows, one reader and one router feature at a time.
oblicubes
A tiny grid renderer for oblique-projection cubes, complete since its first release.
biocro
BioCro swapped an unstable iteration for real root finders, changing what its crop models compute.
redist
redist keeps rewriting the sampler underneath a district-drawing API it has held stable since 4.0.
epiflows
epiflows has shipped four releases in eight years, none of which changed the code.
See all epiworldR alternatives → · See all mapSpain alternatives →
Recent activity from epiworldR and mapSpain
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agomapSpainInternal helper refactor with the public API held fixed
- 4mo agoepiworldR0.14.0 addresses an AddressSanitizer finding
- 4mo agomapSpainQuery timeout becomes configurable
- 5mo agoepiworldRWrapper bumped to track a new epiworld version
- 5mo agoepiworldRBuild drops the custom configure script for R's C++17 and OpenMP settings
- 6mo agoepiworldRepiworld bumped to 0.11.2
- 7mo agomapSpain1.0.0 rebuilds on httr2 and invalidates every cache ⚡
- 7mo agoepiworldRTests updated at CRAN's request
- 7mo agoepiworldRHospitalizations, outbreak size and active cases exposed to R
- 1y agomapSpainComarcas and simplified INE geometries added
- 1y agomapSpainComarca types split across four official sources
- 1y agomapSpainAdapted to the SIANE 2024 databases
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between epiworldR and mapSpain?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. epiworldR and mapSpain 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 epiworldR better than mapSpain?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. epiworldR and mapSpain 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 epiworldR?
Top epiworldR alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "epiworldR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/epiworldr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to mapSpain?
Top mapSpain alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mapSpain alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mapspain for the full list with editorial commentary on each.