rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
esquisse vs timetk
A side-by-side editorial comparison of esquisse and timetk — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
esquisse vs timetk: at a glance
What is esquisse?
esquisse's 1.0 turned a point-and-click addin into embeddable Shiny modules.
The visible history covers the 1.0 line only. 1.0.0 is the substantial one: modules for importing data (via datamods) and exporting plots, a `ggplot_output()` / `render_ggplot()` pair, manual colour palettes, aesthetic parameter selection, more export formats including pptx, and typography controls. 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 are corrective — sf object handling, package-sourced data, disabled-panel label controls, and an `output_format` argument on the save modal.
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.
esquisse vs timetk: editorial side-by-side
esquisse
0.0ANALYTICS
esquisse's 1.0 turned a point-and-click addin into embeddable Shiny modules.
◆ Current state
The visible history covers the 1.0 line only. 1.0.0 is the substantial one: modules for importing data (via datamods) and exporting plots, a `ggplot_output()` / `render_ggplot()` pair, manual colour palettes, aesthetic parameter selection, more export formats including pptx, and typography controls. 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 are corrective — sf object handling, package-sourced data, disabled-panel label controls, and an `output_format` argument on the save modal.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from a self-contained RStudio addin toward a component library other people build with: once plot rendering and export exist as Shiny modules, esquisse's ggplot builder can be dropped inside someone else's app rather than only launched beside RStudio. The two follow-up releases are consolidation on that surface rather than expansion of it.
◆ Prediction
Further work most likely lands on the module API and export coverage, since that is where 1.0.0 put the new surface and where 1.0.2 already returned. The entries do not indicate anything about cadence beyond this line.
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 esquisse 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 esquisse 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 esquisse alternatives → · See all timetk alternatives →
Recent activity from esquisse and timetk
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 11mo agotimetktimetk 2.9.1 makes date parsing consistent across time classes
- 2y agotimetktimetk 2.9.0 absorbs the anomalize package ⚡
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.1 exposes trelliscope plotting parameters
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.0 adds trelliscopejs support for many-series plots
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.7.0 adds tk_tsfeatures() for grouped feature matrices
- 4y agotimetktimetk 2.6.2 adds .week_start and facet direction controls
- 5y agoesquisseesquisse v1.0.2
- 5y agoesquisseesquisse 1.0.1 fixes sf, package data and label controls
- 5y agoesquisseesquisse 1.0.0 ships embeddable plot and export modules ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between esquisse and timetk?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. esquisse 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 esquisse better than timetk?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. esquisse 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 esquisse?
Top esquisse alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "esquisse alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/esquisse 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.