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Comparison · Analytics
etn vs SimInf
A side-by-side editorial comparison of etn and SimInf — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
etn vs SimInf: at a glance
What is etn?
etn stopped being an RStudio-server package and became something you can run anywhere.
etn is the R client for the European Tracking Network's acoustic telemetry database, maintained at INBO. The 3.0.0 release routes queries through an API served by the companion etnservice package, so the package no longer requires a session on the ETN RStudio server. Credentials moved out of a connection object and into .Renviron, and the data model was rescoped in 2.0.0 around tag_serial_number so acoustic work is one scope among several rather than the whole package.
What is SimInf?
SimInf 10.0 turns an epidemic simulator into a tool that fits models to real time series
SimInf simulates stochastic disease spread over networks of nodes, with a model parser that compiles user-specified transitions to C. Version 10.0.0 was a deliberate major break: the SimInf_pfilter S4 class and the bootstrap filtering interface were redesigned, a replicates slot was added to SimInf_model, a multi-particle variant of the split-step solver arrived, and the package gained Particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting against observed time series. The follow-up 10.1.0 is a single zero-length memcpy fix found by CRAN's M1 checks.
etn vs SimInf: editorial side-by-side
etn
0.0ANALYTICS
etn stopped being an RStudio-server package and became something you can run anywhere.
◆ Current state
etn is the R client for the European Tracking Network's acoustic telemetry database, maintained at INBO. The 3.0.0 release routes queries through an API served by the companion etnservice package, so the package no longer requires a session on the ETN RStudio server. Credentials moved out of a connection object and into .Renviron, and the data model was rescoped in 2.0.0 around tag_serial_number so acoustic work is one scope among several rather than the whole package.
◆ Where it's heading
Two arcs run in parallel: widening access, and making room for non-acoustic data. The access work has been deliberate — an API-backed beta in 2024, then a stable release that picks the transport automatically and checks that a local etnservice install matches the deployed one, because the same query returning different results by transport would be worse than requiring the server. The Darwin Core export added in 2.1.0 points the same outward direction, moving data to OBIS and GBIF instead of keeping it in the ETN silo.
◆ Prediction
The cpod scope named in the 2.0.0 notes is the most likely next addition, now that the naming and the API transport are both in place to carry it.
SimInf
0.0ANALYTICS
SimInf 10.0 turns an epidemic simulator into a tool that fits models to real time series
◆ Current state
SimInf simulates stochastic disease spread over networks of nodes, with a model parser that compiles user-specified transitions to C. Version 10.0.0 was a deliberate major break: the SimInf_pfilter S4 class and the bootstrap filtering interface were redesigned, a replicates slot was added to SimInf_model, a multi-particle variant of the split-step solver arrived, and the package gained Particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting against observed time series. The follow-up 10.1.0 is a single zero-length memcpy fix found by CRAN's M1 checks.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has been moving from simulation toward inference for several releases. The 9.x line built the input side — utilities for cleaning raw individual event data, variables and enumeration constants in the model parser — and 10.0.0 closed the loop by making the simulator fittable to data through PMCMC. The version number was incremented precisely because that required breaking the particle filter interface.
◆ Prediction
Fitting machinery this new usually needs a second pass on usability, so the next releases most likely focus on diagnostics and documentation around PMCMC rather than on the simulation core, which has been stable across the whole 9.x and 10.x history.
Alternatives to etn and SimInf
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 etn or SimInf.
parallelDist
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
cairo
Cairo finally catches R's graphics engine, all the way to GE API 16.
rjdqa
rjdqa keeps refining one screen: the seasonal adjustment quality dashboard
epikit
epikit narrows to field-epidemiology helpers, handing proportions to a sibling package
mutagen
A young package porting Stata's egen row-wise helpers to the tidyverse, one function per release
Recent activity from etn and SimInf
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agoetnetn runs off the ETN RStudio server via the etnservice API ⚡
- 6mo agoetnData model rescoped; acoustic becomes one named scope
- 6mo agoetnwrite_dwc() exports telemetry as Darwin Core for OBIS and GBIF
- 6mo agoetndepth_in_meters added to acoustic detections
- 6mo agoetnwrite_dwc() fixes for uppercase project codes
- 6mo agoetnNA formatting and duplicate receiver ID fixes
- 9mo agoSimInfAvoid memcpy on zero-length continuous state vector
- 9mo agoSimInfPMCMC fitting arrives; particle filter interface redesigned ⚡
- 2y agoSimInfDocumentation link anchors; parser dependency fix
- 2y agoSimInfModel parser gains variables and enumeration constants
- 2y agoSimInfindividual_events() added for raw event data cleaning
- 3y agoSimInfConfigure script uses R to locate the compiler
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between etn and SimInf?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. etn and SimInf 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 etn better than SimInf?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. etn and SimInf 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 etn?
Top etn alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "etn alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/etn-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to SimInf?
Top SimInf alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SimInf alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/siminf-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.