osmapiR
osmapiR is the rare API client that tracks its server's wiki revision numbers in the changelog.
Comparison · Analytics
forestly vs mapsf
A side-by-side editorial comparison of forestly and mapsf — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
forestly vs mapsf: at a glance
What is forestly?
forestly built an interactive safety review tool, then taught it to produce submission-ready RTF.
forestly renders adverse-event forest plots as interactive reactable widgets — filterable by AE category, with sliders for incidence thresholds and a toggle for the risk-difference column. Version 0.1.3 added `rtf_static_forestly()` for static RTF output, and 0.1.4 has been about giving the display owner control over what reviewers see: the CSV download button, the AE filter label, and the diff toggle can each be switched off.
What is mapsf?
Thematic mapping in base R that finally got a theming system, then spent two years polishing legends.
mapsf produces thematic maps on R's base graphics device — choropleths, proportional symbols, typology maps, rasters, and their combinations, with legends, scale bars, north arrows, and insets as composable elements. Version 1.0.0 was the structural release, introducing a theming system that deprecated eight scattered styling arguments and adding mf_png() and mf_svg() export helpers plus alpha transparency across map types. The 1.1.x and 1.2.x line since then has been steady refinement: background and extent control on the drawing functions, decimal and thousands-separator control in legends, and label placement arguments.
forestly vs mapsf: editorial side-by-side
forestly
0.0ANALYTICS
forestly built an interactive safety review tool, then taught it to produce submission-ready RTF.
◆ Current state
forestly renders adverse-event forest plots as interactive reactable widgets — filterable by AE category, with sliders for incidence thresholds and a toggle for the risk-difference column. Version 0.1.3 added `rtf_static_forestly()` for static RTF output, and 0.1.4 has been about giving the display owner control over what reviewers see: the CSV download button, the AE filter label, and the diff toggle can each be switched off.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from a fixed interactive widget toward a configurable one with two output modes. Nearly every new argument in the last two releases exists to remove something from the display or relabel it, which suggests the users driving development are producing outputs for others to review under conventions they do not control. The x-axis range, column header, figure header and slider range arguments point the same way — this is a tool being fitted into standardised reporting rather than used ad hoc.
◆ Prediction
Given that the last two releases have consisted almost entirely of display-control arguments, the next is likely more of the same, applied to whichever parts of the interactive layout are still fixed.
mapsf
0.0ANALYTICS
Thematic mapping in base R that finally got a theming system, then spent two years polishing legends.
◆ Current state
mapsf produces thematic maps on R's base graphics device — choropleths, proportional symbols, typology maps, rasters, and their combinations, with legends, scale bars, north arrows, and insets as composable elements. Version 1.0.0 was the structural release, introducing a theming system that deprecated eight scattered styling arguments and adding mf_png() and mf_svg() export helpers plus alpha transparency across map types. The 1.1.x and 1.2.x line since then has been steady refinement: background and extent control on the drawing functions, decimal and thousands-separator control in legends, and label placement arguments.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has been consolidating control into fewer, more consistent places. Legend handling moved out to the maplegend package in 0.8.0 and the per-element mf_legend_* functions were deprecated in favor of arguments on the map calls themselves; theming replaced ad-hoc style arguments in 1.0.0; and recent releases keep propagating the same argument vocabulary — bg, extent, leg_val_rnd, leg_val_dec, leg_val_big — across every function that should accept it. Determinism is a visible concern too, with 1.2.1 fixing a seed so mf_distr() point positions stop moving between runs.
◆ Prediction
The recent releases are almost entirely argument-parity work across existing functions, so expect that to continue until the vocabulary is uniform rather than any new map type appearing.
Alternatives to forestly and mapsf
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 forestly or mapsf.
ymlthis
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
pharmaverseadam
pharmaverseadam is the pharmaverse's test-data mirror, and it now covers neurology.
pkglite
pkglite's whole job is knowing which files in an R package are text — and it keeps getting better at guessing.
gMCPLite
gMCPLite exists to be gMCP without Java, and its releases guard that boundary rather than extend it.
typst-gather
Extracted from Quarto's CLI, typst-gather learned to explain a dependency tree before fetching it.
See all forestly alternatives → · See all mapsf alternatives →
Recent activity from forestly and mapsf
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agomapsfLabel placement arguments and deterministic distribution plots
- 2mo agomapsfBackground and extent control across the drawing functions
- 5mo agoforestlyDownload button, AE filter label and diff toggle become optional
- 7mo agomapsfPNG resolution control and legend number formatting
- 11mo agoforestlyStatic RTF forest plots join the interactive output ⚡
- 1y agomapsf1.0.0 introduces theming and deprecates eight style arguments ⚡
- 1y agoforestlyreactR 0.6.0 rendering fix and slider label control
- 1y agomapsfPencil-sketch layers, ckmeans breaks, and border extraction
- 2y agomapsfGraticule label display fix
- 2y agoforestlyTreatment group selection and rough-edge fixes
- 3y agoforestlyFirst release on GitHub and CRAN
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between forestly and mapsf?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. forestly and mapsf 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 forestly better than mapsf?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. forestly and mapsf 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 forestly?
Top forestly alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "forestly alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/forestly for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to mapsf?
Top mapsf alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mapsf alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mapsf for the full list with editorial commentary on each.