tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
Comparison · Analytics
geodist vs quantities
A side-by-side editorial comparison of geodist and quantities — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
geodist vs quantities: at a glance
What is geodist?
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
geodist computes geodesic distances between coordinate pairs in C with no dependencies, offering several measures that trade accuracy for speed — including a 'cheap' approximation used by default. The API is small and largely finished; 0.1.0 added geodist_min() for nearest-match lookups and 0.1.1 is a compiler warning fix.
What is quantities?
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
geodist vs quantities: editorial side-by-side
geodist
0.0ANALYTICS
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
◆ Current state
geodist computes geodesic distances between coordinate pairs in C with no dependencies, offering several measures that trade accuracy for speed — including a 'cheap' approximation used by default. The API is small and largely finished; 0.1.0 added geodist_min() for nearest-match lookups and 0.1.1 is a compiler warning fix.
◆ Where it's heading
Development has been about making the speed-accuracy trade visible rather than hiding it. The 0.0.6 release added messages telling users to pick a different measure once the default cheap approximation is applied beyond 100km, where its error stops being negligible. Around that, the work is input handling — tibble support, better lon/lat column matching, vector inputs — and hardening the C code. It is a package that treats being small and correct as the feature.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued low-frequency maintenance: compiler warnings and geodesic source updates account for three of the last six releases, and the function surface has grown by only two entries in five years.
quantities
0.0ANALYTICS
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
◆ Current state
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.
Alternatives to geodist and quantities
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 geodist or quantities.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
ggmagnify
A single-purpose ggplot2 inset tool, refining the same three arguments.
symengine
An R symbolic-maths binding whose changelog is really the C++ core's release notes.
gtfstools
gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.
dietr
A fish diet package whose release history is really a record of surviving rfishbase.
See all geodist alternatives → · See all quantities alternatives →
Recent activity from geodist and quantities
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agogeodistgeodist 0.1.1 clears a clang warning in geodesic.c
- 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
- 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
- 2y agogeodistgeodist 0.1.0 adds geodist_min() for nearest matches
- 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
- 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
- 3y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.8 updates geodesic source, fixes clang warnings
- 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 5y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.7 improves lon/lat column matching and tibbles
- 5y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.6 warns when cheap distances exceed 100km
- 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions
- 6y agogeodistgeodist 0.0.4 adds geodist_vec() for vector inputs
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between geodist and quantities?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. geodist and quantities 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 geodist better than quantities?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. geodist and quantities 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 geodist?
Top geodist alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "geodist alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/geodist-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to quantities?
Top quantities alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "quantities alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quantities for the full list with editorial commentary on each.