fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of geodist and tern.mmrm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
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.
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
tern.mmrm wraps mixed models for repeated measures into the tern tabulation and plotting layer used by teal clinical modules. The visible history ends with three CRAN releases in mid-to-late 2024; before that the feed carries only automated version bumps from 2022, three of which have just been backfilled into the record. The most recent substantive change adds axis limit arguments to the LS-means plot.
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.
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.
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.
tern.mmrm wraps mixed models for repeated measures into the tern tabulation and plotting layer used by teal clinical modules. The visible history ends with three CRAN releases in mid-to-late 2024; before that the feed carries only automated version bumps from 2022, three of which have just been backfilled into the record. The most recent substantive change adds axis limit arguments to the LS-means plot.
Content per release is thin and largely organisational: a maintainer change, replacing scda with random.cdisc.data in vignettes, and adapting to new {mmrm} versions. The package appears to be in maintenance, tracking its upstream dependency rather than developing independently. The 2022 entries now visible are release-automation commits, not releases in any meaningful sense.
Nothing here signals new functionality; the realistic next event is another compatibility release when {mmrm} or {rtables} changes underneath it.
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 tern.mmrm.
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
A single-purpose ggplot2 inset tool, refining the same three arguments.
An R symbolic-maths binding whose changelog is really the C++ core's release notes.
gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
See all geodist alternatives → · See all tern.mmrm alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. geodist and tern.mmrm 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.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. geodist and tern.mmrm 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.
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.
Top tern.mmrm alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tern.mmrm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tern-mmrm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.