tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
geotargets vs r2rtf
A side-by-side editorial comparison of geotargets and r2rtf — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
geotargets vs r2rtf: at a glance
What is geotargets?
Geospatial targets grew from two raster helpers into a tiling and multi-backend pipeline layer.
geotargets extends the targets pipeline framework with target factories that know how to serialise geospatial objects — terra rasters and vectors, stars arrays, raster collections, and VRT references. It completed rOpenSci review and transferred ownership during 0.3.0. Writing behaviour is now configurable through per-target arguments and package-level options.
What is r2rtf?
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
r2rtf builds the RTF tables, listings and figures that go into clinical study reports, and its recent releases have been about widening who and what it can serve rather than changing how tables are composed. The 1.2.0 release added internationalization — a SimSun font path for Chinese characters plus hyphenation control — and 1.3.0 followed with write_docx() and write_html(), turning the LibreOffice conversion the package had documented into exported functions.
geotargets vs r2rtf: editorial side-by-side
geotargets
0.0ANALYTICS
Geospatial targets grew from two raster helpers into a tiling and multi-backend pipeline layer.
◆ Current state
geotargets extends the targets pipeline framework with target factories that know how to serialise geospatial objects — terra rasters and vectors, stars arrays, raster collections, and VRT references. It completed rOpenSci review and transferred ownership during 0.3.0. Writing behaviour is now configurable through per-target arguments and package-level options.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from 'targets can hold a SpatRaster' to 'targets can hold a tiled, dynamically branched raster workflow with controlled datatype and driver.' Recent work is about giving users control over how objects hit disk — datatype, driver, metadata sidecars, pass-through arguments to the underlying writers — which is where correctness problems in geospatial pipelines actually live. External contributors are driving a visible share of it.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued work on write-path fidelity and format coverage rather than new target types, since the last two releases both resolved metadata and driver defaults that were silently losing information.
r2rtf
0.0ANALYTICS
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
◆ Current state
r2rtf builds the RTF tables, listings and figures that go into clinical study reports, and its recent releases have been about widening who and what it can serve rather than changing how tables are composed. The 1.2.0 release added internationalization — a SimSun font path for Chinese characters plus hyphenation control — and 1.3.0 followed with write_docx() and write_html(), turning the LibreOffice conversion the package had documented into exported functions.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run through the window. One is output reach: RTF remains the composition target, but the artifacts that come out of it now include DOCX and HTML, and page numbering can be made table-relative across multi-page tables. The other is durability under a moving R and font stack — the ANSI/Unicode converter was rebuilt, the LaTeX mapping table generated from code rather than shipped as sysdata, unlist() usage fixed for R 4.5, and graphics-device leaks that produced stray Rplots.pdf closed off.
◆ Prediction
Having exported DOCX and HTML conversion, the likely next step is filling in what those formats lose relative to RTF — pagination and footnote fidelity are the obvious gaps. The i18n path currently covers Chinese only, so additional font families are the other plausible direction.
Alternatives to geotargets and r2rtf
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 geotargets or r2rtf.
Tplyr
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
See all geotargets alternatives → · See all r2rtf alternatives →
Recent activity from geotargets and r2rtf
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 7mo agor2rtfDOCX and HTML output become exported functions
- 11mo agor2rtfChinese character support arrives via an i18n font path ⚡
- 1y agogeotargetsGuards sozip metadata option against GDAL below 3.7
- 1y agogeotargetsVRT targets, datatype control, and GPKG default for vectors
- 1y agor2rtfText colour fixed for figures encoded into RTF
- 1y agor2rtfFootnote handling fixed for R 4.5.0
- 1y agor2rtfUnicode converter rebuilt and mapping table made inspectable
- 1y agogeotargetsstars backend and dynamically branched raster tiles ⚡
- 2y agogeotargetsFirst release: raster, vector, and collection targets
- 2y agor2rtfUTF-8 conversion fix and LibreOffice 7.6 support
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between geotargets and r2rtf?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. geotargets and r2rtf 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 geotargets better than r2rtf?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. geotargets and r2rtf 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 geotargets?
Top geotargets alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "geotargets alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/geotargets for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to r2rtf?
Top r2rtf alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "r2rtf alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/r2rtf for the full list with editorial commentary on each.