tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
geotargets vs riem
A side-by-side editorial comparison of geotargets and riem — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-packageropensci
geotargets vs riem: 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 riem?
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
riem pulls observations from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's weather-station network. Its release history is two threads: successive rewrites of the HTTP and test-mocking stack, and a gradual tightening of function arguments that culminated in 1.0.0 removing convenient-but-dangerous defaults. Contributions come partly from IEM's own maintainer.
geotargets vs riem: 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.
riem
0.0ANALYTICS
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
◆ Current state
riem pulls observations from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's weather-station network. Its release history is two threads: successive rewrites of the HTTP and test-mocking stack, and a gradual tightening of function arguments that culminated in 1.0.0 removing convenient-but-dangerous defaults. Contributions come partly from IEM's own maintainer.
◆ Where it's heading
The HTTP thread has moved through httr to httr2, and mocking from vcr to httptest2 — following the broader rOpenSci HTTP-stack reorganisation rather than any need of its own. The API thread runs the other way: 1.0.0 removed defaults for date_start and station and flipped latlon to FALSE, trading convenience for callers being explicit about what they request. New arguments in the same release widened what a query can ask for.
◆ Prediction
With the API stabilised at 1.0.0 and the HTTP stack settled on httr2, the next release is more likely to expose additional IEM query parameters than to change plumbing again.
Alternatives to geotargets and riem
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 riem.
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.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
See all geotargets alternatives → · See all riem alternatives →
Recent activity from geotargets and riem
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agogeotargetsGuards sozip metadata option against GDAL below 3.7
- 1y agogeotargetsVRT targets, datatype control, and GPKG default for vectors
- 1y agoriem1.0.0 removes defaults and adds query arguments
- 1y agogeotargetsstars backend and dynamically branched raster tiles ⚡
- 1y agoriemDrops the last vcr usage in favour of httptest2
- 2y agogeotargetsFirst release: raster, vector, and collection targets
- 2y agoriemTimezone and timestamp-parsing fixes
- 4y agoriemMoves to httr2 and httptest2
- 4y agoriemSwitches to newer IEM metadata web services
- 9y agoriemReduces dependencies to tibble alone
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between geotargets and riem?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package, ropensci — within Analytics. geotargets and riem 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 riem?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. geotargets and riem 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 riem?
Top riem alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "riem alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/riem for the full list with editorial commentary on each.