← Back to home
Comparison · Analytics

ggspatial vs mlr3tuning

A side-by-side editorial comparison of ggspatial and mlr3tuning — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

ggspatial vs mlr3tuning: at a glance

Featureggspatialmlr3tuning
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesgeospatial, ggplot2, r-stats, terra-migrationmlr3, hyperparameter-tuning, async-optimization, callbacks
Last editorial update3h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is ggspatial?

ggspatial finishes its move off raster and onto terra

ggspatial puts spatial data into ggplot2. Its recent history is a single multi-year migration: terra support arrived alongside raster in 1.1.6, and by 1.1.10 terra is the default in the bundled data loaders while raster is described as deprecated. Everything between those two releases is ggplot2 compatibility patching.

Read the full ggspatial trajectory →

What is mlr3tuning?

mlr3tuning is rebuilding its async machinery under a stable public surface

mlr3tuning provides hyperparameter optimization for the mlr3 ecosystem, and its recent history is dominated by the asynchronous tuning path: archive freezing, callback stages around queue evaluation, and version-locked compatibility with the rush backend. Releases pair a small feature with several fixes and an explicit compatibility line naming the mlr3 or rush version they track. The most recent release drops all workarounds for older rush versions, which suggests that dependency has stabilized enough to require rather than accommodate.

Read the full mlr3tuning trajectory →

ggspatial vs mlr3tuning: editorial side-by-side

G
ggspatial
ANALYTICS
0.0

ggspatial finishes its move off raster and onto terra

◆ Current state

ggspatial puts spatial data into ggplot2. Its recent history is a single multi-year migration: terra support arrived alongside raster in 1.1.6, and by 1.1.10 terra is the default in the bundled data loaders while raster is described as deprecated. Everything between those two releases is ggplot2 compatibility patching.

◆ Where it's heading

The package tracks the R spatial stack's own generational shift rather than setting direction itself — sf and stars support, then terra, then preparing S3 methods for the next ggplot2. Feature work is rare; the value it delivers is staying current with the layers underneath it.

◆ Prediction

The likely next step is completing the ggplot2 S3 method preparation that 1.1.10 started, with raster support eventually dropped rather than maintained in parallel.

M
mlr3tuning
ANALYTICS
2.5

mlr3tuning is rebuilding its async machinery under a stable public surface

◆ Current state

mlr3tuning provides hyperparameter optimization for the mlr3 ecosystem, and its recent history is dominated by the asynchronous tuning path: archive freezing, callback stages around queue evaluation, and version-locked compatibility with the rush backend. Releases pair a small feature with several fixes and an explicit compatibility line naming the mlr3 or rush version they track. The most recent release drops all workarounds for older rush versions, which suggests that dependency has stabilized enough to require rather than accommodate.

◆ Where it's heading

Two things are being tidied at once. The async archive is converging on a consistent data.table representation across batch and async variants, so results are shaped the same regardless of how tuning ran. Separately, the package is becoming a better ecosystem citizen — unioning tuner properties on load instead of overwriting them, removing its callbacks on unload, and raising informative errors from AutoTuner accessors on an untrained model. Both are the marks of a package used as a dependency more than as a destination.

◆ Prediction

With rush pinned to 1.2.0 and the compatibility shims gone, the next release is likely to expose more of the async path through callbacks rather than change the tuning interface.

Alternatives to ggspatial and mlr3tuning

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 ggspatial or mlr3tuning.

See all ggspatial alternatives → · See all mlr3tuning alternatives →

Recent activity from ggspatial and mlr3tuning

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 18d agomlr3tuningmlr3tuning 1.6.1 stops clobbering other packages' tuner properties
  2. 4mo agomlr3tuningmlr3tuning 1.6.0 aligns archive column order across tuning classes
  3. 8mo agomlr3tuningmlr3tuning 1.5.1 tracks xgboost 3.1.2.1
  4. 8mo agomlr3tuningmlr3tuning 1.5.0 adds queue evaluation stages to async callbacks
  5. 11mo agoggspatialterra becomes the default raster backend
  6. 1y agomlr3tuningmlr3tuning 1.4.0 unifies logging under a base mlr3 logger
  7. 1y agomlr3tuningmlr3tuning 1.3.0 adds a frozen async archive and leaner worker storage
  8. 2y agoggspatialExample fixes for the updated raster/terra stack
  9. 3y agoggspatialannotation_spatial() fix for the latest ggplot2
  10. 3y agoggspatialFix for behaviour deprecated in ggplot2
  11. 3y agoggspatialterra support, categorical rasters and better stars handling
  12. 8y agoggspatialPackage size and CRAN check time reduced

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ggspatial and mlr3tuning?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. mlr3tuning is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is ggspatial better than mlr3tuning?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. mlr3tuning is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to ggspatial?

Top ggspatial alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggspatial alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggspatial for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to mlr3tuning?

Top mlr3tuning alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mlr3tuning alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mlr3tuning for the full list with editorial commentary on each.