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ggspatial vs timetk

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

ggspatial vs timetk: at a glance

Featureggspatialtimetk
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesgeospatial, ggplot2, r-stats, terra-migrationtime-series, anomaly-detection, visualization, feature-engineering
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 timetk?

timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years

timetk handles time series wrangling, visualization, and feature engineering in a tidyverse idiom. Its defining recent move was absorbing the anomalize package outright in 2.9.0, bringing anomaly detection, cleaning, and the associated plots inside timetk rather than leaving them in a sibling package. Development then paused for nearly two years before 2.9.1, a robustness and documentation release.

Read the full timetk trajectory →

ggspatial vs timetk: 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.

T
timetk
ANALYTICS
0.0

timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years

◆ Current state

timetk handles time series wrangling, visualization, and feature engineering in a tidyverse idiom. Its defining recent move was absorbing the anomalize package outright in 2.9.0, bringing anomaly detection, cleaning, and the associated plots inside timetk rather than leaving them in a sibling package. Development then paused for nearly two years before 2.9.1, a robustness and documentation release.

◆ Where it's heading

The trajectory before the pause was consolidation: fold in adjacent functionality, then make the visualization layer handle many series at once via trelliscopejs, then broaden feature generation with tk_tsfeatures(). The recent release works on the least glamorous layer — internal generics so date parsing and sequence generation behave consistently across Date, POSIXct, hms, yearmon, and yearqtr — which is the kind of foundation work a package does when it has accumulated too many special cases. The long gap and the CI-refresh content suggest maintenance attention rather than a new direction.

◆ Prediction

The stated gap is the unimplemented twitter method for anomalize(), which is the one concrete outstanding item the release notes name; beyond that the recent work points to consolidation rather than expansion.

Alternatives to ggspatial and timetk

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 timetk.

See all ggspatial alternatives → · See all timetk alternatives →

Recent activity from ggspatial and timetk

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

  1. 11mo agotimetktimetk 2.9.1 makes date parsing consistent across time classes
  2. 11mo agoggspatialterra becomes the default raster backend
  3. 2y agotimetktimetk 2.9.0 absorbs the anomalize package
  4. 2y agoggspatialExample fixes for the updated raster/terra stack
  5. 3y agoggspatialannotation_spatial() fix for the latest ggplot2
  6. 3y agoggspatialFix for behaviour deprecated in ggplot2
  7. 3y agoggspatialterra support, categorical rasters and better stars handling
  8. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.1 exposes trelliscope plotting parameters
  9. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.0 adds trelliscopejs support for many-series plots
  10. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.7.0 adds tk_tsfeatures() for grouped feature matrices
  11. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.6.2 adds .week_start and facet direction controls
  12. 8y agoggspatialPackage size and CRAN check time reduced

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ggspatial and timetk?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ggspatial and timetk 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 ggspatial better than timetk?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ggspatial and timetk 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 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 timetk?

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