← Back to home
Comparison · Analytics

gtfstools vs quantities

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

Shared themes:r-package

gtfstools vs quantities: at a glance

Featuregtfstoolsquantities
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesgtfs, public-transport, geospatial, r-packageunits, measurement-uncertainty, error-propagation, r-package
Last editorial update1h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is gtfstools?

gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.

gtfstools reads, edits, filters and validates GTFS public transport feeds in R on a data.table backend. Since 1.3.0 it accepts GTFS objects produced by other packages such as gtfsio and tidytransit, converting them through an as_dt_gtfs() generic. Validation runs MobilityData's canonical validator, now supported through v6.0.0.

Read the full gtfstools trajectory →

What is quantities?

The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.

quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.

Read the full quantities trajectory →

gtfstools vs quantities: editorial side-by-side

G
gtfstools
ANALYTICS
0.0

gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.

◆ Current state

gtfstools reads, edits, filters and validates GTFS public transport feeds in R on a data.table backend. Since 1.3.0 it accepts GTFS objects produced by other packages such as gtfsio and tidytransit, converting them through an as_dt_gtfs() generic. Validation runs MobilityData's canonical validator, now supported through v6.0.0.

◆ Where it's heading

The package built out a wide function surface first — filters, geometry conversion, speed and duration calculations — then turned outward. Delegating validation to MobilityData's validator and accepting other packages' objects both trade self-sufficiency for a position inside the wider GTFS ecosystem. Deprecations are handled slowly, with old behaviour left as the default for a release or more.

◆ Prediction

Expect continued validator version tracking and further completion of the deprecation cycle around filter_by_stop_id()'s full_trips behaviour.

Q
quantities
ANALYTICS
0.0

The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.

◆ Current state

quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.

◆ Where it's heading

The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.

Alternatives to gtfstools and quantities

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 gtfstools or quantities.

See all gtfstools alternatives → · See all quantities alternatives →

Recent activity from gtfstools and quantities

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

  1. 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
  2. 1y agogtfstoolsSupports canonical GTFS validator v5 and v6
  3. 1y agogtfstoolsAccepts GTFS objects from gtfsio and tidytransit
  4. 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
  5. 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
  6. 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
  7. 3y agogtfstoolsValidation delegated to MobilityData's canonical validator
  8. 4y agogtfstoolsAdds time-of-day, weekday and frequency filtering functions
  9. 4y agogtfstoolsEstablishes the core GTFS filtering and sf conversion family
  10. 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
  11. 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between gtfstools and quantities?

Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. gtfstools and quantities 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 gtfstools better than quantities?

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

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

What are the best alternatives to quantities?

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