writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
Comparison · Analytics
haven vs rnaturalearth
A side-by-side editorial comparison of haven and rnaturalearth — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
haven vs rnaturalearth: at a glance
What is haven?
haven's release cadence has narrowed to compiler and R-devel upkeep.
haven is the tidyverse's bridge to SPSS, Stata and SAS files, wrapping the C ReadStat library. The last several releases are almost entirely maintenance: syncing vendored ReadStat and patching ahead of R-devel changes. The most recent substantive user-facing work landed in 2.5.2 and earlier.
What is rnaturalearth?
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
1.0.0 ended sp support outright, making sf the default and offering terra's SpatVector via `returnclass`, after 0.3.3 had signposted that with lifecycle badges. The two releases since move to delivery mechanics: 1.1.0 reads data directly out of the zip through the GDAL Virtual File System, starts moving unloaded downloads to GeoPackage instead of shapefile, and switches the base URL to naciscdn.org; 1.2.0 adds caching to `ne_download()` when `destdir` is persistent, swaps devtools for pak when installing the companion data packages, and handles Natural Earth's inconsistent raster zip layouts.
haven vs rnaturalearth: editorial side-by-side
haven
0.0ANALYTICS
haven's release cadence has narrowed to compiler and R-devel upkeep.
◆ Current state
haven is the tidyverse's bridge to SPSS, Stata and SAS files, wrapping the C ReadStat library. The last several releases are almost entirely maintenance: syncing vendored ReadStat and patching ahead of R-devel changes. The most recent substantive user-facing work landed in 2.5.2 and earlier.
◆ Where it's heading
Development has shifted from extending the file-format surface to keeping a C dependency compiling against newer toolchains. The deprecation of write_sas() narrowed that surface deliberately, steering users to write_xpt() because the sas7bdat format is undocumented and unsupported upstream.
◆ Prediction
Expect further ReadStat sync releases triggered by compiler or R-devel breakage rather than new format support or writing features.
rnaturalearth
0.0ANALYTICS
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
◆ Current state
1.0.0 ended sp support outright, making sf the default and offering terra's SpatVector via `returnclass`, after 0.3.3 had signposted that with lifecycle badges. The two releases since move to delivery mechanics: 1.1.0 reads data directly out of the zip through the GDAL Virtual File System, starts moving unloaded downloads to GeoPackage instead of shapefile, and switches the base URL to naciscdn.org; 1.2.0 adds caching to `ne_download()` when `destdir` is persistent, swaps devtools for pak when installing the companion data packages, and handles Natural Earth's inconsistent raster zip layouts.
◆ Where it's heading
With the class question settled, the work has shifted to not re-downloading and not unpacking — VFS reads, caching, and a container format that does not need a sidecar of four files. That points at the package being used in repeated or automated contexts rather than interactive one-offs. The shapefile-to-GeoPackage transition is explicitly incomplete.
◆ Prediction
Completing the GeoPackage transition for `load = FALSE` downloads is the obvious next step, since 1.1.0 described it as in progress.
Alternatives to haven and rnaturalearth
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 haven or rnaturalearth.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
taxize
taxize spends its releases absorbing other people's API changes, one dead source at a time.
See all haven alternatives → · See all rnaturalearth alternatives →
Recent activity from haven and rnaturalearth
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.2.0
- 1y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.1.0
- 1y agohavenhaven 2.5.5 syncs ReadStat for stricter gcc diagnostics
- 2y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.0.0 drops sp for sf and terra
- 2y agohavenhaven 2.5.4 patches for an upcoming R-devel change
- 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.3 patches for an upcoming R-devel change
- 3y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 0.3.3 deprecates sp, imports terra
- 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.2 fixes SAS catalog reads and deprecates write_sas()
- 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.1 aligns labelled headers and fixes name repair
- 4y agohavenhaven 2.5.0 adds custom variable widths when writing files
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between haven and rnaturalearth?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. haven and rnaturalearth 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 haven better than rnaturalearth?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. haven and rnaturalearth 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 haven?
Top haven alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "haven alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/haven for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rnaturalearth?
Top rnaturalearth alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rnaturalearth alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rnaturalearth for the full list with editorial commentary on each.