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Comparison · Analytics
maplegend vs serofoi
A side-by-side editorial comparison of maplegend and serofoi — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
maplegend vs serofoi: at a glance
What is maplegend?
The legend engine mapsf spun out, now covering legend types the parent map package can draw.
maplegend draws the legends for base-R thematic maps, extracted from mapsf so both packages could evolve the legend vocabulary independently. It has been catching up to the map types it has to serve: 0.6.0 added choro_point, choro_line, and choro_symb for choropleth legends rendered on circles, lines, and symbols, following the histogram legend type in 0.4.0. Considerable effort has gone into behaving correctly when the plot aspect ratio is not 1, which required refactoring most of the package in 0.4.0 and still produced a proportional-symbol segment sizing fix in 0.6.3.
What is serofoi?
serofoi grew a serosurvey simulator alongside the force-of-infection models it was built to fit.
serofoi estimates the force of infection from serological survey data using Bayesian serocatalytic models fitted through Stan. Beyond fitting it now simulates serosurveys — specifying a model and a survey design and generating the data such a survey would produce. The most recent release is visualisation and naming work.
maplegend vs serofoi: editorial side-by-side
maplegend
0.0ANALYTICS
The legend engine mapsf spun out, now covering legend types the parent map package can draw.
◆ Current state
maplegend draws the legends for base-R thematic maps, extracted from mapsf so both packages could evolve the legend vocabulary independently. It has been catching up to the map types it has to serve: 0.6.0 added choro_point, choro_line, and choro_symb for choropleth legends rendered on circles, lines, and symbols, following the histogram legend type in 0.4.0. Considerable effort has gone into behaving correctly when the plot aspect ratio is not 1, which required refactoring most of the package in 0.4.0 and still produced a proportional-symbol segment sizing fix in 0.6.3.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a support library whose backlog is defined by its caller. Every legend type mapsf can produce needs a matching legend renderer, and the release notes are dominated by spacing, offset, and border details — box_cex for symbol spacing, NA box placement in horizontal choropleth legends, text overflow when no_data is set. The shared vocabulary with mapsf is being maintained deliberately, with val_rnd, val_big, and val_dec propagating through legend types release by release. Version numbering is not monotonic in this feed, with 0.4.0 published seconds after 0.5.0.
◆ Prediction
Expect the remaining combined map types to acquire matching legends and the val_* formatting arguments to reach the types that still lack them.
serofoi
0.0ANALYTICS
serofoi grew a serosurvey simulator alongside the force-of-infection models it was built to fit.
◆ Current state
serofoi estimates the force of infection from serological survey data using Bayesian serocatalytic models fitted through Stan. Beyond fitting it now simulates serosurveys — specifying a model and a survey design and generating the data such a survey would produce. The most recent release is visualisation and naming work.
◆ Where it's heading
The package moved from fitting-only to a fit-and-simulate pair. 0.1.0 added simulation from time- or age-varying force-of-infection trends and simplified the fitted object down to a Stan fit; 1.0.2 broadened simulation into full serosurvey generation with its own vignette. 1.0.3 then spent its effort on naming consistency and plotting options, which is what a package does once its scope is set.
◆ Prediction
With simulation and fitting both in place, the natural next step is tooling that closes the loop between them — recovery checks or study-design guidance built on simulated surveys.
Alternatives to maplegend and serofoi
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 maplegend or serofoi.
osmextract
osmextract stopped throwing your OpenStreetMap downloads away at the end of every session.
nanoparquet
nanoparquet is chasing byte-level agreement with the Java and Rust Parquet readers, not feature count.
poissonreg
poissonreg gave its models away to parsnip and kept the glue — now it just keeps glmnet honest.
S7
S7 has stopped adding surface and started proving it holds up against R itself.
torchvision
R's torchvision is porting PyTorch's vision stack one task at a time — instance segmentation just landed.
See all maplegend alternatives → · See all serofoi alternatives →
Recent activity from maplegend and serofoi
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agomaplegendContinuous legend formatting and aspect-ratio segment fix
- 4mo agomaplegendChoropleth legends on points, lines and symbols
- 7mo agomaplegendPackage-wide refactor for non-unity aspect ratios, histogram legends
- 7mo agomaplegendSingle-modality legends allowed for typo, symb and prop_line
- 1y agomaplegendAlpha transparency and redraw on device resize
- 1y agomaplegendOffset and symbol sizing aligned with mapsf
- 1y agoserofoiConstant FoI plots, r-hat plotting and shorter parameter names
- 1y agoserofoiSerological surveys can now be simulated end to end
- 2y agoserofoiSimulation functions added; fitted output simplified to a Stan fit
- 3y agoserofoiFirst release: three force-of-infection models and the core modules
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between maplegend and serofoi?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. maplegend and serofoi 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 maplegend better than serofoi?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. maplegend and serofoi 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 maplegend?
Top maplegend alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "maplegend alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/maplegend for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to serofoi?
Top serofoi alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "serofoi alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/serofoi for the full list with editorial commentary on each.