osmapiR
osmapiR is the rare API client that tracks its server's wiki revision numbers in the changelog.
Comparison · Analytics
maplegend vs typst-gather
A side-by-side editorial comparison of maplegend and typst-gather — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
maplegend vs typst-gather: 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 typst-gather?
Extracted from Quarto's CLI, typst-gather learned to explain a dependency tree before fetching it.
typst-gather collects Typst packages into a local cache so documents build offline and hermetically. It was extracted from quarto-cli and reached CRAN-equivalent shape in three releases over a single day, then added an `analyze` subcommand that walks `@Preview` and `@Local` imports — following transitive dependencies of local packages — and prints structured JSON without downloading or copying anything.
maplegend vs typst-gather: 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.
typst-gather
0.0ANALYTICS
Extracted from Quarto's CLI, typst-gather learned to explain a dependency tree before fetching it.
◆ Current state
typst-gather collects Typst packages into a local cache so documents build offline and hermetically. It was extracted from quarto-cli and reached CRAN-equivalent shape in three releases over a single day, then added an `analyze` subcommand that walks `@Preview` and `@Local` imports — following transitive dependencies of local packages — and prints structured JSON without downloading or copying anything.
◆ Where it's heading
The 0.2.0 restructuring is the tell: subcommands with backwards compatibility, config readable from stdin, and every diagnostic message moved to stderr so stdout carries nothing but JSON. Those are the conventions of a tool meant to be called by another program, not typed by a person. Given its origin inside Quarto's toolchain, the plausible consumer is a build system that needs to know a document's package requirements before deciding what to fetch.
◆ Prediction
The analyze path currently reports imports; the natural extension visible from here is acting on that report — lockfile output or verification that a cache satisfies a document's dependency set — though the entries do not commit to either.
Alternatives to maplegend and typst-gather
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 typst-gather.
ymlthis
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
forestly
forestly built an interactive safety review tool, then taught it to produce submission-ready RTF.
pharmaverseadam
pharmaverseadam is the pharmaverse's test-data mirror, and it now covers neurology.
pkglite
pkglite's whole job is knowing which files in an R package are text — and it keeps getting better at guessing.
gMCPLite
gMCPLite exists to be gMCP without Java, and its releases guard that boundary rather than extend it.
See all maplegend alternatives → · See all typst-gather alternatives →
Recent activity from maplegend and typst-gather
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
- 5mo agotypst-gatheranalyze subcommand reports the import graph as JSON ⚡
- 5mo agotypst-gatherWindows path escaping fix and README expansion
- 5mo agotypst-gatherSplit out of quarto-cli as a standalone package gatherer
- 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
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between maplegend and typst-gather?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. maplegend and typst-gather 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 typst-gather?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. maplegend and typst-gather 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 typst-gather?
Top typst-gather alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "typst-gather alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/typst-gather for the full list with editorial commentary on each.