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mapSpain vs spatstat.geom

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

Shared themes:r-package

mapSpain vs spatstat.geom: at a glance

FeaturemapSpainspatstat.geom
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesspain, administrative-boundaries, geospatial, httr2spatial-statistics, computational-geometry, r-package, three-dimensional
Last editorial update51m ago4h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is mapSpain?

mapSpain's 1.0.0 broke every user cache to get the package onto modern foundations.

mapSpain provides administrative boundaries, tile providers and geographic dictionaries for Spain, pulling from GISCO, SIANE, INE and IGN sources. The 1.0.0 release in January 2026 rebuilt it: requests moved to httr2, the cache reorganized into topic-based subfolders under tools::R_user_dir() instead of rappdirs, R 4.1 became the floor, and every function now returns tidy objects. Existing caches are explicitly incompatible and must be rebuilt.

Read the full mapSpain trajectory →

What is spatstat.geom?

The geometry layer under spatstat, steadily absorbing 3D patterns and missing-data semantics

spatstat.geom holds the spatial data structures and geometric operations the rest of the spatstat family builds on — windows, tessellations, images, point patterns and the operations that move between them. Recent releases split their attention between extending those structures to three dimensions and hardening the discretisation code where polygonal geometry meets a pixel grid. 3.8-2 adds more capabilities for three-dimensional point patterns.

Read the full spatstat.geom trajectory →

mapSpain vs spatstat.geom: editorial side-by-side

M
mapSpain
ANALYTICS
0.0

mapSpain's 1.0.0 broke every user cache to get the package onto modern foundations.

◆ Current state

mapSpain provides administrative boundaries, tile providers and geographic dictionaries for Spain, pulling from GISCO, SIANE, INE and IGN sources. The 1.0.0 release in January 2026 rebuilt it: requests moved to httr2, the cache reorganized into topic-based subfolders under tools::R_user_dir() instead of rappdirs, R 4.1 became the floor, and every function now returns tidy objects. Existing caches are explicitly incompatible and must be rebuilt.

◆ Where it's heading

The package has finished its modernization and moved into consolidation. 1.1.0 added a configurable query timeout and pinned httr2 for compatibility with giscoR, the sibling package it shares plumbing with; 1.2.0 was a declared internal-only refactor with the public API held fixed and the work described as AI-assisted with human review. The data-source expansion that characterized the 0.9.x and 0.10.x line — comarcas by type, simplified INE geometries, SIANE vintages — has paused while the foundations settle.

◆ Prediction

Expect a return to source coverage now that the refactor is done: new SIANE or INE vintages and additional boundary types are the pattern this package has repeated. The entries show no further architectural work queued.

S
spatstat.geom
ANALYTICS
2.5

The geometry layer under spatstat, steadily absorbing 3D patterns and missing-data semantics

◆ Current state

spatstat.geom holds the spatial data structures and geometric operations the rest of the spatstat family builds on — windows, tessellations, images, point patterns and the operations that move between them. Recent releases split their attention between extending those structures to three dimensions and hardening the discretisation code where polygonal geometry meets a pixel grid. 3.8-2 adds more capabilities for three-dimensional point patterns.

◆ Where it's heading

Two threads run through this window. The first is a family-wide push into 3D that originated in the simulation package and has now reached the geometry layer. The second is a slower semantic change: 3.5-0 introduced missing or unavailable (NA) spatial objects, and 3.6-0 followed with more facilities for handling them, meaning an absent window or image became a representable value rather than an error. Around both, the plotting and discretisation code accretes steadily — nonlinear colour maps, plot backgrounds, transparency control, signed distance transforms, and repeated attention to boundary pixels.

◆ Prediction

Expect the 3D surface here to keep filling in behind the simulation package rather than leading it, given that 3.8-2 follows the 3D simulation release by two months. The entries give no indication that the NA work is finished, since it has already spanned two releases.

Alternatives to mapSpain and spatstat.geom

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 mapSpain or spatstat.geom.

See all mapSpain alternatives → · See all spatstat.geom alternatives →

Recent activity from mapSpain and spatstat.geom

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

  1. 20d agospatstat.geomMore three-dimensional point pattern capabilities
  2. 1mo agomapSpainInternal helper refactor with the public API held fixed
  3. 2mo agospatstat.geomBetter boundary pixel handling when discretising windows
  4. 4mo agomapSpainQuery timeout becomes configurable
  5. 6mo agospatstat.geomAnalytic level sets and signed distance transforms
  6. 7mo agomapSpain1.0.0 rebuilds on httr2 and invalidates every cache
  7. 10mo agospatstat.geomNA object handling extended; clickpoly gains grid snapping
  8. 1y agospatstat.geomNA spatial objects, hole removal and connected components
  9. 1y agospatstat.geomNonlinear colour and symbol maps; half-open quadrat tiles
  10. 1y agomapSpainComarcas and simplified INE geometries added
  11. 1y agomapSpainComarca types split across four official sources
  12. 1y agomapSpainAdapted to the SIANE 2024 databases

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between mapSpain and spatstat.geom?

Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. spatstat.geom is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is mapSpain better than spatstat.geom?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. spatstat.geom is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to mapSpain?

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

What are the best alternatives to spatstat.geom?

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