randomwalk
randomwalk spent every release getting an R simulation to run in the browser, not on a server.
Comparison · Analytics
nswgeo vs spEDM
A side-by-side editorial comparison of nswgeo and spEDM — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
nswgeo vs spEDM: at a glance
What is nswgeo?
NSW boundary data for R, refreshed as the official sources move
nswgeo packages New South Wales geographic boundaries for R — suburbs, postcodes, local government areas, Primary Health Networks and Local Health Districts — as ready-to-plot sf datasets. The 0.6.0 release refreshes nearly all of them against new upstream sources, moving postcodes to 2021 ABS boundaries and taking LHD boundaries from a new official feed. It is maintained by cidm-ph alongside the mapping packages that consume it, including ggmapinset.
What is spEDM?
Spatial causal discovery in R, one exposed method per release
spEDM brings empirical dynamic modeling to spatial data — cross mapping, convergent cross mapping and pattern causality over spatial vector and raster inputs, with the numerics in C++ behind S4 generics. The recent releases have exposed geographical pattern causality and spatially convergent partial cross mapping at the R level with vignettes, and 1.12 turns to consolidating the API. It is part of the stscl family alongside the temporal-domain tEDM, with which it shares both its C++ core and its maintainer.
nswgeo vs spEDM: editorial side-by-side
nswgeo
0.0ANALYTICS
NSW boundary data for R, refreshed as the official sources move
◆ Current state
nswgeo packages New South Wales geographic boundaries for R — suburbs, postcodes, local government areas, Primary Health Networks and Local Health Districts — as ready-to-plot sf datasets. The 0.6.0 release refreshes nearly all of them against new upstream sources, moving postcodes to 2021 ABS boundaries and taking LHD boundaries from a new official feed. It is maintained by cidm-ph alongside the mapping packages that consume it, including ggmapinset.
◆ Where it's heading
Every release is dictated by an upstream release calendar rather than a roadmap: the 2023 ASGS, then 2024, then the 2021 ABS postcode boundaries and the new LHD source. That makes field-name churn the package's defining hazard — LGA_NAME_2021 to LGA_NAME_2023 to LGA_NAME_2024, and now lhd_name carrying a Local Health District suffix. The maintainer's habit of registering compatibility aliases through cartographer shows an awareness that these renames break downstream code silently.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to track the following ASGS edition with another round of field renames, and any new content to stay in the health-geography area the package's users work in.
spEDM
0.0ANALYTICS
Spatial causal discovery in R, one exposed method per release
◆ Current state
spEDM brings empirical dynamic modeling to spatial data — cross mapping, convergent cross mapping and pattern causality over spatial vector and raster inputs, with the numerics in C++ behind S4 generics. The recent releases have exposed geographical pattern causality and spatially convergent partial cross mapping at the R level with vignettes, and 1.12 turns to consolidating the API. It is part of the stscl family alongside the temporal-domain tEDM, with which it shares both its C++ core and its maintainer.
◆ Where it's heading
The cadence is steady and predictable: each release surfaces one more EDM method as an R-level API with a vignette, then spends the rest of its notes on parameter-handling consistency across the generics. Breaking changes are frequent and deliberate — argument renames, parameter reordering, NA-handling defaults — which reads as a package still settling its interface while the method surface expands. Shared changes appear in tEDM within days, so interface churn lands on both packages at once.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to expose another causality variant at the R level with an accompanying vignette, and to continue renaming or reordering parameters toward consistency across the spatial and temporal packages.
Alternatives to nswgeo and spEDM
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 nswgeo or spEDM.
fastml
fastml added survival modelling and leakage-proof resampling, moving past classification and regression.
abclass
abclass built out angle-based classifiers in 2022, then went quiet except for CRAN upkeep.
churon
churon is spending its entire release history getting a Rust ONNX binding through CRAN.
firatheme
firatheme woke up after four years and started fixing what ggplot2 changed underneath it.
bagyo
bagyo reached CRAN as a Philippine tropical cyclone dataset, with its tags stamped out of order.
See all nswgeo alternatives → · See all spEDM alternatives →
Recent activity from nswgeo and spEDM
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agospEDMData slicing for large-scale pattern causality, plus API breaks
- 4mo agonswgeoSuburb, postcode, PHN and LHD boundaries all refreshed
- 6mo agospEDMspEDM 1.11
- 6mo agospEDMSpatially convergent partial cross mapping reaches the R API
- 6mo agonswgeonswgeo 0.5.1
- 8mo agospEDMRaster cross mapping with anisotropic embedding
- 11mo agospEDMConfigurable distance metrics and multithreaded distance computation
- 1y agospEDMSpatial logistic map exposed at the R level
- 1y agonswgeoUpdated to the 2024 ASGS release
- 2y agonswgeoTerritories, PHN maps and the outline() helper added
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between nswgeo and spEDM?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. nswgeo and spEDM 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 nswgeo better than spEDM?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. nswgeo and spEDM 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 nswgeo?
Top nswgeo alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "nswgeo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nswgeo for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to spEDM?
Top spEDM alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spEDM alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spedm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.