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Comparison · Infra & APIs
OpenLand vs sps
A side-by-side editorial comparison of OpenLand and sps — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
OpenLand vs sps: at a glance
What is OpenLand?
Land-change analysis in R that has spent six years defending one download link.
OpenLand computes land use and cover change metrics from raster time series, including the full intensity analysis framework of Aldwaik and Pontius. The method surface has not moved since the 1.0.0 release in 2020; the four releases since are entirely about surviving CRAN checks and the fragility of fetching its example dataset from Zenodo. The most recent one stops examples from leaving downloaded data in the user's persistent cache directory.
What is sps?
sps keeps sanding down sequential Poisson sampling rather than adding to it.
The package implements sequential Poisson sampling for survey design, covering inclusion probabilities, proportional allocation, replicate weights, and take-all strata. Recent releases are small and tightly scoped: a divisor method helper, an iterator that draws a sample one unit at a time, automatic selection of the replicate-weight parameter, and repeated performance work on inclusion probability calculation.
OpenLand vs sps: editorial side-by-side
OpenLand
0.0INFRA · APIS
Land-change analysis in R that has spent six years defending one download link.
◆ Current state
OpenLand computes land use and cover change metrics from raster time series, including the full intensity analysis framework of Aldwaik and Pontius. The method surface has not moved since the 1.0.0 release in 2020; the four releases since are entirely about surviving CRAN checks and the fragility of fetching its example dataset from Zenodo. The most recent one stops examples from leaving downloaded data in the user's persistent cache directory.
◆ Where it's heading
Two forces shape every release here: an external data dependency the package cannot control, and upstream churn in the tidyverse. The Zenodo-hosted SaoLourencoBasin dataset has now been the subject of three separate releases — failing gracefully when unreachable, loading through a helper with informative errors, and finally writing to temporary files instead of the cache. The other recurring cost is dplyr, most recently the removal of dplyr::changes() forcing a global-variable declaration. Actual analytical work is rare: the one substantive fix in the window was a memory allocation failure in contingencyTable() on rasters spanning many years or large areas.
◆ Prediction
The entries give no sign of new metrics or methods in progress, so the next release will most likely be another compatibility or CRAN-check response rather than a feature.
sps
2.5INFRA · APIS
sps keeps sanding down sequential Poisson sampling rather than adding to it.
◆ Current state
The package implements sequential Poisson sampling for survey design, covering inclusion probabilities, proportional allocation, replicate weights, and take-all strata. Recent releases are small and tightly scoped: a divisor method helper, an iterator that draws a sample one unit at a time, automatic selection of the replicate-weight parameter, and repeated performance work on inclusion probability calculation.
◆ Where it's heading
Development is consolidation rather than expansion. Most releases either speed up an existing routine or remove a decision the user previously had to make by hand, such as picking the smallest parameter that keeps replicate weights non-negative. Documentation and tooling get comparable attention to the algorithms, with a dedicated vignette on inclusion probabilities and a recent switch of test and documentation infrastructure. The API surface has been essentially stable across the window.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued small ergonomic and performance releases against the existing function set rather than new sampling designs, which is the pattern every release in this window follows.
Alternatives to OpenLand and sps
Other Infra & APIs 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 OpenLand or sps.
forestploter
A forest plot package that keeps handing users control of one more graphical detail.
ggInterval
Interval-valued data plotting, spending 2026 making its function names and examples survive CRAN.
rgm
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
contagionchannels
Three releases in ten days, every one of them a CRAN reviewer's correction rather than a code change.
tidyaudit
Pipeline provenance for tidyverse workflows, recording what changed at each step without keeping the data.
See all OpenLand alternatives → · See all sps alternatives →
Recent activity from OpenLand and sps
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agospsDocumentation polish; switches to tinytest and litedown
- 1mo agoOpenLandExamples write downloads to temp files, not the user cache
- 1mo agoOpenLandCompatibility with dplyr after changes() removal; safer dataset loading
- 9mo agospsFixes extra argument handling in sps_iterator()
- 0y agospsAdds divisor_method() and a one-unit-at-a-time sampling iterator
- 1y agospsAdds an inclusion-probability vignette and faster partial sorting
- 1y agospsAutomatic tau selection for replicate weights
- 2y agoOpenLandPlot unit test repaired after a ggplot change
- 2y agospsAdds becomes_ta() for take-all stratum sample sizes
- 4y agoOpenLandMemory allocation failure fixed for large multi-year rasters
- 6y agoOpenLandFirst release: LUCC metrics and full intensity analysis ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between OpenLand and sps?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. sps 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 OpenLand better than sps?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. sps 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to OpenLand?
Top OpenLand alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "OpenLand alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/openland for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to sps?
Top sps alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "sps alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/sps for the full list with editorial commentary on each.