rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
osmdata vs rvest
A side-by-side editorial comparison of osmdata and rvest — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
osmdata vs rvest: at a glance
What is osmdata?
osmdata keeps tightening its Overpass query surface, breaking small things to get types right.
The last two releases are the substantive ones. 0.4.0 lets `getbb()` resolve OSM relations via Wikidata ids, adds `filter_osm_user()` to Overpass query objects, and corrects metadata typing so timestamps are POSIXct rather than locale-dependent strings. 0.3.0 dropped the re-exported magrittr pipe, raised the R floor to 4.1 for the base pipe, and fixed polygon output to follow the OGC simple-features model instead of treating every ring as an independent polygon. Earlier entries are CRAN repairs and query-construction fixes.
What is rvest?
rvest grew a real browser, turning a static scraper into a dynamic one.
rvest is the tidyverse's HTML scraping package. The 1.0.0 line rebuilt table parsing to mimic how browsers actually read tables, and 1.0.4 added read_html_live(), which drives a headless browser so JavaScript-rendered pages can be scraped at all. 1.0.5 is consolidation on that newer path.
osmdata vs rvest: editorial side-by-side
osmdata
0.0ANALYTICS
osmdata keeps tightening its Overpass query surface, breaking small things to get types right.
◆ Current state
The last two releases are the substantive ones. 0.4.0 lets `getbb()` resolve OSM relations via Wikidata ids, adds `filter_osm_user()` to Overpass query objects, and corrects metadata typing so timestamps are POSIXct rather than locale-dependent strings. 0.3.0 dropped the re-exported magrittr pipe, raised the R floor to 4.1 for the base pipe, and fixed polygon output to follow the OGC simple-features model instead of treating every ring as an independent polygon. Earlier entries are CRAN repairs and query-construction fixes.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern is deliberate correctness work: each release accepts a small breaking change to make returned objects match the standard they claim to follow, whether that is OGC polygon structure, POSIXct timestamps, or UTF-8 metadata columns. Alongside it, the Overpass query builder keeps gaining filters — by area, by out type, by osm_types, now by user and via Wikidata. The package is maturing rather than expanding.
◆ Prediction
More Overpass filter and query-object composition helpers are the likeliest next additions, since that is where both recent releases put their new surface.
rvest
0.0ANALYTICS
rvest grew a real browser, turning a static scraper into a dynamic one.
◆ Current state
rvest is the tidyverse's HTML scraping package. The 1.0.0 line rebuilt table parsing to mimic how browsers actually read tables, and 1.0.4 added read_html_live(), which drives a headless browser so JavaScript-rendered pages can be scraped at all. 1.0.5 is consolidation on that newer path.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has split into two modes: fast static parsing for ordinary documents, and a live browser session for client-rendered ones. Recent effort concentrates on hardening the live path, where page navigation and interaction bugs surface that never existed in static parsing.
◆ Prediction
Expect further fixes and documentation around read_html_live() as more scraping targets move rendering to the client.
Alternatives to osmdata and rvest
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 osmdata or rvest.
writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
See all osmdata alternatives → · See all rvest alternatives →
Recent activity from osmdata and rvest
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoosmdataosmdata 0.4.0
- 11mo agorvestrvest 1.0.5 fixes stale nodes after click navigation in LiveHTML
- 11mo agoosmdataosmdata 0.3.0
- 2y agorvestrvest 1.0.4 scrapes JavaScript pages via a live browser session ⚡
- 2y agoosmdataosmdata 0.2.5 resubmitted after CRAN removal
- 3y agoosmdataosmdata 0.2.3 fixes test broken by sp deprecation
- 3y agoosmdataosmdata 0.2.2 adds out:csv queries and centre coordinates
- 3y agoosmdataosmdata 0.2.1 deprecates nodes_only, fixes memory leaks
- 3y agorvestrvest 1.0.3 re-documents to fix .Rd HTML issues
- 4y agorvestrvest 1.0.2 returns empty tibbles for empty tables
- 5y agorvestrvest 1.0.1 parses blank rowspan and colspan as 1
- 5y agorvestrvest 1.0.0 rewrites table parsing to match browser behaviour
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between osmdata and rvest?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. osmdata and rvest 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 osmdata better than rvest?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. osmdata and rvest 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 osmdata?
Top osmdata alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "osmdata alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/osmdata for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rvest?
Top rvest alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rvest alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rvest for the full list with editorial commentary on each.