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Comparison · Analytics
parallelDist vs spatstat.geom
A side-by-side editorial comparison of parallelDist and spatstat.geom — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
parallelDist vs spatstat.geom: at a glance
What is parallelDist?
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
parallelDist computes distance matrices across threads in C++ via RcppParallel and Armadillo. The feature set has been settled since 0.2.3 in 2018, which added hamming distance and cosine similarity; everything after that is compatibility work. The most recent release, 0.2.7, exists only to drop a C++11 pin that newer Armadillo versions no longer tolerate.
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.
parallelDist vs spatstat.geom: editorial side-by-side
parallelDist
0.0ANALYTICS
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
◆ Current state
parallelDist computes distance matrices across threads in C++ via RcppParallel and Armadillo. The feature set has been settled since 0.2.3 in 2018, which added hamming distance and cosine similarity; everything after that is compatibility work. The most recent release, 0.2.7, exists only to drop a C++11 pin that newer Armadillo versions no longer tolerate.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being kept installable, not developed. The three most recent releases are a toolchain pin removal, a DESCRIPTION field removal, and a coercion change inherited from proxy — none originate from user-facing intent. Gaps of three to four years between releases are the norm now, and each one is triggered by something upstream breaking rather than by a roadmap.
◆ Prediction
The next release will almost certainly be another compatibility fix timed to whatever Armadillo, Rcpp or CRAN check policy changes next. Nothing in the entries points to new distance measures or API work.
spatstat.geom
2.5ANALYTICS
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 parallelDist 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 parallelDist or spatstat.geom.
geodist
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
errors
errors keeps making uncertainty print the way each scientific field expects.
CMAQ
CMAQ went global in v5.5, and has been patching that surface ever since.
enpls
enpls has not changed its statistics since 2016 — only its website, twice.
grex
grex is a lookup table with a version number — it ships when the annotation moves.
See all parallelDist alternatives → · See all spatstat.geom alternatives →
Recent activity from parallelDist and spatstat.geom
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 20d agospatstat.geomMore three-dimensional point pattern capabilities
- 2mo agospatstat.geomBetter boundary pixel handling when discretising windows
- 6mo agospatstat.geomAnalytic level sets and signed distance transforms
- 10mo agospatstat.geomNA object handling extended; clickpoly gains grid snapping
- 10mo agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.7 drops the C++11 pin for newer Armadillo
- 1y agospatstat.geomNA spatial objects, hole removal and connected components
- 1y agospatstat.geomNonlinear colour and symbol maps; half-open quadrat tiles
- 4y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.6: LazyData removed, vignette font swapped
- 4y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.5 changes cosine distance to 1-x
- 7y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.4 fixes the Solaris build
- 7y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.3 adds hamming and cosine measures
- 7y agoparallelDistparallelDist 0.2.2
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between parallelDist and spatstat.geom?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. 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 parallelDist 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 parallelDist?
Top parallelDist alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "parallelDist alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/paralleldist 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.