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Comparison · Analytics
pedprobr vs spsurvey
A side-by-side editorial comparison of pedprobr and spsurvey — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
pedprobr vs spsurvey: at a glance
What is pedprobr?
pedprobr is the likelihood engine, and it keeps finding ways to compute what it previously could not.
pedprobr computes pedigree likelihoods for the ped suite. Version 1.1.0 updated its loop handling to match pedtools 2.11.0, including founder and repeated loop breakers, and improved the peeling algorithm with single-child shortcuts and lower memory use. Version 1.0.0 was the other expansion: special lumping lets markers with mutation models that are un-lumpable in the Kemeny-Snell sense be lumped anyway in certain cases, with alleleLimit as a fallback for the rest.
What is spsurvey?
spsurvey has spent four years consolidating after its 5.0.0 rewrite rather than adding to it
spsurvey implements design and analysis for spatially balanced environmental survey samples, the GRTS methodology used in large-scale monitoring programs. The 5.0.0 rewrite is the defining event in its history, and everything in this window is aftercare. 5.6.0 in September 2025 finally removed the startup message warning users about that upgrade, several years on.
pedprobr vs spsurvey: editorial side-by-side
pedprobr
0.0ANALYTICS
pedprobr is the likelihood engine, and it keeps finding ways to compute what it previously could not.
◆ Current state
pedprobr computes pedigree likelihoods for the ped suite. Version 1.1.0 updated its loop handling to match pedtools 2.11.0, including founder and repeated loop breakers, and improved the peeling algorithm with single-child shortcuts and lower memory use. Version 1.0.0 was the other expansion: special lumping lets markers with mutation models that are un-lumpable in the Kemeny-Snell sense be lumped anyway in certain cases, with alleleLimit as a fallback for the rest.
◆ Where it's heading
Every significant release here removes a class of computation that used to be infeasible, either by making a marker lumpable or by making a loop breakable. The rest is steady peeling-algorithm optimization, which has been reducing memory footprint release after release since 0.9.2. The newly added .diagnostics option suggests the peeling internals are now complex enough that the maintainer needs to inspect them.
◆ Prediction
Since special lumping is documented as covering only some cases so far, expect further lumping situations to be implemented as pedmut adds them.
spsurvey
0.0ANALYTICS
spsurvey has spent four years consolidating after its 5.0.0 rewrite rather than adding to it
◆ Current state
spsurvey implements design and analysis for spatially balanced environmental survey samples, the GRTS methodology used in large-scale monitoring programs. The 5.0.0 rewrite is the defining event in its history, and everything in this window is aftercare. 5.6.0 in September 2025 finally removed the startup message warning users about that upgrade, several years on.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction is toward standard R idioms and away from bespoke ones. 5.4.0 introduced sp_frame and sp_design classes so plot() and summary() work directly, keeping sp_plot() and sp_summary() only for backwards compatibility; 5.5.0 moved warnings from cat() to message() so they can be suppressed normally, and added adjwgtNR() for non-response weight adjustment. Documentation is being pushed off CRAN onto the package website, with only the Start Here vignette remaining. Release cadence is slow — five releases across roughly four years.
◆ Prediction
With the migration messaging retired and the class system settled, further releases are likely to stay in maintenance and statistical-detail territory. Nothing in the entries suggests another rewrite.
Alternatives to pedprobr and spsurvey
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 pedprobr or spsurvey.
StreamCatTools
StreamCatTools is quietly moving off web services and onto cloud-native GeoParquet
reproducible
reproducible added a windowed read path so remote GeoTiffs never fully download
qcTAF
qcTAF is building an automated checklist for reproducible fisheries assessments, one criterion at a time
rpymat
After three dormant years, rpymat returned to fix the OpenMP crash that breaks R and conda together
ieegio
ieegio's first release lands electrode trajectory burning and a WebGL-free surface plot
See all pedprobr alternatives → · See all spsurvey alternatives →
Recent activity from pedprobr and spsurvey
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agopedprobrLoop handling updated for pedtools' new loop breakers
- 3mo agospsurveyExample and unit test updates
- 10mo agospsurvey5.0.0 migration warning retired; vignettes moved to the website
- 1y agopedprobrCRAN example rounding fix
- 1y agopedprobrSpecial lumping for previously un-lumpable mutation models
- 1y agopedprobrGenotype distributions gain sparse and table output
- 2y agopedprobrPeeling order bug fix
- 2y agopedprobrPartial genotype fix for singletons
- 2y agospsurveyFixes for revisit_dsgn() panels and empty geometries in grts()/irs()
- 3y agospsurveyadjwgtNR() for non-response weighting; messages moved to message()
- 3y agospsurveyCitation updated to Dumelle et al. (2023)
- 3y agospsurveysp_frame and sp_design classes make plot() and summary() work directly
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between pedprobr and spsurvey?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. pedprobr and spsurvey 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 pedprobr better than spsurvey?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. pedprobr and spsurvey 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 pedprobr?
Top pedprobr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "pedprobr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/pedprobr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to spsurvey?
Top spsurvey alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spsurvey alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spsurvey for the full list with editorial commentary on each.