rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
rgbif vs scales
A side-by-side editorial comparison of rgbif and scales — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
rgbif vs scales: at a glance
What is rgbif?
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rgbif ships several times a year and the recent releases cluster around downloads. 3.8.1 added `occ_download_sql()` for SQL-based occurrence downloads; 3.8.2 added DOI-to-download-key resolution and institutionKey downloads; 3.8.3 relayed GBIF's new throttling of bulk paging through `occ_search()` with a message pointing users at `occ_download()`; 3.8.5 added a family of `occ_download_stats_*()` functions plus multiple-taxonomy and verbatim-extension downloads. Alongside that, `name_backbone()` moved to GBIF API v2, and 3.8.0 soft-deprecated `occ_data()`.
What is scales?
scales keeps widening what ggplot2 can put on an axis.
scales supplies the breaks, labels and transformations behind ggplot2's axes and legends. Unlike much of the tidyverse infrastructure around it, it still ships genuine feature work each release: native timespan handling in 1.3.0, then custom range-training classes and label_glue() in 1.4.0.
rgbif vs scales: editorial side-by-side
rgbif
0.0ANALYTICS
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
◆ Current state
rgbif ships several times a year and the recent releases cluster around downloads. 3.8.1 added `occ_download_sql()` for SQL-based occurrence downloads; 3.8.2 added DOI-to-download-key resolution and institutionKey downloads; 3.8.3 relayed GBIF's new throttling of bulk paging through `occ_search()` with a message pointing users at `occ_download()`; 3.8.5 added a family of `occ_download_stats_*()` functions plus multiple-taxonomy and verbatim-extension downloads. Alongside that, `name_backbone()` moved to GBIF API v2, and 3.8.0 soft-deprecated `occ_data()`.
◆ Where it's heading
Two things are happening at once. GBIF is discouraging bulk retrieval through the search API, and rgbif is building out the download path fast enough to absorb the traffic — SQL queries, DOI round-tripping, format description, and now statistics about the downloads themselves. Metadata coverage has expanded in parallel, with a dozen `dataset_*()` functions in 3.7.9 and GRSciColl institution search in 3.8.3. The deprecations are consistent: `occ_data()`, `occ_facet()`, `occ_count(type=)` all retired in favour of narrower replacements.
◆ Prediction
The download surface is where the next additions will land — likely more SQL-download tooling and further statistics endpoints, following 3.8.1 and 3.8.5.
scales
0.0ANALYTICS
scales keeps widening what ggplot2 can put on an axis.
◆ Current state
scales supplies the breaks, labels and transformations behind ggplot2's axes and legends. Unlike much of the tidyverse infrastructure around it, it still ships genuine feature work each release: native timespan handling in 1.3.0, then custom range-training classes and label_glue() in 1.4.0.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs toward extensibility and type coverage. First came built-in support for awkward types like difftime and hms; 1.4.0 inverts that by letting any third-party class participate in range training simply by implementing range() or levels(). Labelling is getting more expressive rather than merely more numerous.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued type-support and labelling work, with extension points that let downstream packages plug in their own classes instead of scales enumerating every one.
Alternatives to rgbif and scales
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 rgbif or scales.
writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
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.
taxize
taxize spends its releases absorbing other people's API changes, one dead source at a time.
See all rgbif alternatives → · See all scales alternatives →
Recent activity from rgbif and scales
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agorgbifrgbif 3.8.5 adds occurrence download statistics functions
- 8mo agorgbifrgbif 3.8.4 moves name matching to GBIF API v2
- 11mo agorgbifrgbif 3.8.3 adds GRSciColl search, relays GBIF paging throttle
- 1y agorgbifrgbif 3.8.2 resolves download DOIs to keys
- 1y agoscalesscales 1.4.0 opens range training to custom classes
- 1y agorgbifrgbif 3.8.1 adds SQL-based occurrence downloads ⚡
- 2y agorgbifrgbif 3.8.0 soft-deprecates occ_data(), adds download describe
- 2y agoscalesscales 1.3.0 makes timespans first-class on axes
- 3y agoscalesscales 1.2.1 re-documents to fix .Rd HTML issues
- 4y agoscalesscales 1.2.0 fixes currency sign order and adds scale_cut
- 6y agoscalesscales 1.1.1 fixes palette inversion and adds oob_keep()
- 6y agoscalesscales 1.1.0 reorganises breaks and labels into a naming scheme
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rgbif and scales?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. rgbif and scales 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 rgbif better than scales?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. rgbif and scales 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 rgbif?
Top rgbif alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rgbif alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rgbif for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to scales?
Top scales alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "scales alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/scales-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.