rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
rgbif vs tidyposterior
A side-by-side editorial comparison of rgbif and tidyposterior — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
rgbif vs tidyposterior: 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 tidyposterior?
A finished Bayesian model-comparison package in pure maintenance mode
tidyposterior compares model performance using Bayesian resampling analysis, and it reached its intended shape years ago. Every release since 1.0.0 has been maintenance: a broken test under R-devel, a maintainer email change, and most recently compatibility with an upcoming ggplot2 release plus the base-pipe transition. The substantive API decisions — autoplot() over ggplot() methods, tibble returns from contrast_models() — were settled in the 0.x series.
rgbif vs tidyposterior: 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.
tidyposterior
0.0ANALYTICS
A finished Bayesian model-comparison package in pure maintenance mode
◆ Current state
tidyposterior compares model performance using Bayesian resampling analysis, and it reached its intended shape years ago. Every release since 1.0.0 has been maintenance: a broken test under R-devel, a maintainer email change, and most recently compatibility with an upcoming ggplot2 release plus the base-pipe transition. The substantive API decisions — autoplot() over ggplot() methods, tibble returns from contrast_models() — were settled in the 0.x series.
◆ Where it's heading
The package tracks its dependencies rather than developing on its own line, and the dependencies do the moving: rstanarm API changes, dplyr 1.0.0, testthat 3e, ggplot2. Its integration surface widened once, when perf_mod() gained methods for tuning parameter objects from tune, finetune, and workflowsets, and has been stable since. This is what a completed package in an active ecosystem looks like.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to be triggered by an upstream change rather than by anything tidyposterior wants to do differently.
Alternatives to rgbif and tidyposterior
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 tidyposterior.
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 tidyposterior alternatives →
Recent activity from rgbif and tidyposterior
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 agotidyposteriortidyposterior 1.0.1.9000 prepares for an upcoming ggplot2 release
- 1y agorgbifrgbif 3.8.2 resolves download DOIs to keys
- 1y agorgbifrgbif 3.8.1 adds SQL-based occurrence downloads ⚡
- 2y agorgbifrgbif 3.8.0 soft-deprecates occ_data(), adds download describe
- 2y agotidyposteriortidyposterior 1.0.1 fixes a test broken under R-devel
- 4y agotidyposteriortidyposterior 1.0.0 modernizes internals to pivot_longer and testthat 3e
- 5y agotidyposteriortidyposterior 0.1.0 adds perf_mod() methods for tune and workflowsets
- 6y agotidyposteriortidyposterior 0.0.3 returns tibbles and adds a formula override
- 7y agotidyposteriortidyposterior 0.0.2 removes example RData files for CRAN
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rgbif and tidyposterior?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. rgbif and tidyposterior 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 tidyposterior?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. rgbif and tidyposterior 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 tidyposterior?
Top tidyposterior alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tidyposterior alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tidyposterior for the full list with editorial commentary on each.