rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
rotl vs rstanarm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of rotl and rstanarm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
rotl vs rstanarm: at a glance
What is rotl?
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
Nearly every entry concerns `tnrs_match_names()`, the function that maps user-supplied names onto Open Tree taxonomy ids. 3.1.0 changed which taxon wins a multi-way match — highest matching score rather than lowest OTT id, reversing the rule 3.0.4 introduced. 3.0.12 defaulted `context_name` to 'All life' so a context inferred from the first name could not silently skew later ones. 3.0.11 made a total failure to match return an empty tibble with a warning instead of an error. The rest are small fixes tracking Open Tree API changes.
What is rstanarm?
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
2.32.2 is entirely infrastructure and dependency work: formula machinery migrated from lme4 to reformulas, `r_eff` no longer computed for loo by default, the Stan R packages repo replaced by R-Universe, rstantools adopted to fix build and export errors, and CRAN NOTE cleanups — contributed largely by four first-time contributors. 2.32.1 and 2.26.1 follow the same pattern, tracking rstan syntax and adding `posterior::as_draws()` support. The last release with substantive modelling content is 2.21.1, which changed how default priors are determined and flipped `autoscale` to FALSE outside default priors.
rotl vs rstanarm: editorial side-by-side
rotl
0.0ANALYTICS
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
◆ Current state
Nearly every entry concerns `tnrs_match_names()`, the function that maps user-supplied names onto Open Tree taxonomy ids. 3.1.0 changed which taxon wins a multi-way match — highest matching score rather than lowest OTT id, reversing the rule 3.0.4 introduced. 3.0.12 defaulted `context_name` to 'All life' so a context inferred from the first name could not silently skew later ones. 3.0.11 made a total failure to match return an empty tibble with a warning instead of an error. The rest are small fixes tracking Open Tree API changes.
◆ Where it's heading
The recurring problem is ambiguity: names match several taxa, and the package has changed its tie-breaking rule twice while making failures and edge cases return predictable objects rather than errors. Nothing here expands what rotl can retrieve; it makes what it retrieves reproducible. The feed also stops in mid-2023, so the package appears dormant.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in the window suggests new capability. If a release comes, the pattern says it will follow an Open Tree API change or another matching-behaviour correction.
rstanarm
0.0ANALYTICS
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
◆ Current state
2.32.2 is entirely infrastructure and dependency work: formula machinery migrated from lme4 to reformulas, `r_eff` no longer computed for loo by default, the Stan R packages repo replaced by R-Universe, rstantools adopted to fix build and export errors, and CRAN NOTE cleanups — contributed largely by four first-time contributors. 2.32.1 and 2.26.1 follow the same pattern, tracking rstan syntax and adding `posterior::as_draws()` support. The last release with substantive modelling content is 2.21.1, which changed how default priors are determined and flipped `autoscale` to FALSE outside default priors.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has moved from feature development into ecosystem maintenance, and the contributor list shows why it survives: outside developers keep it compiling against a moving Stan, lme4 and CRAN. The `as_draws()` support and the reformulas migration both point the same way — rstanarm increasingly consumes shared infrastructure (posterior, reformulas, rstantools) instead of carrying its own.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to track another upstream change — rstan, reformulas or CRAN policy — rather than add model families. The pre-fit model surface looks settled.
Alternatives to rotl and rstanarm
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 rotl or rstanarm.
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.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
taxize
taxize spends its releases absorbing other people's API changes, one dead source at a time.
osmdata
osmdata keeps tightening its Overpass query surface, breaking small things to get types right.
See all rotl alternatives → · See all rstanarm alternatives →
Recent activity from rotl and rstanarm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 10mo agorstanarmrstanarm 2.32.2 migrates formula machinery to reformulas
- 2y agorstanarmrstanarm 2.32.1 fixes unit_vector error, enables LTO
- 2y agorstanarmrstanarm 2.26.1 adopts new rstan syntax and as_draws()
- 3y agorotlrotl 3.1.0 matches on score instead of lowest OTT id
- 4y agorstanarmrstanarm 2.21.3 fixes loo() and adds stan_jm offsets
- 4y agorotlrotl 3.0.12 defaults matching context to All life
- 5y agorotlrotl 3.0.11 returns empty tibble when no names match
- 6y agorstanarmrstanarm 2.21.1 changes default prior behaviour
- 6y agorotlrotl 3.0.10 tracks Open Tree API updates
- 7y agorotlrotl 3.0.9 tracks Open Tree API updates
- 7y agorotlrotl 3.0.7 updates vignette for TNRS endpoint change
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between rotl and rstanarm?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. rotl and rstanarm 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 rotl better than rstanarm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. rotl and rstanarm 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 rotl?
Top rotl alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rotl alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rotl for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rstanarm?
Top rstanarm alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rstanarm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rstanarm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.