tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
spatsoc vs Tplyr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of spatsoc and Tplyr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
spatsoc vs Tplyr: at a glance
What is spatsoc?
One maintainer, one or two new collective-motion metrics per release, for two years straight
spatsoc turns animal relocation data into spatial and social groupings — dyads, fission-fusion events, group centroids — and the recent history is a metronomic accretion of collective-motion measures on top of that base. Since late 2024 nearly every release has added one or two: polarization, direction to leader, position along the group axis, directional correlation delay, edge alignment, edge zones. Development is essentially single-handed; almost every merged PR in this window carries the same author.
What is Tplyr?
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
Tplyr builds clinical summary tables through a layered grammar — count, descriptive statistics, and shift layers assembled onto a table object. The 1.0.0 release added a traceability metadata framework that lets a user ask which source rows produced any given cell, and later releases extended it to cases the first pass missed. The package is maintained by Atorus within the pharmaverse ecosystem.
spatsoc vs Tplyr: editorial side-by-side
spatsoc
0.0ANALYTICS
One maintainer, one or two new collective-motion metrics per release, for two years straight
◆ Current state
spatsoc turns animal relocation data into spatial and social groupings — dyads, fission-fusion events, group centroids — and the recent history is a metronomic accretion of collective-motion measures on top of that base. Since late 2024 nearly every release has added one or two: polarization, direction to leader, position along the group axis, directional correlation delay, edge alignment, edge zones. Development is essentially single-handed; almost every merged PR in this window carries the same author.
◆ Where it's heading
The December 2025 release changes register. Alongside three new calc_distance / calc_direction / calc_centroid functions and an internal assertion family, it deprecates the `projection` argument in favour of `crs` and lands a round of checks and tests explicitly staged ahead of a new spatial interface. Read together, that is a package finishing its metric catalogue and starting to rework the coordinate-handling layer underneath it to match modern R-spatial conventions — the same evolution that made it drop its startup warning back in 0.2.7.
◆ Prediction
The next release is likely the spatial-interface rework the 0.2.12 test and assertion work was staged for, with `projection` moving from deprecated to removed. Feature additions should slow while that lands.
Tplyr
0.0ANALYTICS
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
◆ Current state
Tplyr builds clinical summary tables through a layered grammar — count, descriptive statistics, and shift layers assembled onto a table object. The 1.0.0 release added a traceability metadata framework that lets a user ask which source rows produced any given cell, and later releases extended it to cases the first pass missed. The package is maintained by Atorus within the pharmaverse ecosystem.
◆ Where it's heading
Post-1.0 work has been about completing the metadata story and filling gaps in layer composition rather than adding table types — metadata for missing subjects, add_anti_join(), missing-subject rows, data limiting, and fixes to nested count layers where an inner value appears under several outer groups. Releases cluster tightly after a major version, then go quiet, and the window ends with a patch issued days after the release it corrects.
◆ Prediction
Further releases will most likely continue closing traceability and nested-layer edge cases rather than introducing new layer types, following the pattern of both post-1.0 feature releases.
Alternatives to spatsoc and Tplyr
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 spatsoc or Tplyr.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
See all spatsoc alternatives → · See all Tplyr alternatives →
Recent activity from spatsoc and Tplyr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 8mo agospatsoccalc_* functions added; projection deprecated ahead of a spatial rework
- 10mo agospatsocEdge zones and edge direction added; centroid NA handling fixed
- 11mo agospatsocEdge alignment metric added
- 1y agospatsocLeader edge delay added; units dependency moves to a CRAN release
- 1y agospatsocDirectional correlation delay added; longlat direction bug fixed
- 1y agospatsocLeadership and group-axis position measures added
- 2y agoTplyrMissing-subject metadata, add_anti_join(), and nested-layer fixes
- 3y agoTplyrMetadata vignette fix and parenthesis hugging
- 3y agoTplyrDenominator logic fix ahead of CRAN release
- 3y agoTplyrReverse-dependency fix
- 3y agoTplyr1.0.0 introduces the traceability metadata framework ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between spatsoc and Tplyr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. spatsoc and Tplyr 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 spatsoc better than Tplyr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. spatsoc and Tplyr 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 spatsoc?
Top spatsoc alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spatsoc alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spatsoc for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Tplyr?
Top Tplyr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Tplyr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tplyr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.