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Comparison · Analytics
spatstat.random vs textplot
A side-by-side editorial comparison of spatstat.random and textplot — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
spatstat.random vs textplot: at a glance
What is spatstat.random?
spatstat's simulation engine pushes point process generation into three dimensions
spatstat.random generates random point patterns and simulates point process models for the spatstat family. Its recent releases have moved along two lines at once: filling out three-dimensional simulation, and adding conditional simulation to the established cluster process generators. 3.5-1 is a narrow follow-up adding a random Dirichlet-Voronoi tessellation without edge effects.
What is textplot?
A bnosac plotting utility in maintenance mode, shipping once every few years
textplot is the visualisation member of the bnosac NLP family, providing plot methods for dependency parses, biterm topic clusters, co-occurrence graphs, correlation lines and word embeddings. The function surface has been stable since 0.2.0 added textplot_embedding_2d in 2021. The 2026 release touches only documentation links and a vignette guard.
spatstat.random vs textplot: editorial side-by-side
spatstat.random
2.5ANALYTICS
spatstat's simulation engine pushes point process generation into three dimensions
◆ Current state
spatstat.random generates random point patterns and simulates point process models for the spatstat family. Its recent releases have moved along two lines at once: filling out three-dimensional simulation, and adding conditional simulation to the established cluster process generators. 3.5-1 is a narrow follow-up adding a random Dirichlet-Voronoi tessellation without edge effects.
◆ Where it's heading
The clearest arc is dimensional. 3.5-0 carried inhomogeneous Poisson processes, non-uniform random points and Simple Sequential Inhibition into 3D in a single release, and the sibling geometry package followed two months later with more capabilities for three-dimensional point patterns. Alongside that, the generators have been gaining theoretical range — Gaussian random fields in 3.4-4, a new class of theoretical cluster process models and random diffusion in 3.5-0 — while earlier releases concentrated on conditional simulation and efficiency in the existing 2D routines.
◆ Prediction
Expect the 3D work to continue propagating into the model-fitting and geometry packages before spatstat.random adds another dimension-independent generator, since the 3D features here have already begun appearing downstream. The entries do not indicate which estimator gets 3D support next.
textplot
0.0ANALYTICS
A bnosac plotting utility in maintenance mode, shipping once every few years
◆ Current state
textplot is the visualisation member of the bnosac NLP family, providing plot methods for dependency parses, biterm topic clusters, co-occurrence graphs, correlation lines and word embeddings. The function surface has been stable since 0.2.0 added textplot_embedding_2d in 2021. The 2026 release touches only documentation links and a vignette guard.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a settled package, not a developing one. Releases since 0.2.0 have been reactive: a topic-assignment bug, a layout argument, and now cleanup after the archival of a dependency it linked to. The cadence — four years between 0.2.2 and 0.2.3 — tracks CRAN housekeeping on the wider bnosac stack rather than any roadmap of its own.
◆ Prediction
Expect the same pattern: the next release will most likely be another CRAN-compliance pass triggered by a change in udpipe, BTM or another sibling package, rather than a new textplot_* function.
Alternatives to spatstat.random and textplot
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 spatstat.random or textplot.
epikit
epikit narrows to field-epidemiology helpers, handing proportions to a sibling package
SimInf
SimInf 10.0 turns an epidemic simulator into a tool that fits models to real time series
mutagen
A young package porting Stata's egen row-wise helpers to the tidyverse, one function per release
broman
A statistician's personal toolbox, growing one plotting utility at a time
qtl
R/qtl is in pure custodial mode: every recent release answers a compiler, not a user
See all spatstat.random alternatives → · See all textplot alternatives →
Recent activity from spatstat.random and textplot
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 20d agospatstat.randomEdge-effect-free random Dirichlet-Voronoi tessellation
- 2mo agospatstat.randomThree-dimensional point process simulation arrives ⚡
- 6mo agospatstat.randomGaussian random field generation added
- 6mo agotextplotDrop link to archived ggalt, guard vignette model download
- 10mo agospatstat.randomrunifdisc efficiency and fixed-count simulation options
- 1y agospatstat.randomConditional simulation for the cluster process generators
- 1y agospatstat.randomFaster rpoispp for tessellation-defined intensity
- 4y agotextplotDependency-parse plots gain a layout argument
- 4y agotextplotFix biterm topic assignment in cluster plots
- 4y agotextplotAdds 2D embedding plots
- 5y agotextplotMake example conditional on udpipe availability
- 6y agotextplotPlot functions become generic; igraph moved to Suggests
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between spatstat.random and textplot?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. spatstat.random is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is spatstat.random better than textplot?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. spatstat.random is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to spatstat.random?
Top spatstat.random alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spatstat.random alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spatstat-random for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to textplot?
Top textplot alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "textplot alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/textplot for the full list with editorial commentary on each.