goat
A gene-set enrichment package that outgrew its human-only origins, then went quiet.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
stochvol vs usmapdata
A side-by-side editorial comparison of stochvol and usmapdata — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
stochvol vs usmapdata: at a glance
What is stochvol?
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
stochvol runs MCMC for stochastic volatility models, with a C++ sampler underneath an R interface. Five years of releases in this window contain no new models: the work is compiler and dependency compatibility, CRAN check notes, and a steady trickle of corrections to the sampler itself. Its methodological milestone, the Journal of Statistical Software paper, is recorded in a 2021 tag.
What is usmapdata?
usmapdata ships its 2025 shapefiles on the year-indexed model it adopted in 0.4.0.
usmapdata supplies the boundary data behind usmap's plotting functions. Since 0.4.0 it has been year-indexed: us_map(data_year = ) selects a vintage, and each Census release is added as its own year with older ones still reachable. 1.1.0 adds 2025. 1.0.0 closed the package's longest-standing gap by adding Puerto Rico, retroactively across every vintage.
stochvol vs usmapdata: editorial side-by-side
stochvol
0.0INFRA · APIS
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
◆ Current state
stochvol runs MCMC for stochastic volatility models, with a C++ sampler underneath an R interface. Five years of releases in this window contain no new models: the work is compiler and dependency compatibility, CRAN check notes, and a steady trickle of corrections to the sampler itself. Its methodological milestone, the Journal of Statistical Software paper, is recorded in a 2021 tag.
◆ Where it's heading
This is what a finished computational package looks like. The formula interface arrived at 3.1.0 and nothing has been added since; what changes is the ground underneath — RcppArmadillo major versions, UBSan checks, error-handling conventions moving from Rf_error to Rcpp::stop for correct memory management. The recurring pattern worth watching is that several releases fix real errors in the sampler's proposal distributions, found by users and by CRAN's own instrumented checks rather than by the maintainer.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these notes suggests new methodology. Expect the next release when RcppArmadillo or a CRAN check flavour forces one, and treat any bug report against the samplers as the more consequential event.
usmapdata
2.5INFRA · APIS
usmapdata ships its 2025 shapefiles on the year-indexed model it adopted in 0.4.0.
◆ Current state
usmapdata supplies the boundary data behind usmap's plotting functions. Since 0.4.0 it has been year-indexed: us_map(data_year = ) selects a vintage, and each Census release is added as its own year with older ones still reachable. 1.1.0 adds 2025. 1.0.0 closed the package's longest-standing gap by adding Puerto Rico, retroactively across every vintage.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has settled into a predictable rhythm — one shapefile vintage per year, with structural change rare and clustered. The two changes that mattered were data_year in 0.4.0, which turned a single-vintage dataset into a time series, and the tibble-to-data-frame switch in 0.6.0 that reduced what downstream callers have to depend on.
◆ Prediction
The stated policy — each year added going forward, previous years reachable through data_year — points to a 2026 vintage as the next release. Nothing in these notes suggests further change to the data model.
Alternatives to stochvol and usmapdata
Other Infra & APIs 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 stochvol or usmapdata.
rollupTree
The recursive-computation engine under massProps grows the accessors its consumer needed
massProps
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
writeAlizer
Six months of releases and not one of them touched the scoring models
samplr
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
midr
A black-box interpreter reaches CRAN, then learns multi-class and survival responses
See all stochvol alternatives → · See all usmapdata alternatives →
Recent activity from stochvol and usmapdata
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 23d agousmapdata2025 Census shapefiles added
- 5mo agostochvolSampler crash with constant parameters fixed, plus RcppArmadillo 15
- 0y agousmapdataPuerto Rico added across every map vintage
- 1y agostochvolTwo CRAN check notes cleared
- 1y agousmapdataus_map() returns a data frame instead of a tibble
- 1y agousmapdata2024 Census shapefiles added
- 1y agousmapdatadata_year turns the package into a multi-vintage archive ⚡
- 1y agostochvolProposal variance corrected in the centered parameterisation
- 2y agousmapdataMap data moves to 2023 shapefiles
- 2y agostochvolCRAN stochvol 3.2.4
- 2y agostochvolRolling-window indexing and inverse gamma prior validation fixed
- 3y agostochvolCore C++ sampler routines exported for reuse
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between stochvol and usmapdata?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. usmapdata 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 stochvol better than usmapdata?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. usmapdata 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to stochvol?
Top stochvol alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "stochvol alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stochvol for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to usmapdata?
Top usmapdata alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "usmapdata alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/usmapdata for the full list with editorial commentary on each.