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Comparison · Infra & APIs

fastpos vs hereR

A side-by-side editorial comparison of fastpos and hereR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

fastpos vs hereR: at a glance

FeaturefastposhereR
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themessimulation, correlation, sample-size, rcppgeospatial, routing, api-client, r-package
Last editorial update1d ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is fastpos?

Dormant three years, then a two-line release nobody using it would notice

fastpos finds the critical point of stability for a Pearson correlation, a simulation problem whose C++ implementation is the entire reason the package exists. Its substantive work concluded in 2022 with 0.5.0, the release prepared during R Journal review, which renamed the precision parameters, moved multicore work to pbapply and let users set corridor limits directly. After three years of silence, 0.6.0 removes an internal restriction to cpp11 and changes index_pop to an integer.

Read the full fastpos trajectory →

What is hereR?

An R client for HERE's location APIs, shaped almost entirely by what the vendor exposes next.

hereR wraps HERE's routing, isoline, traffic, weather and geocoding endpoints for R, returning sf objects. Development is steady and reactive: each release either adopts a transport mode, parameter or API version HERE has newly made available, or corrects a rate limit that was producing 429 errors in practice. The current release adds speed-limit control and five more isoline transport modes.

Read the full hereR trajectory →

fastpos vs hereR: editorial side-by-side

F
fastpos
INFRA · APIS
0.0

Dormant three years, then a two-line release nobody using it would notice

◆ Current state

fastpos finds the critical point of stability for a Pearson correlation, a simulation problem whose C++ implementation is the entire reason the package exists. Its substantive work concluded in 2022 with 0.5.0, the release prepared during R Journal review, which renamed the precision parameters, moved multicore work to pbapply and let users set corridor limits directly. After three years of silence, 0.6.0 removes an internal restriction to cpp11 and changes index_pop to an integer.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a finished piece of research software in low-effort upkeep. The changelog's centre of gravity is the R Journal review process, and once that concluded the package stopped changing. The single release since is toolchain work of the kind that keeps a package compiling rather than anything a user would see.

◆ Prediction

Expect nothing beyond occasional compilation or CRAN-check fixes unless the accompanying paper draws requests for other correlation types or resampling schemes.

H
hereR
INFRA · APIS
0.0

An R client for HERE's location APIs, shaped almost entirely by what the vendor exposes next.

◆ Current state

hereR wraps HERE's routing, isoline, traffic, weather and geocoding endpoints for R, returning sf objects. Development is steady and reactive: each release either adopts a transport mode, parameter or API version HERE has newly made available, or corrects a rate limit that was producing 429 errors in practice. The current release adds speed-limit control and five more isoline transport modes.

◆ Where it's heading

Two threads run through the whole history. One is coverage — new modes, tolls and currency, arrival times, speed limits — arriving in the package shortly after they appear in HERE's API. The other is defensive operational tuning, with request rates repeatedly lowered below HERE's documented limits because the documented limits do not hold up. 1.0.0 was the one moment the package had to move rather than choose, migrating traffic to v7 and weather to v3 and breaking three functions' output in the process.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release to enable whatever HERE exposes next in routing or isolines, and to keep adjusting request rates empirically; the package's own design appears settled.

Alternatives to fastpos and hereR

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 fastpos or hereR.

See all fastpos alternatives → · See all hereR alternatives →

Recent activity from fastpos and hereR

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 10mo agofastposcpp11 restriction removed; index_pop now an integer
  2. 1y agohereRSpeed limits and five more isoline transport modes
  3. 1y agohereRPedestrian consumption model dropped; route request rate lowered
  4. 2y agohereRTraffic v7 and Weather v3 migration breaks three functions
  5. 3y agohereRResubmission after CRAN archival over an undeliverable email
  6. 4y agofastposMulticore fix for pbmcapply; Windows limited to one core
  7. 4y agofastposR Journal review release: renamed precision parameters, manual corridor limits
  8. 4y agohereRToll costs and currency selection arrive in routing
  9. 4y agohereRArrival-time routing enabled; failed requests report their endpoint
  10. 5y agofastposMore informative test failures; interactive-only progress bars
  11. 6y agofastposMulticore support via the future package
  12. 6y agofastposExact-rho population generation and C++ progress bar fixes

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between fastpos and hereR?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. fastpos and hereR 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 fastpos better than hereR?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. fastpos and hereR 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to fastpos?

Top fastpos alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fastpos alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fastpos for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to hereR?

Top hereR alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "hereR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/herer for the full list with editorial commentary on each.