NEWS

---

spatialrisk 0.8.0.9000

spatialrisk 0.8.0 (2026-05-04)

Main API changes

• Added concentration_hotspot() as the main function for fixed-radius concentration hotspot detection. The function returns a hotspot object with hotspots and contributing_points components.
• Added method = "continuous" as the default method for concentration_hotspot(). It searches for hotspot centres that may lie between observed points, using spatial screening followed by Rcpp pair-intersection refinement. If the local subset exceeds max_refinement_points, it falls back to method = "grid".
• Added method = "observed" to concentration_hotspot(), an experimental Rcpp spatial-indexing alternative that searches observed point locations only.
• Deprecated find_highest_concentration() in favour of concentration_hotspot(). The deprecated function remains available for existing code.
• Renamed the concentration() workflow to radius_sum(), with clearer targets and reference arguments. The old concentration() function remains available as a deprecated compatibility wrapper.
• Renamed radius_sum(display_progress = ) to radius_sum(progress = ) for consistency with concentration_hotspot().
• Renamed points_in_circle() to points_within_radius(). The old function remains available as a deprecated compatibility wrapper.
• Replaced points_to_polygon() with summarise_points_by_polygon(), which more clearly describes joining point data to polygons and summarising a numeric point attribute. The old function remains available as a deprecated compatibility wrapper.
• Renamed plot_points() to map_points(). The old function remains available as a deprecated compatibility wrapper.

Function improvements

• Improved haversine() and the underlying C++ distance calculation by reducing unnecessary operations and adding stricter input checks.
• Improved points_within_radius() validation and handling of multiple centre coordinates.
• Improved radius_sum() validation, output column handling, and C++ prefiltering of incomplete reference rows.
• Updated concentration_hotspot() documentation to clarify that the function uses a grid-based search with local refinement. The search precision is controlled by cell_size and grid_precision.
• concentration_hotspot() now uses progress instead of print_progress. Since this is a new public API, the old argument is not retained there; older deprecated functions still translate their legacy progress arguments.
• Deprecated interpolate_spline() because spline interpolation is outside the main scope of the package. The function remains available for compatibility.

Mapping and visualisation

• Consolidated choropleth mapping around choropleth(), using tmap for both static and interactive output.
• Deprecated choropleth_ggplot2() in favour of choropleth().
• Moved optional visualisation packages such as mapview, tmap, ggplot2, and classInt to Suggests.

Data and documentation

• Reorganised dataset documentation by topic: Dutch spatial boundary data, KNMI stations, insurance example data, and Groningen example addresses.
• Moved knmi_historic_data() to its own function documentation file and improved validation for years, station IDs, progress handling, failed downloads, and temporary-file cleanup.
• Added tests for package dataset schemas and knmi_historic_data() input validation.
• Added a main vignette on fixed-radius concentration analysis in an applied insurance setting.
• Updated the visualisation vignette to use the current choropleth() API.
• Rewrote the README in a more applied, method-oriented style suitable for use alongside an actuarial paper.
• Updated DESCRIPTION with a more specific title and broader package description.
• Centralised small deprecated compatibility wrappers in one file.

spatialrisk 0.7.3 (2025-09-14)

• Updated and improved all function documentation (roxygen2).

spatialrisk 0.7.2 (2025-05-25)

• Introduced find_highest_concentration(): a faster and more accurate alternative to highest_concentration(), leveraging focal statistics for optimal results.
• Deprecated highest_concentration() in favor of the new, improved function.
• Updated plot_points() to utilize mapview::mapview() for enhanced interactive map visualizations.
• Revised the README to reflect these new features and updates.

spatialrisk 0.7.1 (2024-02-21)

• plot_points() now returns a warning when a specific provider tile is not available.

spatialrisk 0.7.0 (2021-11-10)

• neighborhood_gh_search() now returns a more precise outcome when the radius of the circle is not equal to 200m.
• sf::st_crs() is used for sf objects to not show the message that old crs is detected anymore.

spatialrisk 0.6.9 (2021-05-26)

• highest_concentration() now returns correct highest concentration when the circle of the highest concentration overlaps more than one geohash.
• plot.concentration() now handles many lon/lat pairs better.

spatialrisk 0.6.8 (2021-05-18)

• highest_concentration() is added to do a fast search for the coordinates of the highest concentration.
• neighborhood_gh_search() is added to look for even higher concentrations in the neighborhood of the coordinates found by highest_concentration().

spatialrisk 0.6.7 (2020-04-23)

• A package website is added using pkgdown.
• concentration() and points_in_circle() now return error messages when the data does not contain columns for lon and lat.
• concentration() and points_in_circle() have updated documentation.
• haversine() now returns NA when coordinates are missing.

spatialrisk 0.6.6 (2020-03-21)

• points_to_polygon() is updated to keep spatialrisk and a new version of dplyr working together smoothly.

spatialrisk 0.6.5 (2019-11-06)

• knmi_historic_data() and knmi_stations() are added to retrieve data from weather stations in the Netherlands.

spatialrisk 0.6.4 (2019-10-25)

• interpolate_krige() and interpolate_spline() are added for interpolation and smoothing on the sphere.

spatialrisk 0.6.3 (2019-10-18)

• Data sets nl_corop(), nl_gemeente(), nl_postcode1(), nl_postcode2(), nl_postcode3(), nl_postcode4(), and nl_provincie() now contain columns longitude and latitude for the centroid of the polygons.

spatialrisk 0.6.2 (2019-07-29)

• Non UTF-8 character removed from column areaname in data set nl_gemeente().
• In choropleth(), n specifies the number of clusters in a map.
• In data sets nl_corop(), nl_gemeente(), nl_postcode1(), nl_postcode2(), nl_postcode3(), nl_postcode4(), and nl_provincie, column areaname now refers to the region.

spatialrisk 0.6.1 (2019-04-30)

• In points_to_polygon(), outside_print shows the points that are not within any polygon.

spatialrisk 0.6.0 (2019-04-08)

• points_to_polygon() is added.
• Data sets europe_countries() and world_countries() are added.

spatialrisk 0.5.1 (2019-03-01)

• In concentration() the algorithm for testing if a point is inside a circle is updated by testing whether the point is inside a square diamond inside the square.

spatialrisk 0.3.1 (2018-09-12)

• NEWS.md is added to track changes to the package.