Breaking changes
This release introduces breaking changes by discontinuing support for the sp object in favor of sf. Although the sp object is still available on CRAN, it is no longer being actively developed (https://geocompx.org/post/2023/rgdal-retirement/). This is the main reason that prompted the decision to transition to sf.
Here is the list of affected objects that are now returned as Spatial Feature (sf):
| coastline110 | world coastlines from Natural Earth |
|---|---|
| coastline50 | world coastlines from Natural Earth |
| countries110 | world country polygons from Natural Earth |
| countries50 | world country polygons from Natural Earth |
| map_units110 | world map_unit polygons from Natural Earth |
| map_units50 | world map_unit polygons from Natural Earth |
| sovereignty110 | world sovereignty polygons from Natural Earth |
| sovereignty50 | world sovereignty polygons from Natural Earth |
| states50 | state (admin level 1) polygons from Natural Earth |
| tiny_countries110 | tiny countries points from Natural Earth |
| tiny_countries50 | tiny countries points from Natural Earth |
If changing the return type to sf causes too many issues with your existing code, you can still convert it back to sp.