dependencies on retiring spatial infrastructure packages

[rsbivand]

You will be aware, for example from:
https://r-spatial.org/r/2022/04/12/evolution.html,
https://r-spatial.org/r/2022/12/14/evolution2.html,
https://r-spatial.org/r/2023/04/10/evolution3.html and
https://rsbivand.github.io/csds_jan23/bivand_csds_ssg_230117.pdf and
perhaps view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlpjIqTPMCA&list=PLzREt6r1NenmWEidssmLm-VO_YmAh4pq9&index=1
that rgdal, rgeos and maptools will be retired this
year, in October 2023.

The package imports 'maptools', 'rgeos', 'rgdal' and pkgapi finds usage of maptools::SpatialLinesMidPoints rgdal::writeOGR rgeos::gArea rgeos::gDifference rgeos::gDistance rgeos::gIntersection rgeos::gLineMerge rgeos::gPointOnSurface rgeos::gTouches rgeos::gUnaryUnion rgeos::gUnion. A good deal of work will be needed to replace these; I think sf and sfnetworks may help, but am unsure whether maptools::SpatialLinesMidPoints can be matched. Please fix best by June, latest October 2023.

[rsbivand]

@FMestre1 Please take urgent steps to resolve this issue. No positive changes appear in the repository. Less than three months remain to retain this package on CRAN. See also https://r-spatial.org/r/2023/05/15/evolution4.html.

[rsbivand]

@FMestre1 Less than three weeks remain to fix this.

[rsbivand]

@FMestre1 R spatial infrastructure packages maptools, rgdal and rgeos will be archived by CRAN on Monday, October 16, 2023. Your package does not pass CMD check when these packages are not available. Expect your package to be archived by CRAN October 17-18 as CRAN checks feed through and your package fails, if not updated by Monday, October 16, 2023.

No grace period is anticipated, as you have had sufficient time to update your package to remove dependencies on maptools, rgdal and/or rgeos.