fastfocal: Fast Multi-scale Raster Extraction and Moving Window Analysis with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in R
fastfocal provides high-performance, flexible raster
smoothing and extraction functions in R using moving windows,
buffer-based zones, and an auto-switching FFT backend for large kernels.
It supports multiple focal statistics and allows users to work at
multiple spatial scales with ease.
Once accepted on CRAN, you will be able to install the stable release with:
install.packages("fastfocal")Until then, you can install the development version from GitHub:
# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("hoyiwan/fastfocal")This package includes:
fastfocal() — fast moving-window smoothing with support
for mean, sum, min, max, sd, and medianfastextract() — fast extraction of raster values at
point or buffer locationsfastfocal_weights() — utility for generating spatial
weight matrices (circular, Gaussian, etc.)terra
backendterra::SpatRaster and
terra::SpatVector objectslibrary(fastfocal)
library(terra)
# Create a dummy raster
r <- rast(nrows = 100, ncols = 100, xmin = 0, xmax = 3000, ymin = 0, ymax = 3000)
values(r) <- runif(ncell(r))
# Apply fast focal smoothing with circular window of radius 300
smoothed <- fastfocal(r, d = 300, w = "circle", fun = "mean")
# Plot the result
plot(smoothed)Weighted extraction at points:
# Create SpatVector of points
pts <- vect(data.frame(x = c(500, 1500), y = c(500, 2500)), geom = c("x", "y"), crs = crs(r))
# Extract raster values in 500 m buffers around points
result <- fastextract(r, pts, d = 500, fun = "mean")
print(result)You can also access them from R using:
vignette("index", package = "fastfocal")This package is licensed under the MIT License (see the LICENSE file).
If you use fastfocal in published work, please cite it
as:
Ho Yi Wan (2025). fastfocal: A fast, energy-efficient R package for focal raster operations. Version v0.1.1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17074691
Or use the BibTeX entry:
@software{wan_fastfocal_2025,
author = {Ho Yi Wan},
title = {fastfocal: A fast, energy-efficient R package for focal raster operations},
version = {v0.1.3},
year = {2025},
publisher = {Zenodo},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.17074691},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17074691}
}You can also run:
citation("fastfocal")Ho Yi Wan
hoyiwan@gmail.com
Built to support large-scale ecological analysis, high-performance raster processing, and reproducible landscape research workflows.