ExMove: An open-source toolkit for processing and exploring animal tracking data in R

Abstract

O_LIOngoing technological advances have led to a rapid increase in the number, type, and scope of animal tracking studies. In response, many software tools have been developed to analyse animal movement data. These tools generally focus on movement modelling, but the steps required to clean raw data files from different tracking devices have been largely ignored. Such pre-processing steps are often time-consuming and involve a steep learning curve but are crucial for the creation of high quality, standardised, and shareable data. Moreover, decisions made at this early stage can substantially influence subsequent analyses, and in the current age of reproducibility crisis, the transparency of this process is vital. C_LIO_LIHere we present an open-access, reproducible toolkit written in the programming language R for processing raw data files into a single cleaned data set for analyses and upload to online tracking databases (found here: https://github.com/ExMove/ExMove). The toolkit comprises well documented and flexible code to facilitate data processing and user understanding, both of which can increase user confidence and improve the uptake of sharing open and reproducible code. Additionally, we provide an overview website (found here: https://exmove.github.io/) and a Shiny app to help users visualise tracking data and assist with parameter determination during data cleaning. C_LIO_LIThe toolkit is generalisable to different data formats and device types, uses modern tidy coding practices, and relies on few well-maintained packages. Amongst these, we perform spatial manipulations using the package sf, providing a timely resource for movement ecologists following the recent deprecation of the widely-used sp package. C_LIO_LIOverall, by collating all required steps from data collection to archiving on open access databases into a single, robust pipeline, our toolkit provides a valuable resource for anyone conducting animal movement analyses and represents an important step towards increased standardisation and reproducibility in animal movement ecology. C_LI