OpenJUMP HoRAE—A free GIS and toolbox for home‐range analysis

Abstract

Abstract Over the past 20 years a set of methods for home‐range estimation and analysis of animal observation data have been developed. Whereas comparisons among the estimation methods and different estimation software are available, only the adehabitat analysis toolbox for R is under a free and open‐source software license and includes established and new home‐range estimation approaches, such as Kernel Density Estimation, Brownian Bridges, and Local Convex Hulls. However, R and adehabitat are command line based, which some may perceive as not very user‐friendly, and provide only a limited set of functions for the analysis of home ranges with environmental geospatial data (e.g., land cover and elevation data). This article presents a free and open‐source home‐range analysis toolbox that focuses on the evaluation of global positioning system collar data, and integrates with a desktop geographic information system to allow data analysis beyond the creation of home ranges. The software is distributed under a free and open‐source license, so research can also benefit from the toolbox because implemented algorithms can be tested directly and improved. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.

Keywords

• GIS
• home range analysis
• kernel density estimation
• movement analysis
• open‐source software