Spatial Database for GPS Wildlife Tracking Data: A Practical Guide to Creating a Data Management System with PostgreSQL/PostGIS and R

by Ferdinando Urbano (Editor), Francesca Cagnacci (Editor)

This book guides animal ecologists, biologists and wildlife and data managers through a step-by-step procedure to build their own advanced software platforms to manage and process wildlife tracking data. This unique, problem-solving-oriented guide focuses on how to extract the most from GPS animal tracking data, while preventing error propagation and optimizing analysis performance. Based on the open source PostgreSQL/PostGIS spatial database, the software platform will allow researchers and managers to integrate and harmonize GPS tracking data together with animal characteristics, environmental data sets, including remote sensing image time series, and other bio-logged data, such as acceleration data. Moreover, the book shows how the powerful R statistical environment can be integrated into the software platform, either connecting the database with R, or embedding the same tools in the database through the PostgreSQL extension Pl/R. The client/server architecture allows users to remotely connect a number of software applications that can be used as a database front end, including GIS software and WebGIS. Each chapter offers a real-world data management and processing problem that is discussed in its biological context; solutions are proposed and exemplified through ad hoc SQL code, progressively exploring the potential of spatial database functions applied to the respective wildlife tracking case. Finally, wildlife tracking management issues are discussed in the increasingly widespread framework of collaborative science and data sharing. GPS animal telemetry data from a real study, freely available online, are used to demonstrate the proposed examples. This book is also suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, if accompanied by the basics of databases.    

280 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2014

Reviews

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found this book incredibly useful as a guide to setting up a data management system for all my GPS data...just as promised! The authors break things down into step-by-step chapters, and you can pick and choose which bits are relevant to your research. However, there is little explanation behind the code sections, which can make it difficult to adjust them to suit my own data/needs. There were also some things that simply didn't work even when run as suggested, and (despite extensive googling) was unable to resolve. It would be nice if there were a forum or something to seek help. Overall, a great, very useful product!