Input & Graphics
Introduction
The main Ranges panel allows you to open and visualize existing Ranges files, create new files, import text files, modify file contents and export files. Note that the options modify, export and save only become available after a file has been opened using open, new or import. The data tables for files are editable (with the exception of edge files), and the map display is mouse sensitive allowing selection and creation of locations and vector points as well as zooming.
Open
Use this to open existing Ranges format files, allowing you to visualize the data, edit data points, modify file attributes and export to text files.
On pressing the open button, the file filter will show files of any Ranges type. List specific Ranges file types using the Files of type drop down. Location files contain the locations of animals whereas the Vector files and Raster files are two different ways of storing maps. Location files contain location data in groups which may represent individuals or ranges, and have the potential to store associated information on both the locations and the groups. Vector files store point information which may define points, lines or shapes. Raster files contain grid based data, where each cell in the grid is represented by a value, usually representing a habitat. Edge files store the coordinates of home-range shapes generated in location analyses they cannot be edited but may be exported. For edge files, if you hold the pointer over the filename a description of the analysis used to create the analysis will be displayed. Utilisation files are created in location analyses and contain the areas of range cores at 5% intervals (e.g. for convex polygons), if you select Utilisation files (providing there is *.uti & *.edg file with the same prefix), a utilisation plot will be displayed. Incremental files are also created in location analyses and contain the areas of ranges created from sub-samples of locations, starting from the first three and finishing with the entire set (e.g. for clusters). Opening them here will display the location file and corresponding Incremental plots. Ranges Image files are images aligned for display with other map files. RADA files contain the output of a resource area dependency analysis. Survival files contain dates and fate data for use with Kaplan Meier analysis; this analysis outputs Kaplan Meier Survival graph files.
See File types for more details on the difference between these.
On clicking Open, the file will be opened in the panel. Depending on the type, the left-hand column tables will populated with data, a map will be shown and a chart will be displayed in a new window.
New
Use New to create new Location, Vector or Raster map or Survival files, either by entering data directly from the keyboard or by copying and pasting from another application such as a spreadsheet or word processor. Vector files can be added to using the right mouse button for on-screen digitising. Before entering the data itself, you will have to enter attribute information that will be used in the creation of the file.
Location file
You will be prompted to enter location file parameters. This allows you to determine the attributes of the file to be created, including the age and sex labels, the number of location-qualifying variables (LQVs), map scale and tracking resolution and UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system) ellipsoid and zone data to place the data in a latitude-longitude system. Location file attributes are explained here. After OK is pressed, a file with a single range and no locations is created. Refer to ‘Data tables’ for details on how to add data to this minimal file.
Vector file
You will be prompted to set vector file attributes (more details here). This determines the attributes of the file to be created, including whether it is a point, line or shape file, UTM data, the scale and the number, name and colour of vector map categories. After OK is pressed, an empty file is created, you may add to this using on-screen digitising or other methods outlined in ‘Data tables’.
Raster file
You will be prompted to set raster file attributes (more details here). This determines the attributes of the file to be created, including its size, edge coordinates, habitat names and colours. After OK is pressed, an empty file is created Refer to ‘Data tables’ for details on how to add data to the file.
Survival file
Survival files do not contain any map data. You will only be prompted to choose age and sex labels.
Import
On pressing the import button, you will be prompted to choose between the following import file types:
- Location file from column text file
- Vector map from column text file
- Vector map from ArcView shapefile
- Location file from ArcView points shapefile
- Raster map from ArcInfo ASCII Grid format
- Raster map from Idrisi ASCII format
- Image file from JPEG/GIF/PNG/BMP
- Survival file from Ranges location file
Location file from column text file
Use this to import a text column file, as exported from a spreadsheet, into a Ranges location file. The minimum requirement is a file with two columns, one containing coordinate eastings and the other containing coordinate northings. Files may also contain columns specifying range attribute variables such as ID, age, sex, month, year and focal site coordinates (such as a nest) and up to 50 location-qualifying variables (LQVs). So a typical file to be imported could start like this:
| ID | Age | Sex | Month | Year | FocalE | FocalN | E | N | lqv1 | lqv2 |
| A456 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 02 | 1003 | 586 | 1000 | 500 | 2 | 5 |
| A456 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 02 | 1003 | 586 | 1052 | 510 | 3 | 10 |
| A456 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 02 | 1003 | 586 | 1068 | 513 | 2 | 6 |
| A456 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 02 | 1003 | 586 | 1009 | 525 | 0 | 5 |
| B563-2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 02 | 987 | 556 | 972 | 583 | 3 | 15 |
| B563-2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 02 | 987 | 556 | 988 | 532 | 4 | 2 |
| B563-2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 02 | 987 | 556 | 955 | 551 | 9 | 7 |
| B563-2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 02 | 987 | 556 | 997 | 533 | 2 | 5 |
Try exporting and re-importing a location file to see how the data is assessed. You can look at the exported file in a text editor or spreadsheet such as notepad or excel.
The first prompt is to choose a file for importing. Initially, only files with a .txt extension will be displayed; however, you can alter the Files of Type choice box at the bottom of the dialog to display all files.
Once you have chosen a file, providing that it is in an appropriate format, an import screen will appear. This will display the first 10 lines of the file to be imported, so that you can select which data are in which columns and set other attributes of the location file to be created. If the first row of data is the table header information, check the Header Row checkbox so that ranges does not attempt to import this as data. The Input Data Summary will reflect this,
Ranges is unable to use non-Cartesian coordinate systems. If the location data are latitude/longitude coordinates, you can convert these to metres in the UTM coordinate system by selecting latitude-longitude to utm in the Coordinate System Conversion list then selecting a Reference Ellipsoid, usually WGS84 but it will depend on your coordinate capturing device,
Set the Scale of Coordinates which is the number of metres a coordinate value of 1 represents and the Tracking Resolution which is important for drawing boundary strips around calculated ranges. A value of 10 is an appropriate resolution in most situations.
- TODO Nest centre in locations
Click OK to import the data. You will be prompted for a folder and file name for the new Ranges location file. Once saved, the data will be displayed in the Data Tables and on the Map Display.
Vector map from column text file
Use this to import a text column file, as from a spreadsheet, into a Ranges vector file. The minimum requirement is a file with two columns, one containing coordinate eastings and the other containing coordinate northings. Files may also contain columns specifying ID, label and colour information.
Each ID can only have one label and colour, the one associated with the first coordinates with a particular ‘No.’ will be used.
Holes and other secondary polygons (for shapes) should be separated from the primary polygon by a blank row (blank rows are not needed between the primary polygons themselves). Holes should have an ID which is the negative of that of the primary polygon (and secondary polygons should have the same ID as the primary polygon).
The file below would import as one shape with a hole and another shape that fills the hole:
| E | N | Id | Label |
| 0 | 4 | 7 | habitat1 |
| 4 | 4 | 7 | habitat1 |
| 4 | 0 | 7 | habitat1 |
| 0 | 4 | 7 | habitat1 |
| 2 | 3 | -7 | habitat1 |
| 3 | 3 | -7 | habitat1 |
| 3 | 2 | -7 | habitat1 |
| 2 | 3 | -7 | habitat1 |
| 2 | 3 | 10 | habitat2 |
| 3 | 3 | 10 | habitat2 |
| 3 | 2 | 10 | habitat2 |
| 2 | 3 | 10 | habitat2 |
For shapes the polygons should close by repeating the first coordinate as above.
The first prompt is to choose a file for importing. Initially only files with a .txt extension will be displayed. However, you can alter the Files of Type choice box at the bottom of the dialog to display all files.
Once you have chosen a file, providing that it is in an appropriate format an import screen will appear. This will display the first 10 lines of the file to be imported, so that you can select which data are in which columns and set other attributes of the vector file to be created.
Input Data Summary
The table at the top of the import vector window displays the first 10 lines of the file. If it detects that the first value in the first column is not a number it assumes that the first row is a header row and uses it to add titles to each column. The header row can be switched on and off using the tick box at the top right. The data in this table is not editable, but allows you to check what values are in which columns.
Attribute Mapping
On the middle left of the window there are 5 choice boxes with titles E, N, ID, Label, Colour. The selections you make in these boxes will determine which columns in the input file the vector data will be obtained from. If the file has a header row, the choice boxes will contain the column titles, if not they will contain the column numbers. Using an input file with a header row reduces the risk of importing the wrong columns.
All of the choice boxes, with the exception of E and N, have absent as the last option. This is used to indicate that the file does not contain any data for that attribute. The absent option is not available for E and N as it would be meaningless to create a vector file lacking one or both coordinates.
The ID determines which point group, line or shape that row of data will be read into. Data with the same ID need not be adjacent.
Category label and colour are variables associated with a particular point group, line or shape. The program assigns the label and colour obtained from the first coordinate of each ID. It does NOT check whether the label and colour assigned for subsequent coordinates with the same ID are the same as the first.
Finally choose the vector file type, point, line or shape, from the list and set the Scale of Coordinates which is the number of metres a coordinate value of 1 represents.
Click OK to import the data. You will be prompted for a folder and file name for the new Ranges location file. Once saved, the data will be displayed in the Data Tables and on the Map Display. The file is not saved in Ranges format until the Save button is pressed.
Vector map from ArcView shapefile
Use this to import an ArcView shapefile to a Ranges vector file. Note: to reverse the process see export, but note that the data format will be changed such that whilst the location and areas of shapes will remain the same the shapefile produced will not be identical to the original.
The following shapefile types are supported: point, polyline, polygon and multipoint. Point and multipoint files are imported as Ranges vector points, polyline files as vector lines and polygon files as vector shapes. The modify button can be used to convert between these formats after import.
Choose category column
ArcView shapefiles consist of 3 files with the suffixes .shp, .shx and .dbf. If the .dbf file is not present the points will be imported with no attribute information. If the .dbf file is present you will be presented with a choice box, allowing you to choose which column to get the habitat labels from (note that if the attribute fields in the shapefile contain spaces these are replaced by '_' ). You probably want to choose the field/column that contains the habitat information; in shapefiles that are exported from Ranges this field is called Label. If you choose ID as the category column each shape will be put into a separate category.
Polygon and polyline details
In polygon and polyline shapefiles, multiple parts (shapes or lines) can be stored in a single record. In contrast, Ranges vector files contain a single shape or line for each record; this conversion takes place during the import process.
Location file from ArcView points shapefile
Use this to import an ArcView point or multipoint shapefile to a Ranges location file.
The coordinates from the *.shp file, and any attribute information from the *.dbf file are displayed in an import locations window, allowing you to choose which fields to import.
Raster map from ArcInfo ASCII Grid format
Use this to import a gridascii file into a Ranges raster file. A gridascii file is a text file that can be exported from ArcView and other GIS packages. Alternatively it can be created in a spreadsheet or text editor.
To export a gridascii file from ArcView, choose File...Export data source. When you Select export file type to be ASCII Raster and you will be prompted to choose a Grid file. You can first convert an ArcView shapefile to a Grid file by choosing Theme...Convert to Grid.
A gridascii file needs to have a header in the following format :
| ncols | 200 |
| ncols | 200 |
| nrows | 200 |
| xllcorner | 392000 |
| yllcorner | 89000 |
| cellsize | 25 |
| NODATA_value | -9999 |
ncols and nrows specify the number of columns and rows. xllcorner and yllcorner specify the minimum eastings and northings. cellsize specifies the number of coordinate units per cell. NODATA_value specifies the value that indicates there is no data for that cell.
This can easily be seen by exporting buzzard\buzmap.rst and looking at the exported file in a text editor. However, please be aware that viewing text files in some text editors may add hidden characters to the file which may make the file unsuitable for re-importing.
Following the header, the cell data needs to be in rows separated by line feeds. Within rows, values should be separated by spaces.
Once you have chosen a gridascii file, Ranges will read the data and display with a screen offering options to set raster file attributes. This is the same screen that you will see when creating a raster file from scratch using new or modifying an existing raster file using modify. Large raster files, in excess of a million cells, will take a while to import, for more details see raster files.
Raster map from Idrisi ASCII format
Export a raster map from idrisi choosing the ascii option and it will create two files one .rst and the other .rdc or .doc (depending which version of Idrisi you have). To import to Ranges select the .rst file and Ranges will automatically look for the associated file. Be careful that Idrisi and Ranges raster files have the same extension (.rst) but are not in the same format, so make sure that you don’t overwrite one with the other.
Once you have chosen an Idrisi raster file, Ranges will read the data and present you with a screen offering options to set raster file attributes. This is the same screen that you will see when creating a raster file from scratch using ‘new’ or modifying an existing raster file using ‘modify’.
Image file from JPEG/GIF/PNG/BMP
Images can be loaded as backgrounds in Ranges with other file type data displayed in the foreground. In order for the image to aligned properly, a Ranges image file, .ima, containing the alignment data needs to be created by importing a jpeg, gif, png or bitmap file.
To import the image, select the file; it will be loaded in to the alignment tool. As for the main map display, yuo can pan and zoom around the image using the controls in the top right, you can zoom to an area by right click and dragging to create the area and you can zoom in and out of a point in the image using the mouse wheel or equivalent.
Alignment requires that four points, A, B, C and D, on image correspond to points in the real world. These points are entered into the grid in the top right. Image Coords are pixel position with 0,0 being the top left of the image and World Coordinates are the position in metres of these points in the world (note that in the northern hemispere, eastings will be lower at the bottom of the image. You can type directly into the grid to set these.
The image coordinates are indicated by orange flags on the image. The flags can be dragged around the image as an alternative way of specifying image coordinates. By default the image coordinates, and the flags, are in the four corners of the image.
Once the alignment coordinates are defined, click OK to save the image file and to show it on the Map Display. It is more usefully loaded as the Background.
Survival file from Ranges location file
Survival files require more range qualifying variables than lcoation files but do not contain any location data. They can be created from existing location files by simply selecting the .loc file to import from.
If the location file has date definitions as LQVs these dates will be used to define the start date and end date of each range in the survival file. If they do not exist, the start date will use the month and year from the range labels and you will need to fill out the remaining date details.
Survival data also requires a fate code for each animal; this is not imported but must be input manually. Once imported, the data will be displayed in the Data Tables.
Modify
You can modify locations, edges, vectors, rasters, images and survival files. Click modify with the location file loaded to display the file settings for editing. Note that modified files are not saved until the save button is clicked.
Sampling locations and edges
Generally it is useful to have all the data in the file, so that any corrections can be made in one place. However, there are times when subsets of the data are being repeatedly run, so rather than make those choices all the time it is better to create a file of just that subset. Additionally, using a subset can reduce analysis time.
To create a subset, click Sample on the modify window. This will allow you to select a subsample of your data by its attributes (e.g. age, sex, time, activity), and to save this to a file with a new name. The selection frame allows you to select ranges, cores and locations depending on the file type. When you click OK, you will first be prompted for a new filename; it is important to save the new file under a different name to avoid losing the original data.
Random subsampling locations
There are also times when you may not want to use an entire location dataset, e.g. to avoid autocorrelation (TODO link to Autorcorrelation) or to investigate how much the analyses are affected by the number of locations. Use the Random Subsampling section, where you can determine the percentage of locations to select, or specify a particular number of locations to use and specify if you want a minimum time between each location. Press the OK button once the appropriate choices have been entered.
Merging location and edge files
Merge a second file with the one that is loaded by clicking the Merge button on the modify window. Location files can only be merged if they have the same number of age and sex labels, have the same scale, tracking resolution and have the same number of location qualifier variables. Edge files need to have the cores too. When you click OK, you will be prompted for a new filename; it is important to save the new file under a different name to avoid losing the original data.
Export
You can export the active file to a chosen file type by clicking export.
Location files
Text file
Exports the location file to a plain text file in column format. For each location there are seven columns specifying the range attributes, two columns for the location coordinates and as many columns as there are location qualifying variables (LQVs).
The column headings will be as follows :
| Id | Age | Sex | Month | Year | FocalE | FocalN | E | N | LQV1 | LQV2 | ... |
ArcView Shapefile
Creates the 3 files that make up an ESRI shapefile (.shp, .shx & .dbf).
Coordinates will be multiplied by the scale parameter to convert them to metres.
Text file for display in Excel
Creates a text file in a format for display in Excel. In the resulting CSV (comma separated variable) file, each range has two columns, for the easting and northing; these columns are headed with a string containing the range labels.
KML
Creates a KML (Keyhole Markup Language) file containing the location data. KML files can be displayed in third party applications such as Google Earth.
Vector files
Text file
This exports the vector file to a plain text file in column format. For each coordinate pair there are five columns.
| E | N | ID | Label | Colour |
where E and N are the coordinates, ID is the identity of the feature (point group, line or shape) to which the coordinates belong, Label is the habitat label for the feature and Colour is the colour for the feature (in shorthand hexadecimal RGB)
ArcView Shapefile
This creates the three files that make up an Esri ArcView shapefile (.shp, .shx & .dbf).
Coordinates will be multiplied by the vector scale parameter to convert them to metres.
Text file for display in Excel
Creates a text file in a format for display in Excel. In the resulting CSV (comma separated variable) file, each shape has two columns, for the easting and northing; these columns are headed with a string containing the shape labels.
Raster files
This exports raster files in gridascii format (see import raster for details) that can be imported to Esri software.
Edge files
ArcView Shapefile Polyline
Creates the three files that make up an Esri ArcView polyline shapefile (.shp, .shx & .dbf). In ArcView polyline files, shapes are displayed as unfilled lines. Coordinates will be multiplied by the scale parameter from the location file that they were derived to convert them to metres.
ArcView Shapefile Polyline - 1 per range
As in the previous option, but creates one shapefile for each range in your edge file. This can be useful if you want to choose which ranges to display within ArcView. A warning message is generated because this could create a very large number of files if your edge file has lots of ranges. The filenames will be based on the name you choose with _r[range_num] added to each, e.g. if you chose the name fox.shp, the files would be named fox_r0.shp, fox_r1.shp, fox_r2.shp etc. Any existing files with the same names will be overwritten without prompting.
ArcView Shapefile Polygon
Creates the 3 files that make up an Esri ArcView polygon shapefile (.shp, .shx & .dbf). In ArcView polygon files, shapes are displayed as filled polygons. Coordinates will be multiplied by the scale parameter from the location file that they were derived to convert them to metres.
Text file for display in Excel
Creates a text file in a format for display in Excel. In the resulting CSV (comma separated variable) file, each edge has two columns, for the easting and northing; these columns are headed with a string containing the edge labels.
Separate Ranges Edge files - 1 per range
Subdivides your edge file, creating one edge file for each range. (This can be useful for viewing individual ranges against the locations used to produce them within the Input & Graphics display, loading the location file as the primary file, and the individual range edge file as the background file.) A warning message is generated because this could create a very large number of files if your edge file has lots of ranges. The filenames will be based on the name you choose with _r[range_num] added to each, e.g. if you chose the name fox.edg, the files would be named fox_r0.edg, fox_r1.edg, fox_r2.edg etc. Any existing files with the same names will be overwritten without prompting.
Export to KML
Creates a KML (Keyhole Markup Language) file containing the edge polygons. KML files can be displayed in third party applications such as Google Earth.
Survival files
This exports survival file data to a plain text file in column format. For each range pair there are ten columns:
| Id | Age | Sex | StartDay | StartMonth | StartYear | EndDay | EndMonth | EndYear | FateCode
SaveThis saves the active file in Ranges format. You will be prompted with a dialog box allowing you to browse your files, if you enter a filename with no extension then the appropriate file type extension will be added. If you try to overwrite an existing file you will be warned. Data TablesThe two data tables on the left hand side of the Input & Graphics panel, display and allow editing of the currently loaded file. The tables differ according to the file type as follows
The following features are common to each table:
Any editing does not effect the opened file (and is not saved) until the save button is pressed. Location file data tables and incremental plotsViewingWithin location files, locations are grouped into ranges. The upper table displays the attributes of each range. The lower table displays the locations and location qualifying variables (LQVs) for the range that is selected in the upper table. Selecting different rows in the ranges table will cause different sets of locations to be displayed in the locations table. To step through all of the ranges in the file, select the first row in the ranges table and then use the down cursor key to display each range in turn. Locations in the selected range are displayed in blue in the map display. Selecting a row within the locations table will cause that location to be circled red within the map display. Clicking with the SHIFT key held down on a blue location within the map display causes the row associated with that location to be selected (if there are multiple locations at the same point then all of the relevant rows will be selected). EditingData are non-editable if the table cell is grey and editable if the table cell is white. In the ranges table Age, Sex & Month cells have pull down menus with available options, these are activated by a left mouse click. For other editable cells, use the left button of the mouse to click once or twice within the cell and you will be able to add to or delete from the existing cell contents. Click three times and you can overwrite the cell contents. In the locations table, you can use CTRL+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste blocks of data between portions of the table or between the table and a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. Please note, if you wish to copy more than one column you have to select them by moving the cursor right or left, even though that does not alter the look of the cell. In the ranges table use the add button to add a blank range and the delete to remove selected ranges. To add locations, simply type additional locations into the blank cells immediately following the existing locations in the locations table. If data are pasted in the number of rows in the table will increase to accommodate them. Use the delete button to delete selected locations. Incremental area plotsIf you have opened an Incremental file (*.inc, created in location analysis), an incremental plot is displayed in a new window. This allows you to examine how the range area changes as successive locations are added. The plot will display the range that is selected in the upper table; click on rows in the upper table to display other ranges. If the chart window is closed, it can be reopened by clicking on the display button below the locations table. For more details see Incremental area plots. Vector file data tablesViewingIn Vector files, groups of coordinates are stored in a similar way to location files. For points, the upper table displays point groups and the lower table points. For lines, the upper table displays lines and the lower table line vertices. For shapes, the upper table displays shape polygons and the lower table shape vertices. As for location file data, tables changing the row that is selected in the upper table changes which data are displayed in the lower table. The selected point group, line or shape is displayed in blue in the map display. Selecting a row in the upper table will highlight the point, line or shape by circling it in black within the map display. Selecting a row within the points, line vertices or shape vertices table will cause that location to be circled red. Clicking on a blue location within the map display causes the row associated with that point, line vertex or shape vertex to be selected (if there are multiple features at the same point then all of the relevant rows will be selected). EditingThe upper table (point groups, lines or shapes) contains No., ID and Category columns. No. is not editable. ID is editable but must contain an integer. Category is editable with a pull down list of available categories. Choose modify to add categories . Holes can be added to shapes: first select the shape and click hole. The ID and category of a hole is the same as its shell shape and cannot be edited. Use the add button to create a new feature and delete to remove a feature. The feature will be inserted below the currently selected one. You cannot add a new shape between a hole and its shell. The lower table (points, line vertices or shape vertices) contains the coordinate data. In the locations table, you can use CTRL+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste blocks of data between portions of the table or between the table and a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. Please note, if you wish to copy more than one column you have to select them by moving the cursor right or left, even though that does not alter the look of the cell. Use the delete button to delete selected coordinates. On-screen digitisingYou can add points to the selected point group, line or shape by left-clicking on the map with the CTRL key held down (you are in draw mode when the the cursor over the map becomes a pen. You can remove points from an object, from last to first by right-clicking on the map with the CTRL key held down. For vector files, using the right or middle mouse buttons when the cursor is within the map display will add the corresponding point to the currently selected shape. You can use this to create new vector files by tracing around an existing file loaded as a background. This is a good way of creating a vector shape file that can be used in habitat analyses from an image file (perhaps from a scanned map or aerial photograph). For vector shape files, coordinates should always be added in a clockwise direction. To add a shape that fills a hole, simply add another shape and then copy all the coordinates (CTRL+C) from the table for hole into that for the new shape (CTRL+V). = Raster file data tablesViewingFor Raster files, the upper table contains the map categories and the lower table the raster cell values. Clicking on a cell in the raster cell values table draws a white box at that point in the map display. EditingThe map categories table is not editable; press the modify button to edit attributes of the raster map. The raster cell values table is editable and changes made will be shown in the map display. Use CTRL+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste blocks of data between portions of the table or between the table and a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. Edge file data tables and utilisation plotsViewingFor Edge files, the upper table contains the edge shapes and the lower table the coordinates specifying the edge vertices. Edge file data is not editable. In the upper table, columns ID, Age, Sex, Month and Year are the same as for locations and core displays the core %. Note that a core may contain multiple shapes e.g. following cluster analysis or if there is a hole generated by contouring. In this case subsequent shapes will have the same ID and category. As for location file data tables, changing the row that is selected in the upper table changes which data are displayed in the lower table. The selected edge shape is displayed in blue in the map display. Utilisation plotsIf you have opened an Utilisation file (*.uti, created in location analysis), an incremental plot is displayed in a new window. The plot will display the range that is selected in the upper table; click on rows in the upper table to display other ranges. If the chart window is closed, it can be reopened by clicking on the display button below the locations table. For more details see Incremental area plots. Examination of utilisation plots (Ford & Krumme 1979) provides a method of deciding on the percentage of locations that define a core range. In Ranges, utilisation plots display the area of estimated home range cores at 5% intervals from 20-100%. If there are a few locations far from the range centre, the slope of the plot is initially steep, but becomes shallower when only the core locations remain. This slope discontinuity, if present, is a useful indicator of how many locations constitute the core range. For more details see Range Use Plots. EditingEdge files are not editable in Input & Graphics. RADA file data tablesViewingTODO EditingTODO Edge files are not editable in Input & Graphics. Survival file data tablesViewingTODO EditingTODO Graphs from location analysesOther location analyses produce graphs, e.g. the distance between locations over time. These are also displayed in a new window. The plot will display the range that is selected in the upper table; click on rows in the upper table to display other ranges. If the chart window is closed, it can be reopened by clicking on the display button below the locations table. For more details see Incremental area plots.
The blue fringed box to the right of the Input & Graphics panel is the map display.
This displays the contents of the loaded location, vector or raster file and is sensitive to mouse clicks allowing selection of features and zooming.
Primary Display options can be selected from the choice box immediately below the help button.
Background files can be chosen on the upper right.
Line colour and thickness options for Location and Edge files can be chosen from the top right of the user interface.
To select a pair of coordinates in the map display, you have 2 options : 1 select the row in the lower table 2 double click on the map display (2 will select the closest coordinates from the currently selected range, point group, line or shape and the row containing it in the lower table will be selected, if there are multiple features at the same point then all of the relevant rows will be selected. Note that it is not possible to select coordinates from an un-selected range, point group, line or shape.)
2.91 Display options
For location, vector and edge files a pull down list above the top left of the map display (centre of the Ranges GUI) allows you to select whether to display all of the coordinates in the file or just those in the selected group.
Location Files : display selected … Displays only those features selected in the upper table. display all Displays all ranges or shapes in the file. animate locations by sequence For all ranges, animates locations according to their sequence in the file. Additional animation options are made available at the top right corner of the user interface. animate locations by time For all ranges, animates locations according to time variables stored in the location qualifying variables (lqvs). This option is only offered if appropriate time variables are stored in the file. Additional animation options are made available at the top right corner of the user interface. display selected as path Joins the locations within each selected range into a path.
Edge files : display selected … Displays only those features selected in the upper table. display 1st selected range Displays all of the cores from the range selected in the upper table. The first selected core% is displayed in blue and others in black. If more than one range is selected, those after the first are displayed in grey. display cores same as 1st selected Displays all the cores for all ranges that have the same value as the first selected one. e.g. if the first selected core is 50%, then the 50% cores for all ranges will be shown. display all Displays all ranges or shapes in the file.
Vector map files : display selected … Displays only those features selected in the upper table. display all, selection colours Displays all ranges or shapes in the file. Selected coordinates in red, selected ranges in blue, others in black. display all, range or category colours For vector files colours are obtained from the file itself (and can be altered using the modify button). For location and edge files a single colour is applied for each range from a set colour scheme. The map display is scaled to the whole file.
2.92 Line colour and thickness (available just for location and edge files) There are two choice boxes, the left one determines colour and the right one line thickness. If one of the location animation options above is chosen then two further choice boxes appear allowing animation attributes to be set. Colour options : selection : red=selected locations, blue=selected ranges or shapes, black=others black : all shown in black pale : all shown in light grey sex : red=F, blue=M, black=? pale sex : pink=F, cyan=M, light grey=? range : coloured according to range number, 24 potential colours age : 12 potential colours range month : 12 colours, spring green, summer red, autumn purple, winter blue range year : 24 colours lqv … : the option to colour locations by any of the Location Qualifying Variables in the file. If an LQV is chosen containing HH (hour) data then the colour scheme is set for 24 hours (morning green, midday red, afternoon purple, night blue, midnight nearly black). If not then a colour scheme of 24 colours is used.
Thickness : Determines the thickness of lines and symbols in numbers of pixels. Note that thicker lines can take longer to display, if you have a large file using thicker lines screen refreshing may take a few seconds. Animation attributes : Two choice boxes, the upper one contains numbers and determines the number of locations displayed at one time, the lower one controls the speed of the animation.
2.93 Zoom Control Press the left mouse button and drag within the map display to create a box, when you release the mouse button this area will be enlarged to fill the map display. Press ‘Zoom out’ to return to a display of the whole map.
2.94 Background map or file If you tick the check box in the top right hand corner of the Input & Graphics panel you will be able to browse your files to choose a background map. Any Ranges spatial file can be used as a background (location, edge, vector, raster), or you can choose an image file (jpg, gif or png). Ranges raster maps, vector shape files and images will be displayed in colour, other files will be displayed in grey. (The only limitation is that a raster map cannot be used as a background for another raster map).
The file will not be visible if it does not have any features within the region covered by the file loaded for editing. It may be difficult to see the primary file if the colours in a background raster map or vector shape file are dark. You can create a paler version of map files by opening them as the primary file, and pressing modify to change the colours.
Background maps can be used to compare range edges to the locations they were created from, or for comparing range edges created by different methods.
image files (jpg, gif or png) as backgrounds The first time that you choose an in image file as a background you will prompted to enter the coordinates of the image edges. These coordinates must be in the same units as the foreground file. You will not have to enter them when loading the file again. Ranges saves the corner coordinates in a text file with the same prefix as the image file and the suffix ‘.corners’. If you wish to change these you can edit the corners file directly, or can delete it and Ranges will prompt you for the corner coordinates when you open the image file. selected only in background This option is available for edge and location files and allows you to display just those parts of the background file relating to the currently selected range. For example if you open an edge file as the primary file and the location file used to create it as the background, then choose ‘display 1st selected range’, tick ‘selected only in background’, you will be able to scroll down through the range edges, and see just the locations used to create each. Similarly you can load an edge file created by a different method as the background, and look at the differences for each range in turn. (This is the default option following location analyses that create edge files, however it only becomes visible if the two files contain the same number of ranges, so will not be available if you used range selections in the creation of your edge file). just show map within ranges This option is available for edge files with a raster or vector shape background map. When ticked only those areas of habitat within the ranges are displayed. This is the default option following analysis of ‘habitat in ranges’.
2.95 Print The print button above the map display will copy what is currently displayed in the window to the windows clipboard (allowing you to paste it directly into MS Word or Powerpoint) and then offer you the option of also sending to your printer. Zoom in and out and change the display options and background maps to alter what is printed (see Instructions for Printing).
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