Difference between revisions of "Anatrack Ranges User Guide"

Latest revision as of 07:11, 29 April 2015

Ranges is a comprehensive system for viewing, editing and analysing spatial location data. The current version is Ranges 9.

Introduction

The Ranges suite of software has been evolving since the early 1980s, not merely as a convenient way to analyse the extensive data that can be gathered from radio-tagged, and increasingly gps-tagged, animals, but also to assist planning that makes the effort of data-gathering as efficient as possible. Early versions were written for the BBC micro but Ranges now has Windows and Apple Macintosh interfaces to help you to set up and run analyses.

Ranges includes comprehesive tools to allow you to input, view and export your animal location data. Not only does it have a long list of location analyses for estimating home range outlines but also supports analyses of how these outlines overlap and the dynamic interaction of location records with those of other animals or of sites that are important for feeding or sociality. It allows you to investigate availability and use of habitat in different ways and more recently adds modelling techniques to its tool box.

New Features

Ranges 9 includes

• Resource Area Dependence analysis
• Kaplan-Meier Survival analysis
• An up-to-date look with a more user-friendly interface but without loosing the familiar Ranges feel
• Better data and map split positioning on screen with an adjustable divider to optimise space for each
• Map rendering improvements: both faster and with fewer artefacts
• Improved map furniture: coordinates, scale bar, zoom and pan controls, etc.
• Zoom to selection with right mouse button
• Zoom in and out to cursor with mouse scroll button
• Ability to create locations and vector points with CTRL + left mouse click, remove from the end with CTRL + right mouse click
• Improved data charts for utilization and incremental files, autocorrelation & interlocation analyses with axis-scaling, and better labels & headings
• Ability to make map backgrounds paler to improve visibility of foreground material
• Faster file loading
• Huge file handling including large location files from GPS devices and large raster maps
• Importing locations in latitidue-longitude format
• Exporting to KML using lat-lng
• Location file merging; edge file sampling and merging
• Display locations and analysis maps on Google Maps
• Save maps and plots to image file
• Range overlap analysis map output

For new features added to each version of Ranges see: New Features

Installing Ranges

Ranges can be installed and run without purchasing a licence. Until it is licensed it will run in demo mode.

To install Ranges:

1. Install the latest version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). To do this, download the version suitable for your operating system here:

https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

2. Install Ranges by downloading and running the version suitable for your operating system from:

http://www.anatrack.com/download_ranges.php

Uninstall Windows Ranges through the Control Panel...Programs and Mac Ranges by deleting the folder in Programs.

Licensing Ranges

To unlock and use the analyses in Ranges, you must purchase a licence depending on whether the software is to be used by only you (Single User licence) or by a number of people in the same organisation (Site licence).

Single User licences allows Ranges to be installed on two computers, e.g. for use on one in a lab and another in the field, provided both computers are not to be used at the same time.

A Site licence allows Ranges to be installed on up to ten computers. If you need to install Ranges on more than ten computers, please contact us.

Licences can be purchased here:

http://www.anatrack.com/buy_ranges.php

after which we will supply a licence key.

Once you have a licence key and have installed Ranges, navigate to the Ranges folder in Anatrack Ltd in your applications folder. Click on the License Ranges shortcut and follow the instructions on screen. When prompted enter the licence number.

Using Ranges

An overview of Ranges functionality with links to more detailed descriptions of analyses and features can be found here: Ranges Overview

If you are new to Ranges, please work through the tutorial.

Citing Ranges

Please use the following citation in publications:

Kenward, R.E., Casey, N.M., Walls, S.S. & South A.B. (2014) Ranges9 : For the analysis of tracking and location data. Online manual. Anatrack Ltd. Wareham, UK.

Offline Support

If you will be using Ranges where you do not have access to the Internet, this support wiki can be downloaded to your computer here:

http://www.anatrack.myzen.co.uk/Ranges9/Anatrack_Ranges9_Support.zip

To use it, unzip it to a suitable location, keeping the folder structure as it is. The wiki pages are accessed through

<InstallationFolder>\Anatrack Ranges 9 Support\ranges_support.html