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, export and save files. 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 a .uti and .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.

Setting Include Nest/Focal Site In Locations means that the coordinates for the range defined by FocalE and FocalN will be used in the analyses.

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|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 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 and .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 and .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 and .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 and .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

Save

This 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 Tables

The 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

File Type	Top Table	Bottom Table
location	ranges	locations
vector points	point groups	points
vector lines	lines	line vertices
vector shapes	shapes	shape vertices
raster	map categories	raster cell values
edge	edge shapes	edge vertices
utilisation	edge shapes	edge vertices
incremental	ranges	locations
image	-	-
RADA	RADA habitat cores	-
survival	survival ranges	-
Kaplan Meier survival graph	-	-

The following features are common to each table:

• column widths can be changed by clicking and dragging in the header row
• white cells are editable grey cells are not
• click 3 times in editable cells to overwrite, twice to add.
• multiple rows can be selected by using Ctrl click, or shift click to select a series

Any editing does not effect the opened file (and is not saved) until the save button is pressed.

Location file data tables and incremental plots

Viewing

Within 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).

Editing

Data are non-editable if the table cell is grey and editable if the table cell is white. In the ranges table Age, Sex and 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 plots

If 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 tables

Viewing

For 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).

Editing

The 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 boundary 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 digitising

You 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 tables

Viewing

For 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.

Editing

The 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 plots

Viewing

For 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 plots

If 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 Utilisation 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.

Editing

Edge files are not editable in Input & Graphics.

RADA file data tables

Viewing

RADA files contain the output of RADA analyses. There is a row in the top table for each habitat for each core specified in the analysis. See RADA analysis for more details of this table.

Clicking on a row in the table will display the RADA plot for that habitat core. If the plot is hidden, open it again by clicking the display button below the table.

Editing

RADA files are not editable.

Survival file data tables

Viewing

Survival files contain survival data for Kaplan Meier analysis. There is a row in the top table for each survival record, usually for each animal. As well as ID, Sex and Age labels used to identify the animal there are labels for the tagging Start Date and End Date as well as the Fate Code.

Editing

The survival data are editable. In the ranges table Age, Sex, the Month cells and Fate Code 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.

Graphs from location analyses

Other 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.

Map Display

The Map Display is on the right of the window. The size of the window can be changed relative to the Data Tables panel by click on the dividing bar between them and dragging it to the left and right.

The panel displays the contents of the loaded location, vector or raster file and is sensitive to mouse clicks allowing selection of features, zooming and drawing of vector objects.

Display options can be selected from the pull down boxes at the top of the panel.

Background files can be chosen by clicking open on the upper right.

Colour options for Location and Edge files can be chosen from the range colours drop down in the top right.

Panning and zooming

Controls in the top left of the Map Display control the panning and zooming.

The arrow keys allow panning up down left and right but the easiest way to position the map is to hold down the left mouse button and drag the map.

Buttons in the top left allow zooming in and out and zoom to fit, fitting both foregrounds and background to the Map Display panel. You can also zoom to selection by holding the right mouse button down and dragging right and down to draw a red rectangle; when you release the mouse button, panel will be filled with the contents of the rectangle. Finally, zoom quickly in and out to the mouse cursor using the mouse scroll wheel or its equivalent.

Point selection

You can select a point in the map display in two ways:

• select the row in the lower table of the Data Tables panel
• left click the mouse on the map display while holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard.

This second option will select the closest point to the click in the currently selected range; the point group, line or shape and the row containing it in the lower table will be highlighted. 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.

Focal points and range centres

Focal points such as Nests, defined by FocalE and FocalN for the range are indicated by an x on the map. Ranges centres, calculated during polygon-building location analyses are marked with a +.

Display options

For location, vector and edge files, a pull down list at the top of the map display allows you to select whether to display all of the coordinates in the file or just those in the selected group. The options are dependent on the file type.

Location Files

Display options for location files are as follows:

Option	Function
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	Animates the map for all ranges, animates locations according to their sequence in the file. Additional animation options are made available at the top of the map display panel.
animate locations by time	Animates the map 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.
display all as paths	Joins the locations within each range into a path and displays them all.

Edge files

Display options for edge files are as follows:

display all || Displays all ranges or shapes in the file.

Option	Function
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.

Vector map files

Display options for vector files are as follows:

Option	Function
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	Displays all the shapes in the colours defined in the file (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.

Line colour

Line colour is only available for location and edge files. Colour options are as follows:

Option	Colour
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.

Animation attributes

Two option boxes control the animation, the first determines the number of locations displayed at one time, the second controls the speed of the animation.

Background maps

Any Ranges spatial file can be used as a background (location, edge, vector, raster or image). Ranges raster maps, vector shape files and images will be displayed in colour, other files will be displayed in grey. Note that a raster map cannot be used as a background for another raster map.

Open the background by clicking the open button in the Background panel and selecting a file. The background can be removed with the close button.

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.

Background opacity

This option box allows you to choose how bright a background map should be displayed. There are four options: full displays the map with its full colours, faded and faint display it progressively fainter and hide hides the background altogether.

Background selected only

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.

Background clipping

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’.

Map snapshots

The map image can be copied to the clipboard or saved as an image file. To do this, size the Map Display panel to the size you require the image by dragging the main window borders and the central divider into position then click Save map button (with a picture of a floppy disk). An option window will appear allowing you to select to copy to the clipboard (for pasting into a Word document or elsewhere) or to save to an image file, PNG, JPEG, GIF or bitmap. PNG (portable network graphics) files have the best quality to size ratio. If you chose to save as a file you will be prompted to provide a file name. You can also chose to remove the scale bar from the image (all other Map Display furniture such as the option boxes and zoom/pan controls will be removed from the image).