DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14043332
title: GENEActiv accelerometer files collected in Vanuatu during FALAH project (anonymized version - first part)

description: GENEActiv accelerometer .csv and .RData files converted with a 1 second epoch from raw GENEActiv .bin files recorded in Vanuatu during FALAH project. Devices are 60-Hz triaxial accelerometers.

This dataset also contains participantCharacteristics.csv that povides basic information about participants and read_a_binFile_share.R that is a short R code aiming at converting and saving accelerometer data from .bin files in 1 second epoch .csv files (consider the Methods section).

Participant characteristics: 13 to 17 years old students.

Number of participants: 72.

Year of the study: 2023.

Place of the study: Vanuatu.

The accelerometer .csv and .RData files with a 1 second epoch and extracted from raw .bin files are available in the restricted datasets:



anonymized version (first part)

anonymized version (second part)


The accelerometer raw .bin files are available in the restricted datasets:



non-anonymized version (first part)

non-anonymized version (second part)


Other participant characteristics (age, place of living, ...) and responses to questionnaires are available in a restricted non-anonymized dataset.
description: Consent

Before the study, parents were informed about the research project and the study through the home liaison diary. They were aware that they could opt out their children from the study. Similarly, each child / adolescent could signal their refusal or opt out himself / herself at any time (i.e. before, during and after the class intervention) simply by indicating it to the research team.

These data were collected during the European Family farming, lifestyle and health in the Pacific (FALAH) project. The project was first approved by the consultative Ethics committee of New Caledonia (2018-06 001 and 2023-10 012) and the Vanuatu Ministry Of Education and Training. The targeted schools were contacted, and the project was then proposed to the administrative (school Principal) and teaching teams for their acceptance.

Data collection

Data were collected from the 13rd June to 3rd July 2023, from 224 school-going adolescents (13 - 19 years old) during class time. In each school, four classes were chosen to respond to the anonymous questionnaire, which consisted of two parts lasting 45 to 50 minutes each and was carried out in two stages.

About 30 to 40 participants (according to the number of devices available) per school were randomly selected to wear a GENEActiv accelerometer device for 5 to 7 consecutive days, or more. Consenting participants were asked the device for 7 days. When a participant refused to wear the device, another random draw was made. A total of 73 adolescents accepted to wear an accelerometer device.

Data readability, validity and conversion

We were not able to get data from 1 adolescent device because of device or record failure.

Raw data files are readable with common software libraries, like the R package GENEAread as well as with the GENEActiv software.

The current .csv and .RData data files were obtained thanks to the following steps:



Data collection with GENEActiv accelerometer device: data is stored in devices

Data extraction with the GENEActiv software: data is stored in .bin files

Data conversion with the R package GENEAread: consider the code in the read_a_binFile_share.R in the current dataset [reading the file, computing support vector magnitude (SVMg) from x, y and z acceleration, grouping data in 1 second blocs (timestamp: min grouping; x, y and z axes: mean and standard deviation grouping; light and temperature: mean grouping; SVMg: sum grouping)]

Saving the file in .csv and .RData format
description: Description of the files

Accelerometer .csv files

Accelerometer .csv files are conversions from .bin files collected with GENEActiv accelerometer device and extracted with the GENEActiv software. They are 1 second epoch files. Each accelerometer .csv file contains the following columns:

timestamp: start time of the 1 second epochxm: 1 second epoch average of the x accelerationym: 1 second epoch average of the y accelerationzm: 1 second epoch average of the z accelerationlightm: 1 second epoch average of the lighttempm: 1 second epoch average of the temperaturesvmgsum: 1 second epoch sum of the SVMgsdx: 1 second epoch standard deviation of the x accelerationsdy: 1 second epoch standard deviationof the y accelerationsdz: 1 second epoch standard deviationof the z accelerationid: name of the original .bin file

Accelerometer .RData files

.RData files contains a data.frame R object named "resume" that contains the columns previously described.

Code for extraction and conversion

The read_a_binFile_share.R is an example of R code that uses the GENEAread library to extract information from a .bin GENEActiv file, compute the support vector magnitude (SVMg) from x, y and z accelerations, group the information in a 1 second epoch record and save the result in a .csv file.

Participant characteristics

participantCharacteristics.csv file describes the participants with de-identified information. Here are the meaning of the columns:

Participant ID: Participant ID for this studyAge range: Age range of the participant ("Between 14 and 15 inclusive" or "Between 16 and 17 inclusive")Sex: Sex of the participant ("Female" or "Male")GeneActiv file: GENEActiv file (with no extension) associated with the participantStarting Day: Starting day of data collection, i.e. first day the device is wornDay of removal: Day of device removal, i.e. last day the device is wornDOI of the non-anonymized repository: DOI of the repository where is stored the .bin fileDOI of the anonymized repository: DOI of the repository where is stored the accelerometer .csv file