Source: https://www.movebank.org/node/2381
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 13:31:21+00:00

Document:
The following are definitions of terms used in Movebank to describe individual measurements, reference data (information describing animals, tags, deployments), and studies in Movebank. If you would like to add additional attributes to your data in Movebank that you don't see here, you can request additions to this list by selecting Request Attribute from the upload interface and filling out the form that appears or contacting us at support@movebank.org.
The following terms are used to describe individual studies in Movebank.
study name: The name of the study in Movebank.
contact person: The Movebank user who is the contact for the study.
principal investigator: The principal investigator (PI) or lead researcher for the study. This can be a Movebank user, or information for non-registered PIs or multiple PIs can be provided manually.
citation: One or more citations for the study. Include citations for published papers or reports describing the data in the study. If the data have not been published, an "unpublished data" or "in progress" citation should be used, listing authors and a title for the dataset.
acknowledgements: Acknowledgements for the study. These can include institutions that provided funding or site access and the names of field assistants, collaborators, etc.
grants used: A list or description of grants used to fund the research.
study summary: A description of the study objectives, methods, and results.
study reference location: A reference location for the study chosen by the data owner that is used as the location for the study marker shown on the Movebank map. This location can represent a colony, homing location, deployment site, resesarch institute location, or other location relevant to the study.
These terms are used to describe animals, tags, and deployments in a study. The tracking data themselves, and information specific to each sensor measurement, are described using the data terms below.
animal comments: Additional information about the animal that is not described by other reference data terms.
animal death comments: Comments about the death of the animal.
animal earliest date born: The earliest date an animal is thought to have been born.
animal exact date of birth: The exact date on which animal was born.
animal ID: An individual identifier for the animal, provided by the data owner. This identifier can be a ring number, a name, the same as the associated tag ID, etc. If the data owner does not provide an Animal ID, an internal Movebank animal identifier is sometimes shown.
animal latest date born: The latest date an animal is thought to have been born.
animal nickname: An alternate identifier for the animal. Used as the display name for animals shown in the Animal Tracker App.
animal ring ID: A number or color scheme for a band or ring attached to the animal.
animal taxon: The scientific name of the species on which the tag was deployed, as defined by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS, www.itis.gov). If the species name can not be provided, this should be the lowest level taxonomic rank that can be determined and that is used in the ITIS taxonomy. Additional information can be provided using the term taxon detail.
animal taxon detail: A more specific name and/or reference for the taxon name provided by animal taxon. This can be used, for example, to specify a subspecies or a taxon not supported by the ITIS.
Terms describing animals that vary with time and are usually documented at the beginning of a deployment—including life stage, mass, and reproductive condition—are listed under terms for deployments below.
animal life stage: The age class or life stage of the animal at the beginning of the deployment. Can be years or months of age or terms such as "adult", "subadult" and "juvenile". Best practice is to define units in the values if ne (e.g. "2 years").
animal mass: The mass of an the animal, typically at the beginning of the deployment.
animal reproductive condition: The reproductive condition of the animal at the beginning of the deployment.
collar: The tag is attached by a collar around the animal's neck.
glue: The tag is attached to the animal using glue.
harness: The tag is attached to the animal using a harness.
implant: The tag is placed under the skin of the an animal.
tape: The tag is attached to the animal using tape.
behaviour according to: A description of behavioral categories contained in the event data and/or how they were derived.
example: Behavior was derived using acceleration data and an automated algorithm calibrated using field observations.
data processing software: Name of the software program/s, scripts, etc. used to process raw sensor data and derive location estimates.
deploy off latitude: The geographic latitude of the location where the deployment ended (intended primarily for instances in which the animal release and tag retrieval locations have higher accuracy than those derived from sensor data).
deploy off longitude: The geographic longitude of the location where the deployment ended (intended primarily for instances in which the animal release and tag retrieval locations have higher accuracy than those derived from sensor data).
deploy off person: The name of the person/people who removed the tag from the animal and ended the deployment.
deploy off timestamp: The timestamp when the tag deployment ended.
deploy on latitude: The geographic latitude of the location where the animal was released (intended primarily for instances in which the animal release and tag retrieval locations have higher accuracy than those derived from sensor data).
deploy on longitude: The geographic longitude of the location where the animal was released (intended primarily for instances in which the animal release and tag retrieval locations have higher accuracy than those derived from sensor data).
deploy on person: The name of the person/people who attached the tag to the animal and began the deployment.
deploy on timestamp: The timestamp when the tag deployment started.
deployment comments: Additional information about the tag deployment that is not described by other reference data terms.
deployment end comments: a description of the end of a tag deployment, such as cause of mortality or notes on the removal and/or failure of tag.
example: Data transmission stopped after 108 days. Cause unknown.
captured: The tag remained on the animal but the animal was captured or confined.
dead: The deployment ended with the death of the animal that was carrying the tag.
equipment failure: The tag stopped working.
fall off: The attachment of the tag to the animal failed, and it fell of accidentally.
released: The tag remained on the animal but the animal was released from captivity or confinement.
removal: The tag was purposefully removed from the animal.
unknown: The deployment ended by an unknown cause.
deployment ID: A unique identifier for the deployment of a tag on animal, provided by the data owner. If the data owner does not provide a Deployment ID, an internal Movebank deployment identifier may sometimes be shown.
duty cycle: Remarks associated with the duty cycle of a tag during the deployment, describing the times it is on/off and the frequency at which it transmits or records data. Units and time zones should be defined in the remarks.
geolocator calibration: A description of how solar geolocators were calibrated. Best practice is to refer to a publication and/or analysis software/parameters used.
geolocator light threshold: The light threshold used for location estimation with solar geolocators.
geolocator sensor comments: Description of light and other sensors, e.g. range of light intensity, light spectra (nm) that is not described by other reference data terms.
geolocator sun elevation angle: The sun elevation angle used for location estimation with solar geolocators.
habitat according to: A description of habitat categories contained in the event data, how they were derived and/or a reference to indicate which habitat classification system was used.
location accuracy comments: Comments about the values provided in location error text, location error numerical, vertical error numerical, lat lower, lat upper, long lower and/or long upper. The percentile uncertainty can be provided using location error percentile.
manipulation comments: Additional comments about the way in which the animal was manipulated during the deployment. Use manipulation type to define the general type of manipulation.
confined: The animal's movement was restricted to within a defined area.
none: The animal received no treatment other than the tag attachment.
relocated: The animal was released from a site other than the one at which it was captured.
manipulated other: The animal was manipulated in some other way, such as a physiological manipulation.
study site: A location such as the deployment site or colony, or a location-related group such as the herd or pack name.
satellite: Data are transferred via satellite.
phone network: Data are transferred via a phone network, such as GSM or AMPS.
other wireless: Data are transferred via another form of wireless data transfer, such as a VHF radio transmitter/receiver.
tag retrieval: The tag must be physically retrieved in order to obtain the data.
beacon frequency: The frequency of the radio tag or tag retrieval beacon.
acceleration: The sensor collects acceleration data.
accessory measurements: The sensor collects accessory measurements, such as battery voltage.
Argos Doppler shift: The sensor is using Argos Doppler shift for determining position.
barometer: The sensor records air or water pressure.
bird ring: The animal is identified by a ring that has a unique ID.
GPS: The sensor uses GPS to find location and stores these.
magnetometer: The sensor records the magnetic field.
natural mark: The animal is identified by a natural marking.
radio transmitter: The sensor is a classical radio transmitter.
solar geolocator: The sensor collects light levels, which are used to determine position (for processed locations).
solar geolocator raw: The sensor collects light levels, which are used to determine position (for raw light-level measurements).
tag comments: Additional information about the tag that is not described by other reference data terms.
tag failure comments: Comments about tag failure.
tag ID: A unique identifier for the tag, provided by the data owner. If the data owner does not provide a tag ID, an internal Movebank tag identifier may sometimes be shown.
tag manufacturer name: The company or person that produced the tag.
tag mass: The mass of the tag.
tag model: The model of the tag.
tag processing type: Used to distinguish between data formats produced by different types of Microwave tags (currently not used).
tag production date: The approximate date the tag was produced (can be a year, month, or day).
tag serial number: The serial number of the tag.
acceleration axes: Indicates the enabled accelerometer axes.
acceleration raw X: Raw acceleration values provided by the tag for the X axis. Range and units may vary by provider, tag, and orientation of the sensor on the animal.
acceleration raw Y: Raw acceleration values provided by the tag for the Y axis. Range and units may vary by provider, tag, and orientation of the sensor on the animal.
acceleration raw Z: Raw acceleration values provided by the tag for the Z axis. Range and units may vary by provider, tag, and orientation of the sensor on the animal.
acceleration sampling frequency per axis: The sampling frequency for one axis of an accelerometer within a burst.
acceleration X: Acceleration values provided by the tag for the X axis. For acceleration values not in units of m/s^2, use acceleration raw x.
acceleration Y: Acceleration values provided by the tag for the Y axis. For acceleration values not in units of m/s^2, use acceleration raw y.
acceleration Z: Acceleration values provided by the tag for the Z axis. For acceleration values not in units of m/s^2, use acceleration raw z.
accelerations raw: Burst of acceleration sensor values.
activity count: A value provided by some tags that can be used to generally indicate whether an animal is active.
algorithm marked outlier: Identifies events marked as outliers using a user-selected filter algorithm in Movebank. Outliers have the value TRUE.
barometric depth: The barometric water pressure depth.
barometric height: Altitude estimated by a barometric pressure sensor on the tag.
barometric pressure: The barometric air or water pressure.
battery charge percent: The battery charge as a percentage of full charge.
battery charging current: The battery charging current reported by the tag.
behavioural classification: Behavioural classifications assigned to the animal by the data owner. The method for defining and assigning these classifications are unique to the study and can be described using behaviour according to.
comments: Additional information about events that is not described by other event data terms.
compass heading: The tilt-compensated horizontal compass heading.
conductivity: The maximum conductivity recorded during the measurement interval.
end timestamp: The date and time when the sampling interval or burst ended.
event ID: An identifier for the set of values associated with each event, i.e. sensor measurement. A unique event ID is assigned to every time-location or other time-measurement record in Movebank. If multiple measurements are included within a single row of a data file, they will share an event ID. If users import the same sensor measurement to Movebank multiple times, a separate event ID will be assigned to each.
geolocator fix type: The period of day (or a value indicating the period of day) used to estimate location by geolocation.
GPS DOP: Dilution of precision provided by the GPS.
GPS fix type raw: The type of GPS fix as provided by the tag. Common values are 1D = no fix; 2D = altitude typically not valid; 3D = altitude typically valid. Other values might be present. Where possible, use the more standardized GPS fix type.
GPS HDOP: Horizontal dilution of precision provided by the GPS.
GPS maximum signal strength: The signal reception strength of the strongest GPS satellite of those used to calculate the location estimate.
GPS satellite count: The number of GPS satellites used to estimate the location.
GPS time to fix: The time required to obtain the GPS location fix.
GPS VDOP: Vertical dilution of precision provided by the GPS.
ground speed: The estimated ground speed provided by the sensor or calculated between consecutive locations.
GSM MCC-MNC: The mobile country code (MCC) (digits 1–3) and mobile network code (MNC) (digits 4–5 or 4–6) uniquely identifying the wireless operator through which the data are transferred.
GSM signal strength: An integer proportional to the GSM signal strength measured by the tag. Valid values are 0–31, or 99 for unknown or undetectable. Higher values indicate better signal strength.
habitat: A category or description of the habitat. Information about how the values were obtained can be provided using habitat according to.
heading: The direction in which the tag is moving, in decimal degrees clockwise from north, as provided by the sensor or calculated between consecutive locations. Values range from 0–360: 0 = north, 90 = east, 180 = south, 270 = west.
height raw: Raw values for the height of the tag above ellipsoid or mean sea level provided by the tag. Values are stored as raw text values because non-numeric characters are used or processing is required to derive the correct height estimate. Best practice is to define values in the reference data.
import marked outlier: Identifies events as outliers. Typically used to import a record of outliers that were identified by the data provider or owner with automated methods outside of Movebank. Outliers have the value TRUE.
lat lower: The lower bound of the latitude estimate. Values can be described using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
lat upper: The upper bound of the latitude estimate. Values can be described using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
light level: Light-level values measured by a solar geolocator. Best practice is to define values in the reference data.
local timestamp: The date and time a sensor measurement was taken in the time zone of the study reference location. The time zone for the study reference location is determined using the IANA Time Zone Database and a shapefile of these zones provided by efele.net.
location lat: The geographic longitude of the location as estimated by the sensor. Positive values are east of the Greenwich Meridian, negative values are west of it.
location long: The geographic longitude of the location as estimated by the sensor. Positive values are east of the Greenwich Meridian, negative values are west of it.
location error numerical: An estimate of the horizontal error of the location including only numbers. (If the error estimates include non-numeric characters such as ">" use location error text.) These values can be described using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
location error percentile: The percentile error for horizontal error values provided in location error text, location error numerical, 'lat lower', 'lat upper', 'long lower' and/or 'long upper'. Additional comments about these values can be provided using location accuracy comments.
location error text: An estimate of the horizontal error of the location estimate, typically provided in the original data file, described using more than numbers. Units should be provided in the values. (If the values are purely numerical, use location error numerical.) Best practice is to define values and units using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
long lower: The lower bound of the longitude estimate. Values can be described using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
long upper: The upper bound of the longitude estimate. Values can be described using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
magnetic field raw X: Raw magnetic field values provided by the tag for the X axis.
magnetic field raw Y: Raw magnetic field values provided by the tag for the Y axis.
magnetic field raw Z: Raw magnetic field values provided by the tag for the Z axis.
manually marked outlier: Identifies events flagged manually as outliers, typically using the Event Editor in Movebank, and may also include outliers identified using other methods. Outliers have the value TRUE.
manually marked valid: An event marked manually as valid to override the results of a Movebank data filter (stored in algorithm marked outlier), typically using the Event Editor in Movebank. These values also override values in manually marked outlier and import marked outlier. Records marked as valid have the value TRUE.
migration stage custom: The migration stage of the animal. Values are specific to the study. To use a controlled list of migration stages that can be compared across studies, use migration stage standard.
modelled: Can be used to identify locations or light level values that are modelled, interpolated, or otherwise added or changed based on the original location or light level estimates from the original data collection system. These may include movement model outputs, locations added to create a dataset with equal time intervals, etc. Allowed values are TRUE or FALSE.
proofed: Can be used to indicate whether or not records have been proofed by an expert involved with the study. Allowed values are TRUE or FALSE.
nesting: An observation where an animal is observed, or determined to be, at its nest site.
roosting: An observation where an animal is observed, or determined to be, roosting.
biologically irrelevant: An observation that is found to be biologically irrelevant, for example because there was no animal wearing the tag.
death: The location where an animal is found or determined to be dead.
release site: The location where the animal is released.
tag failure: The observation where the tag was found, or determined, to have failed.
breeding grounds: In the breeding grounds.
fall migration: On fall migration.
migration: On a seasonal migration.
natal area: In the area where the animal was born.
non-breeding grounds: In the non-breeding grounds, i.e. wintering grounds.
spring migration: On spring migration.
stopover: In a stopover site during a migration.
summer non-breeding: In a summer non-breeding grounds.
sampling frequency: The sampling frequency.
start timestamp: The date and time when the sampling interval or burst began.
study-specific measurement: Values for a study-specific attribute. Best practice is to define the values and units in the reference data or study details.
study time zone: The time zone at the study reference location, determined using the IANA Time Zone Database and a shapefile of these zones provided by efele.net.
tag technical specification: Values for a tag-specific technical attribute. Best practice is to define the values and units in the reference data or study details.
same as: tag tech. spec.
tag voltage: The voltage as reported by the tag.
temperature external: The temperature measured by the tag (different from ambient temperature or internal body temperature of the animal).
temperature max: The minimum temperature measured during the measurement interval.
temperature min: The maximum temperature measured during the measurement interval.
tilt angle: The angle in which the tag is tilted in respect to the gravitational angle (0–180).
tilt X: Tilt provided by the accelerometer for the X axis.
tilt Y: Tilt provided by the accelerometer for the Y axis.
tilt Z: Tilt provided by the accelerometer for the Z axis.
timestamp: The date and time a sensor measurement was taken.
transmission timestamp: The date and time that the data record was transmitted.
twilight: Identifies light-level measurements determined to represent twilight events. Typically 1 = sunrise, 2 = sunset, 0 = not twilight.
underwater count: The number of times the tag went underwater during the current measurement period (30 minutes).
underwater time: The amount of time the tag was underwater during the current measurement period (30 minutes).
UTM easting: The easting of the location as estimated by the sensor.
UTM northing: The northing of the location as estimated by the sensor.
UTM zone: The UTM zone used to convert locations from decimal degrees to UTM. Selected based on the location of each event.
vertical error numerical: An estimate of the vertical error of the location. These values can be described using location error percentile and location accuracy comments.
visible: Determines whether an event is visible on the Movebank Search Map. Values are calculated automatically, with TRUE indicating the event has not been flagged as an outlier by algorithm marked outlier, import marked outlier or manually marked outlier, or that the user has overridden the results of these outlier attributes using manually marked valid = TRUE. Allowed values are TRUE or FALSE.
Wet count: The wet count during the measurement interval.
These terms are used to describe location estimates and other diagnostic parameters provided by Argos.
Argos altitude: Altitude used for location calculation, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos best level: Best signal strength, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos calculated frequency: Calculated frequency, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos error radius: One standard deviation (sigma) of the estimated location error, assuming isotropic error, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos GDOP: Geometric dilution of precision, a measure of the effect of the geometry of the satellite-beacon configuration on location accuracy, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Y = 0: No check on transmit frequency drift, as the two results are more than 12 hours apart.
Y = 1: Frequency discrepancy > 400 Hz. Probably due to transmit frequency discrepancy, change of oscillator, etc.
Argos lat1: Solution 1. platform latitude in degrees and thousandths of degrees, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos lat2: Solution 2. platform latitude in degrees and thousandths of degrees, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos LC: The location class retrieved from Argos, Argos diagnostic data. Allowed values are 0, 1, 2, 3, A, B, and Z (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos lon1: Solution 1. platform longitude in degrees and thousandths of degrees, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos lon2: Solution 2. platform longitude in degrees and thousandths of degrees, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos nb mes: The number of messages received [to calculate location], Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos nb mes 120: The number of messages received by the satellite at a signal strength greater than -120 decibels, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos NOPC: The number of plausibility checks successful (from 0-4), Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos orientation: The orientation of the semi-major axis of the error elipse, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos pass duration: Time elapsed between the first and last message received by the satellite, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos satellite ID: The satellite identifier, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos semi major: Length of the semi-major axis of the error ellipse, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos semi minor: Length of the semi-minor axis of the error ellipse, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
Argos sensor 1: The value of the first Argos sensor, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011). Units are specific to the sensor.
Argos sensor 2: The value of the second Argos sensor, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011). Units are specific to the sensor.
Argos sensor 3: The value of the third Argos sensor, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011). Units are specific to the sensor.
Argos sensor 4: The value of the fourth Argos sensor, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011). Units are specific to the sensor.
Argos transmission timestamp: UTC time (hours, minutes, seconds) for the location, Argos diagnostic data (definition from Argos User's Manual 2011).
1: The Argos filter algorithm has chosen the primary location (solution 1, lat1/lon1) as the valid location.
2: The Argos filter algorithm has chosen the alternate location (solution 2, lat2/lon2) as the valid location.
1: The user has chosen the primary location (solution 1, lat1/lon1) as the valid location.
2: The user has chosen the alternate location (solution 2, lat2/lon2) as the valid location.
These terms are used to describe location estimates and other parameters provided by archival light level geolocators from the British Antarctic Survey (licensed to Biotrack in 2011) in .trj format files. Note that the "longitude" attribute in these files is imported as longitude (decimal degree). The data owner imports both BAS compensated latitude and BAS stationary latitude, and chooses one of these to also import as latitude (decimal degree).
BAS compensated latitude: Latitude compensated for longitudinal movement assuming uniform movement, .trj (definition from British Antarctic Survey Geolocator Manual v. 8, 2010).
BAS confidence: Confidence level of the fix, defined by the individual who processed the data (definition from British Antarctic Survey Geolocator Manual v. 8, 2010).
BAS mid value secs: The time of local noon/midnight as number of seconds since 1st Jan 1900 (definition from British Antarctic Survey Geolocator Manual v. 8, 2010).
BAS stationary latitude: The latitude [of the location estimate] calculated using a stationary target (definition from British Antarctic Survey Geolocator Manual v. 8, 2010).
BAS transition 1: The time of sunrise (definition from British Antarctic Survey Geolocator Manual v. 8, 2010).
BAS transition 2: The time of sunset (definition from British Antarctic Survey Geolocator Manual v. 8, 2010).
These terms are used to describe location estimates, acceleration measurements and other parameters provided by e-obs in logger.bin format files.
e-obs acceleration axes: This tells you about the enabled ACC axes, like X and/or Y and/or Z (definition from "e-obs GPS-acceleration-tags application note: How to use the acceleration sensor, interpret, analyse its data and how to get values in m/s^2", 2011).
e-obs acceleration sampling frequency per axis: This is the sampling frequency for one axis. Don't mix this up with the sampling frequency for all axes together. For example if you have three ACC axes enabled, then the sampling frequency for all axes together is three times the sampling frequency for one axis. The sampling frequency is measured in Hertz, which is the same as 1/second. For example a sampling frequency of 10 Hz means that you get 10 samples per second (definition from "e-obs GPS-acceleration-tags application note: How to use the acceleration sensor, interpret, analyse its data and how to get values in m/s^2", 2011).
e-obs accelerations raw: Acceleration along the X and or Y and or Z axes of the tag, depending on which axes were activated on the tag as described in e-obs acceleration axes. Measurements alternate one measurement for each active axis in alphabetical order. The values are digital readings between 0 and 4095 of the analogue digital converter on the tag, and can be converted to m/s^2 with proper calibration. These samples are made at the rate described by e-obs acceleration sampling frequency per axis starting with the first sample at the time described in e-obs start timestamp. Tags with numbers e-obs numbers 2242 and higher, which began being provided in spring 2012, have Y-axis values in the opposite direction from those in older tags (definition from "e-obs GPS-acceleration-tags application note: How to use the acceleration sensor, interpret, analyse its data and how to get values in m/s^2", 2011; Wolgang Heidrich, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2012).
e-obs activity: An indication of activity since the previous data message was sent, based on raw acceleration data, provided in SMS messages sent by e-obs GSM tags. Values range from 0 (least activity) to 256 (most activity). The number of acceleration measurements used to determine activity is indicated in e-obs activity samples (Wolgang Heidrich, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2013).
e-obs activity samples: The number of acceleration measurements used to calculate e-obs activity divided by 171. This is provided in SMS messages sent by GSM tags (Wolgang Heidrich, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2013).
e-obs battery voltage: Unloaded battery voltage (definition from Franz Kümmeth, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2012).
e-obs fix battery voltage: Loaded battery voltage, i.e. battery voltage when GPS module is acquiring a fix (definition from e-obs Digital Telemetry Manual for DataDecoder Software, 2010; Franz Kümmeth, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2012).
e-obs horizontal accuracy estimate: A horizontal (in)accuracy estimate, calculated by the GPS module (definition from e-obs Digital Telemetry Manual for DataDecoder Software, 2010; Franz Kümmeth, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2012).
e-obs key bin checksum: A checksum of the original binary data, so that Movebank can quickly compare different lines by comparing their checksums (definition from "e-obs GPS-acceleration-tags application note: How to use the acceleration sensor, interpret, analyse its data and how to get values in m/s^2", 2011).
e-obs speed accuracy estimate: A speed (in)accuracy estimate, calculated by the GPS module. The speed accuracy estimate (better named "inaccuracy estimation") may show very high values, since the GPS module calculates a very conservative value. These speed measurements are potentially very inaccurate when interpreting the data (definition from e-obs Digital Telemetry Manual for DataDecoder Software, 2010; Franz Kümmeth, e-obs Digital Telemetry, personal communication, 2012).
e-obs start timestamp: The date and time of day when the acceleration burst belonging to this line begins. The exact time of the first sample is a little later (up to 1 second) for older e-obs tags, especially when the ACC-pinger is enabled (4 pings before the start of each ACC burst) (definition from "e-obs GPS-acceleration-tags application note: How to use the acceleration sensor, interpret, analyse its data and how to get values in m/s^2", 2011).
e-obs temperature: Temperature; this value is not calibrated and therefore very inaccurate (definition from e-obs Digital Telemetry Manual for DataDecoder Software, 2010).
e-obs used time to get fix: The amount of time that was needed for this GPS fix; interesting for estimating power requirements (definition from e-obs Digital Telemetry Manual for DataDecoder Software, 2010).
This term is used to describe measurements provided by Fleetronic GPS-GSM loggers.
These terms are used to describe measurements provided by GeoTrak PTTs (previously provided by North Star).
GeoTrak sys week: The week number since the device was activated (definition from GeoTrak's "PTT Decode Overview", 2014).
GeoTrak tx count: The number of transmissions since last rollover (definition from GeoTrak's "PTT Decode Overview", 2014).
GeoTrak activity count: The number of motion triggers detected since the last rollover (definition from GeoTrak's "PTT Decode Overview", 2014).
These terms are used to describe measurements provided by Lotek.
Fail = data has been corrupted on transmission, and therefore cannot be trusted.
OK(corrected) = the message was corrected with Lotek's error correction algorithm.
These terms are used to describe measurements provided by tags from Microwave Telemetry.
height (raw): Estimates of height of the tag above ellipsoid provided by Microwave GPS tags. Values are imported as raw text values because correction or processing are sometimes required to derive the correct height estimate.
Microwave activity count: The activity counter value. This value increments when the PTT is moving while it is transmitting. If the activity counter is constant for two or more transmission periods (and the GPS locations are unvarying), you should consider the possibility that the PTT has become detached or the bird is down (definition from the Microwave Telemetry, Inc. Solar Argos/GPS PTT-100 Field Manual, 2012).
Microwave show in KML: Used by Microwave GPS tags to flag implausible locations. Allowed values are TRUE or FALSE; implausible locations have the value FALSE.
This term is used to describe measurements provided by tags from Ornitela.
Ornitela transmission protocol: The way in which the data from Ornitela tags were transmitted. Allowed values are SMS or GPRS.
These terms are used to describe measurements provided by tags from TechnoSmart.
TechnoSmart activity: An indication of whether an animal is active. Possible values are “active” and “inactive”. The threshold used to define activity is dependent on how the tag is configured by the user.
TechnoSmart signal quality: The strength of satellite reception. Ranges from 0 to 500. Higher values indicate better reception.

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