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camtraptor

ANALYTICS
Velocity0.0

Read, Explore and Visualize Camera Trap Data Packages

github.com/inbo/camtraptor ↗

A camera-trap data reader converging on the Camtrap DP standard, one exchange field at a time.

camera-trapsbiodiversity-datadata-standardsr-packagegbif
◆Current state
camtraptor reads Camera Trap Data Packages and turns them into analysis-ready tables for R users. The recent releases have been about what those tables carry: get_record_table() now returns deployment coordinates plus clock and solar time in radians, and get_custom_effort() reports effort per deployment rather than pooled. Earlier work went into reading Camtrap DP files written by other tools.
◆Where it's heading
The package is moving from format plumbing toward analysis convenience. The 2023-2024 releases were almost entirely about correctly ingesting Camtrap DP 1.0 and packages produced by the GBIF IPT; the 2025 pair instead adds columns ecologists would otherwise compute themselves. Releases come in bursts tied to specific issue reports, with long gaps between.
◆Prediction
Expect continued issue-driven column and argument additions to the get_* family; nothing in these entries points to a change in the underlying reader.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1y ago

    Record tables gain coordinates and solar/clock time

    get_record_table() gains deployment longitude and latitude plus clock and solar time in radians. Radian solar time is what activity-pattern analyses need as input, so this removes a conversion step users were doing by hand.

    View source ↗
  2. 1y ago

    Sampling effort now reported per deployment

    get_custom_effort() now reports effort per deployment with deploymentID and locationName columns instead of a pooled figure. Released the same day as 0.27.0 but a distinct change, from a separate feature request.

    View source ↗
  3. 2y ago

    Detects Camtrap DP version; reads GBIF IPT packages

    Detects the Camtrap DP version from the package profile by regex, which is what lets the reader accept packages produced by the GBIF IPT. A small change with real reach: it widens the set of files the package can open.

    View source ↗
  4. 2y ago

    Fixes angle and radius on down-converted observations

    Populates angle and radius for event-based observations from the first media-based observation during down-conversion. A correctness fix inside the reader with no API change.

    View source ↗
  5. 2y ago

    Fixes reading of Camtrap DP 1.0 files

    Fixes a bug reading Camera Trap Data Package v1.0 files. One of the several patch releases in late 2023 spent stabilising the 1.0 reader.

    View source ↗
  6. 2y ago

    write_eml() fixes and taxonID population

    Resolves two write_eml() failures on the MICA dataset and makes the reader always populate taxonID from the package taxonomy. Maintenance against a specific dataset rather than a general capability change.

    View source ↗