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. 2013 Jul 9;8(7):e68496.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068496. Print 2013.

An evaluation of the accuracy and performance of lightweight GPS collars in a suburban environment

Amy L Adams  1 , Katharine J M Dickinson, Bruce C Robertson, Yolanda van Heezik
Affiliations

An evaluation of the accuracy and performance of lightweight GPS collars in a suburban environment

Amy L Adams et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The recent development of lightweight GPS collars has enabled medium-to-small sized animals to be tracked via GPS telemetry. Evaluation of the performance and accuracy of GPS collars is largely confined to devices designed for large animals for deployment in natural environments. This study aimed to assess the performance of lightweight GPS collars within a suburban environment, which may be different from natural environments in a way that is relevant to satellite signal acquisition. We assessed the effects of vegetation complexity, sky availability (percentage of clear sky not obstructed by natural or artificial features of the environment), proximity to buildings, and satellite geometry on fix success rate (FSR) and location error (LE) for lightweight GPS collars within a suburban environment. Sky availability had the largest affect on FSR, while LE was influenced by sky availability, vegetation complexity, and HDOP (Horizontal Dilution of Precision). Despite the complexity and modified nature of suburban areas, values for FSR (mean= 90.6%) and LE (mean = 30.1 m) obtained within the suburban environment are comparable to those from previous evaluations of GPS collars designed for larger animals and within less built-up environments. Due to fine-scale patchiness of habitat within urban environments, it is recommended that resource selection methods that are not reliant on buffer sizes be utilised for selection studies.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Sampling locations within the suburban environment.
Map of the main urban area of Dunedin depicting the sampling locations (orange circles) of stationary GPS collar tests in relation to suburban habitats: Res 1 (light grey); Res 2 (mid-grey); Res 3 (black); and other (light green).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Mean location error (µLE ± SD) for each HDOP value.
Mean location error (µLE ± SD) for each HDOP value for lightweight GPS collars across all suburban habitats and sky availability classes, Dunedin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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