Fig. 3

A walkthrough of the steps involved in our continuous-time speed and distance estimation (CTSD) method using simulated data. Beginning with the tracking data (panel a; here with a 1-hr sampling interval), the first step is to use some calibration data (panel b) to estimate the device’s RMS user equivalent range error (UERE). Once the errors have been calibrated (panel c), model selection techniques are employed to identify the best fit model for the fine-scale (panel d) and coarse-scale (panel e) features of the data — SVF represents the semi-variance function. A trajectory is then simulated, conditional on the data, the fitted movement model, and the calibrated error model (panel f), and the distance/speed of that trajectory is calculated. The simulated animal had a velocity autocorrelation timescale of 25 min, so the trajectory in panel f is simulated at a frequency of 2.5 min. The simulation and estimation step is then repeated over multiple rounds of simulation (panel g), and the ensemble provides a point estimate and 95% confidence intervals