Movebank

About Movebank

Movebank provides a REST API for accessing the Movebank database, a free online platform for animal tracking and other on-animal sensor data hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior. The repository documents the download interface for building calls to the database using HTTP/CSV or JSON/JavaScript requests.

Data in Movebank is organized into user-created studies used throughout the research process, with varying levels of completeness such as defined deployment periods, species names, and flagged outliers. Animal and tag identifiers are unique within a study but not necessarily across studies. The Movebank Data Repository is a subset of studies that are curated and publicly archived, subject to Movebank's user agreement and general terms of use.

The API is intended for researchers and developers working with animal tracking data. A separate move2 package is available for users working in R.

Key features

• Free online database and research platform for animal tracking and sensor data
• HTTP/CSV and JSON/JavaScript interface for querying the Movebank database
• Data organized into user-created, independently managed studies
• Tracking Data Map for exploring how data are organized and accessed
• Movebank Data Repository of curated, publicly archived studies
• move2 R package for working with Movebank data in R

Frequently asked questions