ct_dp_read: Read camera trap data package

In ct: Camera Trap Data Management and Multi-Method Ecological Analysis

Read camera trap data package

Description

Reads Camera Trap Data Package (Camtrap DP) dataset into memory.

Usage

ct_dp_read(file)

Arguments

file	Path or URL to a datapackage.json file.

Value

A Camera Trap Data Package object.

Taxonomic information

Camtrap DP metadata has a taxonomic property that can contain extra information for each scientificName found in observations. Such information can include higher taxonomy (family, order, etc.) and vernacular names in multiple languages.

The read_camtrapdp() function will automatically include this taxonomic information in observations, as extra columns starting with taxon.. It will then update the taxonomic scope in the metadata to the unique taxa() found in the data.

Events

Observations can contain classifications at two levels:

• Media-based observations (observationLevel = "media") are based on a single media file and are directly linked to it via mediaID.

• Event-based observations (observationLevel = "event") are based on an event, defined as a combination of eventID, eventStart and eventEnd. This event can consist of one or more media files, but is not directly linked to these.

The read_camtrapdp() function will automatically assign eventIDs to media, using media.deploymentID = observations.deploymentID and ⁠observations.eventStart <= media.timestamp <= observations.eventEnd⁠. Note that this can result in media being linked to multiple events (and thus being duplicated), for example when events and sub-events were defined.

Examples

file <- "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tdwg/camtrap-dp/1.0/example/datapackage.json"
dp <- ct_dp_read(file)

ct documentation built on Oct. 22, 2026, 1:07 a.m.