Creating an Internal Generalized Track (IGT)

Basic syntax

panbiotracks -m P -i INPUT_FILE_1 INPUT_FILE_2 INPUT_FILE_n -o OUTPUT_FILE

Where -m P is the flag that configures the software to do internal generalized tracks (IGTs); INPUT_FILE_1 INPUT_FILE_2 INPUT_FILE_n are the SHP files used to build the IGT; and OUTPUT_FILE is the name of the file where the IGT will be saved, without file extension.

Detailed instructions

The general method to run the program is the same as the one described for the individual tracks.

Input files

The input files are specified after the -i flag, and are a set of two or more IT SHP files, separated by spaces. You must type the full or relative path of each one, with their corresponding file extension. For example, assuming that there are three IT files named quercus_candicans.shp, quercus_castanea.shp and quercus_conspersa.shp, saved in the "results" directory within the Downloads folder, the syntax must be as follows:

.\panbiotracks.exe -m P -i C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Downloads\results\quercus_candicans.shp C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Downloads\results\quercus_castanea.shp C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Downloads\results\quercus_conspersa.shp -o OUTPUT_FILE

if you're on Windows, or

./panbiotracks -m P -i /home/YOUR_USER/Downloads/results/quercus_candicans.shp /home/YOUR_USER/Downloads/results/quercus_castanea.shp /home/YOUR_USER/Downloads/results/quercus_conspersa.shp -o OUTPUT_FILE

if you're on Linux. Note that if there are spaces within the file or path names, you must enclose the path with apostrophes (') or double quotes (").

Notes about the input files

The input files need to be in the SHP format, or Panbiotracks will show an error. Panbiotracks has been tested only with SHP files generated by itself, so if you use files generated by other applications, it might lead to errors or inaccurate results. In that case, please file an issue to asses the problem.

Creating an individual track using all of the SHP files in a directory (available only in Linux)

When all of the IT files needed to create an IGT are saved into one single directory, is possible to use the asterisk wildcard (*) to use all of the existing SHP files in the directory. Using the same example as above, the syntax will be:

.\panbiotracks.exe -m P -i C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Downloads\results\*.shp -o OUTPUT_FILE

if you're on Windows, or

./panbiotracks -m P -i /home/YOUR_USER/Downloads/results/*.shp -o OUTPUT_FILE

if you're on Linux.

Output file name

The output file name where the IGT will be saved goes after the -o flag. The file name does not need to have an extension. Using the same examples as above, to save a IGT to a file named gt_quercus within a directory named "gt", under the "results" folder, the syntax for the flag will be

-o C:\Users\YOUR_USER\Downloads\results\gt\gt_quercus

on Windows, or

-o /home/YOUR_USER/Downloads/results/gt/gt_quercus

on Linux.

Notes about the output files

Panbiotracks will save three separate files containing the data of the generalized track:

• A SHP file that contains the track geometry.
• A DBF file that stores the database associated with the SHP file.
• A SHX file that is a companion file to the SHP.

If you want to rename or move these files, you must to do so for all of them.