ezTrack: An R Package for Accessible Exploration of Animal Tracking Data

The use of tracking devices on wild animals has become widespread, providing unprecedented insight into the spatial and movement ecology of wildlife. However, translating tracking data into conservation-relevant insight requires multiple data processing steps that can pose technical challenges for applied ecologists, students, and conservation practitioners. While several resources have been developed within the widely used R programming language to support detailed analyses of tracking data, their effective use often requires specialized spatial data-wrangling skills. To encourage the responsible and reproducible handling of tracking data, and to improve the accessibility of movement-data workflows, we introduce ezTrack, an R package designed to streamline common tasks in animal tracking data exploration. With a focus on simplicity, flexibility, and interoperability, ezTrack enables users to quickly import and standardize tracking datasets from a wide range of formats, summarize key tracking statistics, estimate home ranges, and generate clear visual outputs, including interactive maps. The package also produces rapid summary reports, supporting effective communication of tracking study results to stakeholders, collaborators, and decision-makers. By offering an approachable tool for tracking data exploration and interpretation, ezTrack empowers a broader community of researchers, ecologists, conservation professionals, and students to engage with basic spatial ecology questions and extract useful information from their tracking datasets with limited technical input.