hbGIS

Note

The package repository is available here. For technical details, please refer to the description.

R package for analyzing spatiotemporal behaviour patterns using geospatial data and output from hbGPS or PALMS. Inspired by palmsplusr, hbGIS offers features to answer questions about when, where, and what:

• How much time participants spend in parks?
• How much moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is accumulated in parks?
• What proportion of sedentary time is accumulated during vehicular travel?
• What is the average distance of home-to-school trips?
• How much MVPA is accumulated inside the schoolyard during school time?
• What proportion of commuters use different travel modes in their trip chain (e.g., walk-bus-walk)?
• What is the average speed of bicycle trips during peak travel times?

Installation

install.packages("remotes") # (1)!
remotes::install_github("wadpac/GGIR") # (2)!
remotes::install_github("habitus-eu/hbGIS") # (3)!

1. R package for installation from remote repositories (Github).
2. Installing GGIR package from GitHub repository.
3. Installing hbGIS package from GitHub repository.

Warning

When installing packages, you may be prompted to update to more recent versions. We recommend updating all the packages.

Usage

Before using the hbGIS package to process spatiotemporal behaviour patterns, two additional files must be prepared: a linkage and configuration files.

1. Required files for hbGIS analysis

Linkage file

The linkage file is a CSV file that contains three specific columns:

Column	Description
identifier	Used to identify a participant. This is necessary to link shape files with processed hbGPS output.
x_id	This approach organizes data based on both location and time. For instance, a school building (represented as a polygon) can be linked to a group of students (identified by a school_id). Additionally, you can create further groupings within the data (e.g., by class_id).

Note

The gislinkagefile requires one or more columns containing location IDs, named with the suffix "_id". For instance, a column named "school_id" would connect entries (identifiers) to schools.

An example of a linkage file can be downloaded here.

Configuration file

To use hbGIS, a configuration file must be provided. Further information on processing and the configuration file can be found here.

Column	Description
context	palmplusr fields tables (TO-DO: List of contexts...)
name	User specified name of formula
formula	Formula (see more at palmsplur)
is_where_field
after_conversion

An example of a configuration file can be downloaded here.

2. Analysis

Configuration

Parameter	Description
gisdir	Path to input shape file or folder with shapes.
palmsdir	Path to input file or folder (hbGPS/PALMS).
gislinkfile	Path to linkage file.
outputdir	Path to output folder.
dataset_name	User specified project name.
configfile	Path to configuration file.
baselocation	Base for individuals (leave empty if not available).
groupinglocation	Grouping for individuals (leave empty if not available).
write_shp	Store shape files as output.
split_GIS	Split GIS files in sublocations (only for public places).
sublocationID	Column name in GIS file to identify sublocation.

Note

GIS filenames are used as location names and at the moment the code can only handle names that are shorter than 6 characters.

Example

library(hbGIS)

hbGIS(gisdir = "C:/path_to_input_gis_file/or/folder",
      palmsdir = "C:/path_to_hbgps_or_palms_output_folder",
      gislinkfile = "C:/path_to_linkage_file/participant_basis.csv",
      outputdir = "C:/path_to_output_folder",
      dataset_name = "project_name",
      configfile = "C:/path_to_config_file/palmsplus.csv",
      baselocation = "home",
      groupinglocation = "school",
      write_shp = FALSE, 
      split_GIS = TRUE, 
      sublocationID = "ID_NR")

Output files

hbGIS will generate four output files.

Filename	Description
datasetname_whenwhatwhere	Time series with information about when and where things happened.
datasetname_days.csv	Day-level summaries.
datasetname_trajectories	Trajectory-based summaries.
datasetname_multimodal	Breakdown of trajectories by mode of transport.

Used abbrevations

Abbrevation	Description
mot	mode of transport
iov	indoor-outdoor-vehicle
nbh	neighbourhood
dow	day of week

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1.