Supported tags and file formats

Two ways in

• Via Movebank, the generic interface: whatever your tags upload to Movebank, Firetail can download and open (see Explore your Movebank data).
• From local files: data read out in the field or exported from a vendor's software opens via File > Open CSV. Several files can be selected at once and are opened together in one view.

Tag vendors

• e-obs (premium partner): GPS, acceleration, magnetometer, quaternion orientation and ECG files. Since Firetail 15, an e-obs module manages logger.bin files from e-obs handheld devices in a local archive and previews the tags and time ranges they contain.
• Ornitela: GPS, acceleration as bursts or per location, and since Firetail 15 the GPSS/GPSF location formats.
• Vectronic: positions, activity and accessory data; continuous acceleration from Inventa Motion Data exports is converted to bursts with a built-in converter.
• Technosmart: GPS and acceleration, GPS-coupled or as bursts.
• Telonics, Argos, AWT, Milsar, Lotek, Ecotone and OpenCollar log files.

Other formats

• Movebank CSV files: location, acceleration, accessory and reference data.
• GPX tracks and UTM coordinate columns.
• MoveApps-style CSV files.
• Behaviour annotations from BORIS and Firetail's own annotation exchange format.

Bursts and continuous data

Firetail handles acceleration as bursts: short sequences recorded at a fixed frequency from a start time, the way most high-resolution tags record. Continuous recordings, for example as Movebank accessory data, are converted to bursts, so that annotation and classification work the same way for both. Custom burst files need four fields: start timestamp, axes, frequency per axis and the raw values.

Your tag isn't listed?

Many datasets from other vendors open out of the box. If yours doesn't, contact us: we offer data conversion services, and support for your tags may well be possible in the next release.