Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35767535›Full record

ArticlePloS one2022

Micro-sized open-source and low-cost GPS loggers below 1 g minimise the impact on animals while collecting thousands of fixes.

Timm A Wild, Jens C Koblitz, Dina K N Dechmann, Christian Dietz, Mirko Meboldt, Martin Wikelski

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
9.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. SOPAR: Bee Localization and Tracking Using RF Sub-harmonic Oscillating Parametric Resonator in Hive Environments.Proceedings of the ACM on interactive, mobile, wearable and ubiquitous technologies · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Timm A WildDepartment of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2906-2892
Jens C KoblitzDepartment of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.
Dina K N DechmannDepartment of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.
Christian DietzBiologische Gutachten Dietz, Haigerloch, Germany.
Mirko MeboldtProduct Development Group Zurich (pd|z), ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Martin WikelskiDepartment of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.
University of Konstanz · DEETH Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

GPS-enabled loggers have been proven as valuable tools for monitoring and understanding animal movement, behaviour and ecology. While the importance of recording accurate location estimates is well established, deployment on many, especially small species, has been limited by logger mass and cost. We developed an open-source and low-cost 0.65 g GPS logger with a simple smartphone-compatible user interface, that can record more than 10,000 GPS fixes on a single 30 mAh battery charge (resulting mass including battery: 1.3 g). This low-budget 'TickTag' (currently 32 USD) allows scientists to scale-up studies while becoming a 'wearable' for larger animals and simultaneously enabling high-definition studies on small animals. Tests on two different species (domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris and greater mouse-eared bats, Myotis myotis) showed that our combination of optimised hardware design and software-based recording strategies increases the number of achievable GPS fixes per g device mass compared to existing micro-sized solutions. We propose that due to the open-source access, as well as low cost and mass, the TickTag fills a technological gap in wildlife ecology and will open up new possibilities for wildlife research and conservation.

Indexed as

EcologyGeographic Information SystemsAnimalsAnimals, WildDogsMovement

Identifiers

PMID35767535
PMCPMC9242438
OpenAlexW4283693165

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.