SWARMatlas is a global repository of collective movement data. We are interested in tracking data from groups moving together, such as fish schools, bird flocks and mammal herds. See 'About' page for more. 

SWARMatlas is run by researchers at Swansea University, with support from partners from the SHOAL group, SWARM-E at ZiF, Bielefeld and others. Currently the primary site admin is Christopher Yates (PhD student). See 'Team & Partners' page.

Assembling a substantial collective movement database lets us conduct comparative investigations into collective movement across (and within) species, environments and tracking methods, and test proximate (how) and ultimate (why) hypotheses of collective movement. See [About].

Any tracking data from animal groups, collected in the field, the lab or captivity. This includes GPS, video tracking, accelerometers, acoustic or radio telemetry, and other methods. There may be potential to also incorporate models of collective movement and robotic experiment data in the future. If you’re unsure whether your data fit, please contact us. 

All data is kept secure on the Swansea University SharePoint partner site. If you have concerns about the sensitive nature of your data please contact us. We are happy to  make reasonable adjustments. 

The SWARMatlas data processing pipeline ensures that (almost) all data formatting is viable. For details see the 'contribute' page. However, if you are concerned about the formatting or file type of your data please contact us. 

The process is described in detail on the 'contribute' page however, put simply.

1. Read the data management plan

2. Complete the submission form

3. Upload your data

Reading the data management plan and completing the submission will take less than <5 minutes. However, the upload time is dependant on several factors, including the 'traffic' that Swansea University servers are experiencing. We have found that even during high traffic, uploads of less than 1gb typically take 5-10 minutes. For especially large datasets (more than >2GB) it may be prudent to choose a low-traffic time, such as late afternoon. 

Yes. Contributors keep all ownership rights of their data. This includes the option of revoking permission at any time by sumitting a request by email. If you have concerns about data-ownership, co-owned data, or if have data but aren't sure if you can share it then please contact us. Data-providers are the core of SWARMatlas and their concerns about data-security are understandable. However, to make it clear, no raw data ever leaves SWARMatlas. 

By uploading data, you are not granting permission for use in publications, that will be agreed later as required. 

Yes. Datasets are stored securely on the SWARMatlas repository hosted by Swansea University and only the SWARMatlas admin can access uploaded files. 

Yes and no. On the 'explore the data' page you will be able to see some details about datasets currently on the SWARMatlas repository (e.g. species, recording method, how many, from where, etc.). However, the raw data will not be shared by SWARMatlas. 

Although, if you find a particular dataset you may find the corresponding author alongisde the above information (if they have chosen to provide it). 

Please go to the 'Contact us' page.

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