dsims

Distance Sampling Simulations

dsims is a package for simulating distance sampling surveys to allow users to optimise survey design for studies with particular properties.

Using dsims

There is currently three vignette within the dsims package to help you get started using dsims:

• GettingStarted: Getting Started with dsims available from the navigation bar at top of the page
• Transition from DSsim to dsims: under Articles on the navigation bar
• Grouped strata: Combining abundance estimates across strata constructed for design purposes; under Articles on the navigation bar

Getting dsims

The easiest way to get dsims is to install it from CRAN within R-studio or the R interface. We endeavour to make all new functionality available on CRAN in a timely manor. However, if you wish to download the development version with the latest updates immediately you can do this using Hadley Wickham’s devtools package:

  # First, ensure you have a copy of the `devtools` package:
  if (!nzchar(system.file(package = "devtools"))) install.packages("devtools")

then install dsims from github:

  library(devtools)
  install_github("DistanceDevelopment/dsims", build_vignettes = TRUE)

Troubleshooting tip

During installation of packages, you may get the message “These packages have more recent versions available. It is recommended to update all of them. Which would you like to update?” and then a list of packages. We recommend you typically choose the option “CRAN packages only”. Note you may then get the message that some packages cannot be installed because they are already loaded. In this case, a solution may be to note which packages these are, to open an R console (rather than R Studio) and to use the Packages | Update packages menu option (or the update.packages function) to update these packages.