Hi Daqing,

I'm afraid I can't. Actually, this is a part of a sponsored project and I'm not allowed to share the data. However, I can explain the nature of the data.

My data set contains the sequential hourly locations and times of the moving animals (moose calves). A number of 5 attributes have been recorded for each step including: Point ID, Calf ID, Easting (X axis), Northing (Y axix), and acquisition time.

Thanks. That's enough, though. What is acquisition time?

The years 2013 and 2014.

I've seen monte carlo simulations used for this type of modelling.

Hi, it appears that no one has really answered your question, so I am going to take a stab at it and hopefully it helps. If you are using Esri products in the Geoprocessing tools there are the Spatial Analyst and Tracking Analyst extensions that are really helpful. You can build a model, through modeling building and test how it works. They do require some level of knowledge with ArcGIS and GIS. However, there are online tutorials for ArcGIS extensions, and YouTube videos, for free. I have seen in other forums people suggesting Hawths’ tool for spatial ecology, but I am not familiar with that software at all that I am aware of.

Tracking analysis

http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/extensions/tracking-analyst/000-what-is-tracking-analyst.htm

Spatial analysis

http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/tools/spatial-analyst-toolbox/an-overview-of-the-spatial-analyst-toolbox.htm

or if you read enough which most college students do check out the choices in YouTube videos

Spatial analysis YouTube

https://www.google.com/search?q=spatial%20analysis%20site%3Ayoutube.com&rlz=1C1AKJH_enUS704US704&oq=youtube&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3070j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ved=2ahUKEwih8Yj2v6HhAhUmMuwKHbqJA5kQ2wF6BAgDEAg&ei=CP6aXKHNMqbksAe6k47ICQ

Tracking Analysis YouTube

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1AKJH_enUS704US704&ei=Ff6aXMHjIIGK5wK30KeIAQ&q=Tracking+analysis+site%3Ayoutube.com&oq=Tracking+analysis+site%3Ayoutube.com&gs_l=psy-ab.3...114159.118694..120182...0.0..0.66.931.15......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.BRqbCIRygBg

Animal movement article with resources

https://sites.google.com/site/gisanimalspaceuse/movement-patterns#TOC-Searching-behaviour-of-foraging-waders:-does-feeding-success-influence-their-walking-

Also: a book is out on explaining Modeling suitability, movement and interaction

https://esripress.esri.com/display/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&websiteID=215&moduleID=11

I hope this helps, Good luck with your project.

Most ecologists that deal with animal movement data are more familiar with R than python, so there may be more options using that language. Have you talked to Somayeh Dodge in the GIS department? She is an expert in the field of GIS and movement analysis.

The most progtammes and methods deal with your question is GIS expert who usualy use defferent program and application like python and c++ to express their ideas and methods to describe animal movement and behavour...