Feature request: adding number of individuals as new column of record table

[damianooldoni]

As far as I understand, the record table doesn't contain information about the number of individuals. Do you think it's possible to add such information as an extra column? This will allow the users to use such information in their modelling and analyses.

Colleagues @jimcasaer and @MartijnUH at INBO (Wild life management and Invasive Species Team) asked me to add a similar column to the record tables I generate in camtraptor, see vignette and this screenshot:

Still, I would like to keep in touch with you as the main goal of camtraptor's get_record_table() function is to generate a record table as similar as possible to the one camtrapR generates so that it can be used as input in camtrapR's detectionHistory().

In case you agree, I am also very open to discuss with you about the name and the position of this column. I could also work on this in a PR if you wish. Thanks 👋

[damianooldoni]

Hi @jniedballa. I am very bad in mails, a little better in GitHub issues. I hope you don't mind if I copy pasted our quite old mail conversation in this issue to discuss further about this feature request.

From your answer in email conversation (De,c 1 2023):

Do you mean the number of individuals in a single image frame (which would need to be informed by image metadata), or the number of individuals across several photos that were aggregated into a single detection (after removing non-independent records if minDeltaTime > 0)? Either way I'd probably like this to be optional, since individual IDs are not expected by default for recordTable. Also, how does your request relate to the function recordTableIndividual? It is currently for single species only, but could your desired data be generated easily by aggregating the ouput of that function?

From my answer in email conversation (Feb 22, 2024):

• I mean the second option, i.e. "the number of individuals across several photos that were aggregated into a single detection (after removing non-independent records if minDeltaTime > 0)".
• About making this optional: yes, sure, we can have a default FALSE value for this feature. Let's just be sure that the output has the very same format (e.g. number of columns) and so it is independent from any optional arg. For example, if this option is off, then the column is fully populated by NAs. Let me know what you think about this or if you envisage other solutions.
• My request is somehow related to the function recordTableIndividual, indeed. My only concern is how to deal with unidentified individuals? I think this occurs quite often: the species is known, but there is no identification at individual level. Of course, if this works for one species, it can be extended to all species.

Did you have any advance about this? Once agreed, let me know if we can help to develop the needed code. I mean, you are the one with the best knowledge of your package, of course, but if you have no time, we can make an attempt in a PR: researchers at INBO would like to promptly use it and test it. Thanks!