Abstract:
This package provides functions to fit point process models using the Palm likelihood. Maximisation of the Palm likelihood can provide computationally efficient parameter estimation in situations where the full likelihood is intractable. This package is chiefly focused on Neyman-Scott point processes, but can also fit void processes. Estimation via the Palm likelihood was first proposed by Tanaka, Ogata, and Stoyan (2008; Biometrical Journal) and further generalised by both Stevenson, Borchers, and Fewster (in review) and Jones-Todd et al. (in submission). The development of this package was motivated by the analysis of capture-recapture surveys on which individuals cannot be identified---the data from which can conceptually be seen as a clustered point process. Some of the functions in this package are specifically for the estimation of cetacean density from two-camera aerial surveys. This package is available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN).
