1. Determining global position by light measurements ('geolocation') has revolutionised the methods used to track migratory birds throughout their annual cycle. 2. To date, there is no standard way of analysing geolocator data, making communication of analyses cumbersome and hampering the reproducibility of results. 3. We have, therefore, developed the R package GeoLight, which provides basic functions for all steps of determining global positioning and a new approach in analysing movement pattern. 4. Here, we briefly introduce and discuss the major functions of this package using example movement data of European hoopoe (Upupa epops). © 2012 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2012 British Ecological Society.