Messages

1

Archived - Feedback and Comments / Speed profile

« on: August 23, 2004, 05:38:32 PM »

Cool!  Thanks.  Drop me some email if the heart rate monitor data feature starts to percolate.  I'm going to be working on a heart rate monitor book for my publisher starting in the fall, and will have yet another chance to talk about TF. :-)

Joel

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Archived - Feedback and Comments / Speed profile

« on: August 09, 2004, 08:21:19 PM »

Hey guys.  How difficult would it be to offer the user a choice of displaying the speed (in addition to the elevation) as a histogram in the Profile window?  I'm toting a GPS receiver with me for flatwater kayak training and racing this summer, and the elevation data really isn't pertinent (no waterfalls to ascend or descend).  I can watch the numeric speed value change during playback, but it would be cool to see speed trending in a histogram for when I'm paddling different boats, trying different paddles, etc. Bracket from 0 MPH to a little over max recorded.  This would be a useful feature for any boat owners using TopoFusion.  There are probably some other non-water related activities that would also benefit from this.

Keep up the good work!

Joel

PS - Semi-related Christmas wish.  Ability to import a Polar heart rate monitor data file and integrate it with the recorded GPS data!  See: developer.polar.fi for the file format description.  I know, don't hold my breath...

3

Archived - Feedback and Comments / Forerunner

« on: March 02, 2004, 11:09:04 PM »

I just dumped a series of Forerunner tracks with a recent version of G7ToWin and yes, date and time are being stored with each point in the active track log as well as the compressed track records.

An additional dialog box ala Endless Pursuit for the saved tracks is probably a good idea.  I personally don't like losing the data resolution with saved/compressed tracks, but some people might not mind.

Joel

4

Archived - Feedback and Comments / Track width

« on: March 01, 2004, 09:21:02 PM »

This is very niche, but I haven't seen this feature in any mapping apps that are commonly used for ground search and rescue.

GPS receivers are starting to be more frequently used for SAR missions to download search team data when they get back to base.  Search managers get a nice idea of where teams have been based on track logs overlaid on digital maps.

There's a bit of a controversy in the ground SAR community right now due to a recently released government report that's quite critical of traditional ground SAR techniques.  (Mostly because scientific search theory has never been applied as it has been in marine searches.)

Anyway, after reading the report findings, it would be useful to have an option to apply a fixed width to a track, and display it on a map.  For example, you have a 5 person search team with 10 meter spacing between each member.  The team member in the center is logging tracks.   When the team got back to base, the search manager could apply the spacing value that was used by the team and display a track path (actually two lines) that define a 40 meter (or whatever) swath that was searched.  (Yes, I know, the precision of the swath will vary depending on a number of factors, but this would be a nice ballpark tool for quickly seeing search coverage.)

Just a thought.  TF has some real nice features that could be pressed into service for SAR work...

Joel

5

Archived - Feedback and Comments / Forerunner

« on: March 01, 2004, 08:53:51 PM »

I'm guessing my review of the Forerunner at: www.eskimo.com/~joelm/forerunner201.htm is probably driving some traffic to TopoFusion.  It's interesting that Garmin's MapSource won't upload tracks from a Forerunner, but TopoFusion performs flawlessly.  Nice work guys...

Anyway, from fooling around with the Forerunner for the past 2.5 months, here's what's happening with the tracks.  There appears to be a single track log file in memory.  The Forerunner can store 3,000 track points (roughly a bit over 5 hours of data).  In addition to the current active track log, the unit stores the tracks for the past 10 runs.  These tracks are compressed to a maximum of 250 track points.  When you reset the stop watch and then start a new run, the Forerunner compresses and saves the active track log, and starts dumping new track points to the cleared active log.  (This info is current as of the latest firmware upgrade.  It appears Garmin increased the number of track points and also changed the granularity, collecting more track points over a period of time.)

The Logbook does suck big time, and considering the new data columns, TF is a much more accurate and complete solution in storing Forerunner output (at least for serious athletes).  Really about the only thing that's missing in TF is calories burned.  (Garmin kind of messed up in making the Forerunner an exclusive running appliance.  It's also well suited for biking and cross-country skiing, but all of the metrics in the unit and software are exclusively oriented toward running.)

Any specific questions on the Forerunner, let me know...

Joel