color coded speed and %grade

[BobL]

I am always describing this program, and, among other things, I really like the color coded altitude!!!
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But I also really want color coded speed and %grade that I can superimpose on a map or sat picture  :->

Here is a point about speed.  It would help detect spurious GPS data.  Sometimes my GPS looses satellites and I get a point well off the track, the distance changes fast but the time does not, so I get a high speed for that one point.  Sometimes it is even the maximum speed and I know it is wrong but cannot find it.  Color coded, it would stick out and I could reposition the point.

Second I am beta testing.  I almost just emailed this to scott but thought I would check this area out.  Is this the best place to post beta-test comments?

Third minor comment,  the pictures work great for me I told 5 people in the bike club this morning about them.  But, if you have turned off the GPS while taking pictures, turned it back on and continued, and then merged the tracks again when downloading, the pictures taken during the time that the GPS was off seem to be left out.  Also some pictures taken quickly together overlap quite a bit.  Maybe you could have the button for the bottom ones bigger.  Or maybe offset close ones a little.

Anyway as always I think this is a great program.
Bob

[Krein]

Bob,

Thanks for the comments.  Keep 'em coming.  This is the right place for this kind of input.  Beta forum would also work, but unless you have comments specific to new features in the betas, we're happy to have comments here.

I agree 100% with speed and grade shading.  Just gotta figure out how best to do the interface.  I suppose the toggle can stay for "shading" in general, and perhaps in options->prefs you can select which type of shading you want?

Re: photofusion.  If you merge the tracks it shouldn't leave any in between out.  I'll have to take a look at this.

The clustering problem can be bad.  Not sure how best to deal with it, but I'd like to get it solved.

Thanks.

[BobL]

Quote (Krein @ Feb. 27 2006,1:33)

speed and grade shading.  Just gotta figure out how best to do the interface.  I suppose the toggle can stay for "shading" in general, and perhaps in options->prefs you can select which type of shading you want?

Hmmm, right clicking mouse button on the track gives an option: "file properties".  It opens up with: "properties"  which is useful info and has: "Track color" at the bottom.  Maybe give this "Track color" some options.  You already have: "Solid (click to change)", could add: elevation shading, grade shading, speed shading, (maybe effort shading :->  hmm I can see difficulties with that one :->.)

Or group "file properties">"track points" stuff together under: "track points" (maybe rename just "track") and have: "edit points", "track colors and shading"

Just ideas.  You probably have better ones.

Bob

PS WRT the photos.  I opened the GPX file as a text file and added some dummy points at the junction with tiny amounts of incrementing Longitude and incrementing time.  You are correct there is no problem with the joining of the tracks but because there was a 15 min period with no movement the photos all fall in exactly the same point and no mater how far in you zoom you cannot distinguish them.
One photo per track point would not help as it would just shift all 20 or so pictures down the track and away from where they were taken.  Some dig. cameras take a burst of 4 pics  maybe you could allow up to 4 pics per track point and offset them in a square.  One, would say, always offset slightly at 45deg 2 always at 135, 3-at 225 and 4-at 315.

20 pictures at one point would still be a problem.  Could you add dummy track points say +/-0.000001 lon and lat?  Maybe as you zoom in on the map the camera icon could become much smaller and scattered as for the 4 above but keep adding more of them around the inner group.

Sorry,  You are doing a great job.  I really like this program (I have tried most of them).  It is better than Ozi IMO and I want it to be perfect. :->


Bob

[dumketu]

Bob had some good points. One thing that might help when you have a cluster of photos would be to open a window that offers a selection of files to choose from. Probably kind of complicated to have topofusion generate html that does this, but it is possible. If the ability to click an icon for the picture right in topofusion is added, it would be relatively straightforward to have a separate dialogue open up.

Brian

[BobBailey]

First of all, let me say that I am using TF for paddling in this case and not for biking. Here's a reference page of a recent river run:
http://ebizmax.com/Boating/HollyRiver/Photos/index.html

I would like to do some things with track shading that may already exist but I can't find them.

First, I would like to be able to specify speed granularity. On a bike one can manage anything from 5mph or less to 30mph or more. On a whitewater river it's generally much less but it does vary. For example, one might really boogie down a rapid for a quarter mile or more. Or, one might sit in an eddy and watch others boogie. Shading a track image to show different speeds at 1mph increments might be very interesting and informative.

Second, I would like to be able to do the same thing with gradient. Some sections of a river may approach 100 feet per mile while others may be nearly flat or anything in between. Shading a track image to show different feet per mile at, say,  5fpm increments might be very interesting and informative.

Finally, the shading controls seem to be these:
1. Shading can be toggled on and off with the button on the toolbar.
2. Shading selection can be specified at Options/ColorShading/ShadeTracksBy {Elevation|Speed|...}
3. Shading control seems to apply to the open instance of the application rather than apply to each track. Seems like a Context (right-click) control for track shading would be more appropriate.

Again, I realize that I am probably operating beyond the design limits of the app but it never hurts to ask, right?

Thanks... Bob

[BobBailey]

I found some of this. I think that some of my problems come from not understanding terminology/organization of TopoFusion. That, plus I don't use it all the time, just in spurts and I forget where things are.

...Bob