Sportsim Weblog

What about a sport GPS with online capabilities?

Every week we receive new request for live tracking of sport events and for training purposes.  We have conducted some live beta testing this summer, but a returning problem is to find suitable hardware.

Now with Google Maps, Virtual Earth and Yahoo Maps open API's available it’s possible to make nice combined solutions to replay GPS tracks on maps on a web site.

OK, but what about cell phones?

Sure, maybe in 2-3 years? Until then will cell phone location based services just be that – location based with services.  I mean - we want to know where we are, request information about local facilities, and get directions from A to B on maps, and we want it on the fly. This is the focal point for cellphone vendors since it provide important content for the operators.

All very well, but this does not make them suitable for activity monitoring and tracking for sports.

OK, this is what we want:

An athlete GPS watch with GPRS (2,5 G) tranfer capabilities.

Capabilities (short list):

-         GPS watch with display for time, speed, distance, and heart rate

-         suitable for all kind of weather conditions

-         transmit position data every 5 sec

-         sufficient battery capacity and memory backup

It’s possible to manufacture such a device with today’s new GPS chip set technology and if the price is right it’s also an interesting market out there.

Sportsim and others will provide suitable applications for it - thats our job.

So, what can we use it for?

-         live racing -  follow race on web site or big screen

-         family tracking while training – security

-         all data online when finished training session – no more cable transfers, analyze your training when you want - it's already stored and online available!

Have nice weekend J

Gjermund

What’s up with Google Maps?

Google Maps was too good to be left alone.  With our new beta release of a Google Maps Replay version you can replay 1 or up to 4 activities simultaneously.  This is similar to what we have been doing in larger sport-events where users can replay their race based on chip timing technology in a Java Applet.  The Java Applet is better than Google Maps on the replay functionality, but Google Maps solves a seamless global plug and play map coverage problem.

But, the coolest thing with Google Maps is that activities can easily be shared on the Internet with no web browser limitations and requirement for additional software plug-ins.  We have also evaluated to use Yahoo Maps or Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, but they fell short because of less global map coverage.  Google Maps is today a better choice on coverage, but still very limited for street maps outside North-America/UK/Japan.  They have however a global satellite image coverage with 30-15m resolution and with greater detailed resolutions in several larger cities around the globe.

So, will you switch from desktop to web?

No, the combination of desktop and web application will be the best user solution and this is our second step towards an additional web application service for our users. What’s new for us is that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft now makes this more feasible than ever before in their battle to attract content providers to their map services.

Will you include Google Maps in the desktop application?

No, our main map provider is ESRI ArcWeb Services and that adds increased global coverage compared to Google Maps. We would although consider Google Maps as an option, but that is against the Google Maps API Terms.

Will you also offer the Java Applet for my custom maps?

This is not our focus right now, but we still evaluate the Java Applet as an interesting option for users that will like to use their custom maps.  As an example are custom maps required in orienteering.

Search and check out current activities on Google Maps on the Sportsim On Web site. In addition we have added the possibility to view activities in 3D with Google Earth software.  Just make sure that you have installed Google Earth software for windows and click the google earth link on the lower right corner.

Cheers,

Gjermund

Team Sportsim