Improved live tracking for the SSA membership?

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 2:00:27 AM UTC+3, Sean Fidler wrote:
iPhones and the iPhone "app" seem to be a little less capable/reliable in general.

iPhones have features that try to prevent apps from unnecessarily using CPU, communications etc in the background and draining your battery quickly.

But there are ways for an app to tell the OS "No, I actually do need to do this, it's not just by accident".

Details at: https://developer.apple.com/library/...Execution.html

See, in particular:

- Implementing Long-Running Tasks
- Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app and/or
- Apps that need to download and process new content regularly

Apps that implement these services must declare the services they support and use system frameworks to implement the relevant aspects of those services.

In Xcode 5 and later, you declare the background modes your app supports from the Capabilities tab of your project settings. Enabling the Background Modes option adds the UIBackgroundModes key to your app’s Info.plist file. Selecting one or more checkboxes adds the corresponding background mode values to that key.

More information at: https://developer.apple.com/library/...009497-CH2-SW1

I'm currently working for Samsung and haven't written iOS code for a few years, but I found this information in about two minutes, so you'd hope any competent iOS developer would be able to as well.

Reading on ...

Deferring Location Updates While Your App Is in the Background

https://developer.apple.com/library/...09497-CH2-SW14

This is interesting. Your app can tell iOS to record the user's movements, but only wake the app after a certain distance has been travelled, or a certain time has elapsed. The OS will then wake your app and give it all the information that was gathered in the meantime.

With suitable tuning you could use this to get frequent updates while the glider is flying at high speed, but less frequent while thermaling in one place. The end result on the map could be as detailed as you want, but with a number of location points arriving at the same time (every 15 or 30 seconds maybe).

Or course a good app should accumulate location fixes if internet connectivity is lost, and then send them all together when there is signal again.

None of this is difficult to do.

This is useful and interesting info. Thanks.

The bottom line is that SSA tracking system can only be as good as the quality and detail of the tracking data which it receives (and the overall percentage of properly function trackers, which probably needs to be improved from 5% to a consistent 95%+). Today, Glideport "feature" mostly Spot Sat Trackers (10 min max tracks, no altitude data) and a large number of pilots without any tracker (sat, mobile or Flarm, or ADS-B) at all. Just watch Glideport.aero at any upcoming SSA contest. Watch Perry contest today (now). I'll give $20 to anyone who can prove (video) that they watched today's Perry tasks tracking continuously for more than 20 minutes and enjoyed it. It's just embarrassing. No tasks, low quality tracks, etc. It doesn't need to be this way. It shouldn't be allowable for it it be this way!

Glideport is a highly capable product. Brilliant in fact. It's downfall is that it requires SSA members to care. It is simply being underutilized (aka ignored) both by pilots and contest organizers. I suspect the motivation to further expand and improve Glideport must be quite low when the overall SSA member adoption is so poor. So we have very low overall adoption and a stagnant tracking system which is not being showcased, enhanced or improved. Typical...

Without a focused leader, without a goal, without infectious passion and enthusiasm, without an exciting marketing plan, without innovation, without news and updates on milestones, without persistence, without steady promotion, without a balanced and determined effort to meet said goal, without the serious drive required to not allow mediocrity or failure, few such things succeed.

If mobile phones are going to be part of the answer (and I'm doubting that is the case at this point), the app developers need to be motivated (and compensated) in order to keep these applications up to date and constantly improving. The android app developer (IGCDroid) gets a few bucks at purchase, I think. He has made some updates and it actually works fairly well. The iOS app (GlideTrack) is free (I think) but, unsurprisingly, has also not been updated since 2014!!! Can you imagine how much iOS has changed in nearly FOUR YEARS? It simply does not work on my iPhone 7+. These developers should be annually compensated with an annual fee. In return, the app code should be maintained top notch with regular updates, device testing, and even training & support. Perhaps even efforts to innovate (example, integrate with sat device when out of range), etc., or even to build commercially available dedicated on/off simple trackers!

It would be so easy to take this tracking opportunity from a clear failure (complete with crater) to huge, exciting, star of the art, positive success....it just needs stronger, more passionate leadership and a new plan.

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 7:08:18 PM UTC+3, Sean Fidler wrote:
The iOS app (GlideTrack) is free (I think) but, unsurprisingly, has also not been updated since 2014!!! Can you imagine how much iOS has changed in nearly FOUR YEARS? It simply does not work on my iPhone 7+. These developers should be annually compensated with an annual fee.

I just downloaded it. Yes, free. Looks to be a extremely simple app, with almost no UI -- the kind of thing you could throw together in a weekend.

The app shows a URL on the settings screen: http://glideport.aero/api

I went to that address hoping to get the specifications of how to write an app to talk to the server, but that page is a 404 (http not found).

....It's downfall is that it requires SSA members to care. It is simply being underutilized (aka ignored) both by pilots and contest organizers...
Almost seems as though the soaring community at large doesn't track your values. If you are the sole outlier is everyone else still wrong?

Bravo!!! The tasks are actually showing up today in Glideport.aero for the tasks at Perry.

Watching it, and replaying it, becomes immediately & dramatically more interesting.

Imagine what else is possible with a little care and feeding…

https://youtu.be/p9P2M5DtdPc

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 12:08:18 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
This is useful and interesting info. Thanks.

The bottom line is that SSA tracking system can only be as good as the quality and detail of the tracking data which it receives (and the overall percentage of properly function trackers, which probably needs to be improved from 5% to a consistent 95%+). Today, Glideport "feature" mostly Spot Sat Trackers (10 min max tracks, no altitude data) and a large number of pilots without any tracker (sat, mobile or Flarm, or ADS-B) at all. Just watch Glideport.aero at any upcoming SSA contest. Watch Perry contest today (now). I'll give $20 to anyone who can prove (video) that they watched today's Perry tasks tracking continuously for more than 20 minutes and enjoyed it. It's just embarrassing. No tasks, low quality tracks, etc. It doesn't need to be this way. It shouldn't be allowable for it it be this way!

Glideport is a highly capable product. Brilliant in fact. It's downfall is that it requires SSA members to care. It is simply being underutilized (aka ignored) both by pilots and contest organizers. I suspect the motivation to further expand and improve Glideport must be quite low when the overall SSA member adoption is so poor. So we have very low overall adoption and a stagnant tracking system which is not being showcased, enhanced or improved. Typical...

Without a focused leader, without a goal, without infectious passion and enthusiasm, without an exciting marketing plan, without innovation, without news and updates on milestones, without persistence, without steady promotion, without a balanced and determined effort to meet said goal, without the serious drive required to not allow mediocrity or failure, few such things succeed.

If mobile phones are going to be part of the answer (and I'm doubting that is the case at this point), the app developers need to be motivated (and compensated) in order to keep these applications up to date and constantly improving. The android app developer (IGCDroid) gets a few bucks at purchase, I think. He has made some updates and it actually works fairly well. The iOS app (GlideTrack) is free (I think) but, unsurprisingly, has also not been updated since 2014!!! Can you imagine how much iOS has changed in nearly FOUR YEARS? It simply does not work on my iPhone 7+. These developers should be annually compensated with an annual fee. In return, the app code should be maintained top notch with regular updates, device testing, and even training & support. Perhaps even efforts to innovate (example, integrate with sat device when out of range), etc., or even to build commercially available dedicated on/off simple trackers!

It would be so easy to take this tracking opportunity from a clear failure (complete with crater) to huge, exciting, star of the art, positive success...it just needs stronger, more passionate leadership and a new plan.

On Friday, 21 April 2017 15:11:40 UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bravo!!! The tasks are actually showing up today in Glideport.aero for the tasks at Perry.

Watching it, and replaying it, becomes immediately & dramatically more interesting.

Imagine what else is possible with a little care and feeding…

https://youtu.be/p9P2M5DtdPc

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 12:08:18 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
This is useful and interesting info. Thanks.

The bottom line is that SSA tracking system can only be as good as the quality and detail of the tracking data which it receives (and the overall percentage of properly function trackers, which probably needs to be improved from 5% to a consistent 95%+). Today, Glideport "feature" mostly Spot Sat Trackers (10 min max tracks, no altitude data) and a large number of pilots without any tracker (sat, mobile or Flarm, or ADS-B) at all. Just watch Glideport.aero at any upcoming SSA contest. Watch Perry contest today (now). I'll give $20 to anyone who can prove (video) that they watched today's Perry tasks tracking continuously for more than 20 minutes and enjoyed it. It's just embarrassing. No tasks, low quality tracks, etc. It doesn't need to be this way. It shouldn't be allowable for it it be this way!

Glideport is a highly capable product. Brilliant in fact. It's downfall is that it requires SSA members to care. It is simply being underutilized (aka ignored) both by pilots and contest organizers. I suspect the motivation to further expand and improve Glideport must be quite low when the overall SSA member adoption is so poor. So we have very low overall adoption and a stagnant tracking system which is not being showcased, enhanced or improved. Typical...

Without a focused leader, without a goal, without infectious passion and enthusiasm, without an exciting marketing plan, without innovation, without news and updates on milestones, without persistence, without steady promotion, without a balanced and determined effort to meet said goal, without the serious drive required to not allow mediocrity or failure, few such things succeed.

If mobile phones are going to be part of the answer (and I'm doubting that is the case at this point), the app developers need to be motivated (and compensated) in order to keep these applications up to date and constantly improving. The android app developer (IGCDroid) gets a few bucks at purchase, I think. He has made some updates and it actually works fairly well. The iOS app (GlideTrack) is free (I think) but, unsurprisingly, has also not been updated since 2014!!! Can you imagine how much iOS has changed in nearly FOUR YEARS? It simply does not work on my iPhone 7+. These developers should be annually compensated with an annual fee. In return, the app code should be maintained top notch with regular updates, device testing, and even training & support. Perhaps even efforts to innovate (example, integrate with sat device when out of range), etc., or even to build commercially available dedicated on/off simple trackers!

It would be so easy to take this tracking opportunity from a clear failure (complete with crater) to huge, exciting, star of the art, positive success...it just needs stronger, more passionate leadership and a new plan.

If you read the updates provided by the contest you will read that a technical issue was resolved by a number of folks to get the tasks displayed. Lots of great efforts being put forth behind the scenes. Thanks to all

We had no need to utilize Winscore (of course) during the SGP USA (you should see the FAI SGP scoring software (browser based), it's UNREAL!). During the SGP, we simply programmed the task into GP.aero manually each morning via a simple interface which Pedja provides contest organizers. Before the FAI SGP USA competition, Pedja needed me to provide him the contestant names, TP files, tracker ID's, etc. After building this list and sending to Pejda, we were ready to go. Each day the task took only 1-2 minutes to enter. No problems. It all worked very nicely although the tracks (from both mobile apps and InReach only) were just not detailed enough.

I had seen task appear in GP.aero during a Perry practice day (roughly one week ago). So it had been working for them earlier. I'm wondering what "technical difficulty" required all this "effort?" That is a real concern. This system should not be complicated or technical for end users. It is critical that the tasks are easy to get into GP.aero. If the Perry gang can't do this, how can we expect a smaller contest to do it? Those smaller events would not have access to all the "technical" help? This all needs to be very simple for those folks too. This all needs to be standard, simple and consistent stuff.

Regardless, we still desperately need better tracking hardware which delivers affordable, highly refreshed and detailed, reliable, easy to use, and VERY fun to watch live tracking for all US events and contests... This is just not the case at current. Not even in sight yet...well over the horizon. Not in Australia of course. They are killing it, and have been for a couple of years now................

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 6:15:40 PM UTC-4, Ron Gleason wrote:
On Friday, 21 April 2017 15:11:40 UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bravo!!! The tasks are actually showing up today in Glideport.aero for the tasks at Perry.

Watching it, and replaying it, becomes immediately & dramatically more interesting.

Imagine what else is possible with a little care and feeding…

https://youtu.be/p9P2M5DtdPc

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 12:08:18 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
This is useful and interesting info. Thanks.

The bottom line is that SSA tracking system can only be as good as the quality and detail of the tracking data which it receives (and the overall percentage of properly function trackers, which probably needs to be improved from 5% to a consistent 95%+). Today, Glideport "feature" mostly Spot Sat Trackers (10 min max tracks, no altitude data) and a large number of pilots without any tracker (sat, mobile or Flarm, or ADS-B) at all. Just watch Glideport.aero at any upcoming SSA contest. Watch Perry contest today (now). I'll give $20 to anyone who can prove (video) that they watched today's Perry tasks tracking continuously for more than 20 minutes and enjoyed it. It's just embarrassing. No tasks, low quality tracks, etc. It doesn't need to be this way. It shouldn't be allowable for it it be this way!

Glideport is a highly capable product. Brilliant in fact. It's downfall is that it requires SSA members to care. It is simply being underutilized (aka ignored) both by pilots and contest organizers. I suspect the motivation to further expand and improve Glideport must be quite low when the overall SSA member adoption is so poor. So we have very low overall adoption and a stagnant tracking system which is not being showcased, enhanced or improved. Typical...

Without a focused leader, without a goal, without infectious passion and enthusiasm, without an exciting marketing plan, without innovation, without news and updates on milestones, without persistence, without steady promotion, without a balanced and determined effort to meet said goal, without the serious drive required to not allow mediocrity or failure, few such things succeed.

If mobile phones are going to be part of the answer (and I'm doubting that is the case at this point), the app developers need to be motivated (and compensated) in order to keep these applications up to date and constantly improving. The android app developer (IGCDroid) gets a few bucks at purchase, I think. He has made some updates and it actually works fairly well. The iOS app (GlideTrack) is free (I think) but, unsurprisingly, has also not been updated since 2014!!! Can you imagine how much iOS has changed in nearly FOUR YEARS? It simply does not work on my iPhone 7+. These developers should be annually compensated with an annual fee. In return, the app code should be maintained top notch with regular updates, device testing, and even training & support. Perhaps even efforts to innovate (example, integrate with sat device when out of range), etc., or even to build commercially available dedicated on/off simple trackers!

It would be so easy to take this tracking opportunity from a clear failure (complete with crater) to huge, exciting, star of the art, positive success...it just needs stronger, more passionate leadership and a new plan.

If you read the updates provided by the contest you will read that a technical issue was resolved by a number of folks to get the tasks displayed. Lots of great efforts being put forth behind the scenes. Thanks to all

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 3:15:40 PM UTC-7, Ron Gleason wrote:
On Friday, 21 April 2017 15:11:40 UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bravo!!! The tasks are actually showing up today in Glideport.aero for the tasks at Perry.

Watching it, and replaying it, becomes immediately & dramatically more interesting.

Imagine what else is possible with a little care and feeding…

https://youtu.be/p9P2M5DtdPc

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 12:08:18 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
This is useful and interesting info. Thanks.

The bottom line is that SSA tracking system can only be as good as the quality and detail of the tracking data which it receives (and the overall percentage of properly function trackers, which probably needs to be improved from 5% to a consistent 95%+). Today, Glideport "feature" mostly Spot Sat Trackers (10 min max tracks, no altitude data) and a large number of pilots without any tracker (sat, mobile or Flarm, or ADS-B) at all. Just watch Glideport.aero at any upcoming SSA contest. Watch Perry contest today (now). I'll give $20 to anyone who can prove (video) that they watched today's Perry tasks tracking continuously for more than 20 minutes and enjoyed it. It's just embarrassing. No tasks, low quality tracks, etc. It doesn't need to be this way. It shouldn't be allowable for it it be this way!

Glideport is a highly capable product. Brilliant in fact. It's downfall is that it requires SSA members to care. It is simply being underutilized (aka ignored) both by pilots and contest organizers. I suspect the motivation to further expand and improve Glideport must be quite low when the overall SSA member adoption is so poor. So we have very low overall adoption and a stagnant tracking system which is not being showcased, enhanced or improved. Typical...

Without a focused leader, without a goal, without infectious passion and enthusiasm, without an exciting marketing plan, without innovation, without news and updates on milestones, without persistence, without steady promotion, without a balanced and determined effort to meet said goal, without the serious drive required to not allow mediocrity or failure, few such things succeed.

If mobile phones are going to be part of the answer (and I'm doubting that is the case at this point), the app developers need to be motivated (and compensated) in order to keep these applications up to date and constantly improving. The android app developer (IGCDroid) gets a few bucks at purchase, I think. He has made some updates and it actually works fairly well. The iOS app (GlideTrack) is free (I think) but, unsurprisingly, has also not been updated since 2014!!! Can you imagine how much iOS has changed in nearly FOUR YEARS? It simply does not work on my iPhone 7+. These developers should be annually compensated with an annual fee. In return, the app code should be maintained top notch with regular updates, device testing, and even training & support. Perhaps even efforts to innovate (example, integrate with sat device when out of range), etc., or even to build commercially available dedicated on/off simple trackers!

It would be so easy to take this tracking opportunity from a clear failure (complete with crater) to huge, exciting, star of the art, positive success...it just needs stronger, more passionate leadership and a new plan.

If you read the updates provided by the contest you will read that a technical issue was resolved by a number of folks to get the tasks displayed. Lots of great efforts being put forth behind the scenes. Thanks to all

Just saw Doug Easton and thanked him.
Jim