Tracker

One of the more interesting uses of the new ssa sailplane tracker is getting to follow some of our fellow pilot's adventures when they drive around and forget to turn the spot off.

Someone went from Mifflin to get a glider out of Baltimore today, and some how got in and out of the port in about 10 minutes. (It took two days the last time someone from our club tried)

http://ssa.org/sailplanetracker/default.asp?

I don't forget - I leave it on when I drive back home as I am in many areas without cellphone coverage and my wife can see how I'm doing.

Mike

On Thursday, June 13, 2013 2:35:58 PM UTC-4, wrote:
One of the more interesting uses of the new ssa sailplane tracker is getting to follow some of our fellow pilot's adventures when they drive around and forget to turn the spot off. Someone went from Mifflin to get a glider out of Baltimore today, and some how got in and out of the port in about 10 minutes. (It took two days the last time someone from our club tried) http://ssa.org/sailplanetracker/default.asp?

Wait till the bosses learn about this.
Hookie? Me?
LOL

Does the Spot talk directly to a satellite or can it connect to the cell
system when your phone can't?


wrote in message
...
On Thursday, June 13, 2013 2:35:58 PM UTC-4, wrote:
One of the more interesting uses of the new ssa sailplane tracker is
getting to follow some of our fellow pilot's adventures when they drive
around and forget to turn the spot off. Someone went from Mifflin to get a
glider out of Baltimore today, and some how got in and out of the port in
about 10 minutes. (It took two days the last time someone from our club
tried) http://ssa.org/sailplanetracker/default.asp?

Wait till the bosses learn about this.
Hookie? Me?
LOL

On Thursday, June 13, 2013 4:09:08 PM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Does the Spot talk directly to a satellite or can it connect to the cell

system when your phone can't?





wrote in message

...

On Thursday, June 13, 2013 2:35:58 PM UTC-4, wrote:

One of the more interesting uses of the new ssa sailplane tracker is

getting to follow some of our fellow pilot's adventures when they drive

around and forget to turn the spot off. Someone went from Mifflin to get a

glider out of Baltimore today, and some how got in and out of the port in

about 10 minutes. (It took two days the last time someone from our club

tried) http://ssa.org/sailplanetracker/default.asp?



Wait till the bosses learn about this.

Hookie? Me?

LOL

Dan, Spot is a sattelite messenger device, it only connects through satellites.
I urge you to get one, even before powerflarm...
As for leaving the spot on, I know of at least one pilot who leaves his spot on when driving home so his wife can time the dinner with his arrival, although, with the typical 10-30 min delay I doubt this is working well for him :-)

Speaking of tracking, at least on the ground, iphone users can use the free "Find Friends" app which shows real time location as long as there is cell service. According to my wife it is also working in the air reasonably well, I guess when I am low enough. Works perfect for ground retrieve, as both the crew and pilot can tell where each other is.

Ramy

I am glad the SSA membership, friends, family and crew are enjoying the new SSA Tracker and Contest Tracker. I urge everyone to register your SPOT or InReach with the SSA through your profile page. Please consider making the track "public" so it can be viewed on the tracker.

If you compete, make sure your SSA online contest form answers in the affirmative when it asks if you have a tracking device (if your device shows up in the general map but not the contest map this may be the problem). Another gotcha is if your contest ID on file with the SSA is not the actual contest ID that is entered in WinScore at the contest. These are some gotchas that will be addressed during the winter months. Also notice that we are now archiving weather data every thirty minutes so you can replay the weather on the day of your flight. All flights are archived so scroll back to special days and continue to relive the excitement! Many thanks to Pedja Bogdanovich, Doug Eason, Guy Buyers and everyone else that worked tirelessly the last two years to make this app available. Stand by for more!

Lane Bush
XF

Another gotcha is if your contest ID on file with the SSA is not the actual contest ID that is entered in WinScore at the contest. These are some gotchas that will be addressed during the winter months.

Thanks. Is there anything us "gotten" can do about it? The SSA website resolutely insists I'm 2BB, not BB. I try to change it with every contest entry, and the website always changes it back.

John Cochrane
2BB or not 2BB, that is the question

The SSA web site as well as the new tracker web site are not clear as of what one needs to do to have their spot listed. Apparently many are already listed automatically so my initial assumption was that it was based on the SSA profiles and no registration is required but others found out that although they had their spot URL in their profile they also needed to register on the new tracker page as well. Will be good if this can be clarified.
Also many users are using Internet explorer and mobile devices which are not supported.
Otherwise this is indeed a great tool.
Thanks for all the hard work.

Ramy

Ramy,

To register a tracking with the SSA please refer to the following web page:

http://www.ssa.org/SailplaneLocator?show=blog&id=2006

You can register directly with GlidePort and tracking will show up on the GlidePort site but all of the SSA features may not be available. Therefore please register through your SSA profile even if you have registered with GlidePort. In the future this will be even more important as new features are added.

In regards to browser compatibility, the SSA web host downloads specs on our web usage. Believe it or not the web is accessed with Safari, Chrome or Firefox 94% of the time. These browsers use similar code so Explorer has been ignored for the time being. I realize this may be inconvenient if you are a died in the wool Explorer fan and I apologize. Hopefully our generous developer will be able to work the Explorer kinks out when things slow down. Regarding the mobile device compatibility, the developer (Pedja) has turned on the mobile compatibility from time to time. Due to membership pressure to role this app out for summer 2013 the mobile device feature had to be put on the back burner. I believe the developer will concentrate on the mobile device integration this winter.

Please keep in mind that Pedja has created this app for the free use of soaring enthusiasts and has graciously worked with the SSA to integrate it into our web and our contest system. The development, tech support and hosting is all free of charge to the SSA. There are more exciting developments to come. Hopefully you will find your SSA membership more and more valuable..

John, do you "own 2BB or BB"? I know that BB is your preferred number. You are more plugged into the contest hierarchy than me so if you are having contest number trouble I can't imagine who in the world can fix it for you.. We definitely need to get this fixed for you. Everyone working on this app is in competition mode right now and Pedja himself is heading to Europe to compete. Any serious coding work will not take place until this winter I am afraid. I believe you have my email address if you would like to work on your issue send me a full description and I will see if the SSA administration can solve the issue in Hobbs.

Lane Bush
XF

On Friday, June 14, 2013 9:14:14 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Another gotcha is if your contest ID on file with the SSA is not the actual contest ID that is entered in WinScore at the contest. These are some gotchas that will be addressed during the winter months. Thanks. Is there anything us "gotten" can do about it? The SSA website resolutely insists I'm 2BB, not BB. I try to change it with every contest entry, and the website always changes it back. John Cochrane 2BB or not 2BB, that is the question

Maybe you wil need to have SSA Cancel your "ownership" of contest ID "2BB", John. That is what they say you "own". They show Robert H Bramlett, Jr. as the owner of "BB". I don't "own" a contest number, so maybe it takes whatever is put in at the contest site?

Steve Leonard
ZS (two planes), VJS, KN, and a whole host of others.