Latest improvements: tablet browsing, event tracker, heart rate and power zones
We like to keep a constant flow of new features here on Map My Tracks. Most are developed as a result of feedback from our users and others fit nicely into our long term plan to make sure Map My Tracks is the best sports community available.
We’ve been busy behind the scenes developing some key new features that include better mobile browsing, full support for heart rate and power zones, new effort scores and loads of event tracking features. We’ll summaries the main features starting with mobile browsing.
Better tablet browsing
There has been a dedicated mobile version for a while now and it a great way to browse your profile in a mobile browser. With more people browsing the Map My Tracks on tablet devices we wanted to make sure that commonly used pages were nice and slick for these screen sizes.
We’ve tweaked the activity page to optimise the layout for tablets. This makes it super simple for coaches, friends and family to follow a person’s workout in real-time. It’s a great tool to remotely monitor their progress, speed, heart rate and power all in real-time.
Heart rate and power zones
Personalised heart rate and power zones can now be set up. Once set, each activity that includes heart rate or power data uses the zones to give you more information about the time and effort in zone. Zones are a great way to measure your training progress and provide an invaluable metric to monitor.
If you are not using heart rate or power in your workout then we would recommend that you start. The Map My Tracks app supports the Wahoo Fitness range of sensors and makes it easy to record (or broadcast live) your heart rate. For the cyclists out there that ride with power meters our app can also be used in conjunction with the Wahoo Fitness sensors to record (or broadcast live) power data.
Heart rate and power zones are a Map My Tracks PLUS feature so upgrade now to take advantage of this new feature.
Effort score
Along side the new heart rate zones we have also added a new effort score for each activity that includes heart rate data. The effort score is a measure of how much work you’ve done for each activity.
Map My Tracks scores the effort made for each activity by analyzing heart rate. The harder you work, or the longer go, and the effort score goes up. Take it easy and the effort score goes down. It’s to compare your activities with your training buddies.
The Effort Score is based on the intensity, derived by heart rate, and the duration of the activity. Map My Tracks automatically score any activity that has personalised heart rate zones and heart rate data is available. To have your activity effort scored first set up your heart rate zones and ensure you record your heart rate during your activities
Event tracking tools and features
We’ve been busy enhancing the range of features that event organiser can take advantage of to broadcast their event live. New to the Map My Tracks Event Tracker is more control over creating races, enhanced elevation profiles, route markers and much more. This round of changes provides event organisers with more control over how each event is presented and makes it easier to manage races and events.
We hope you like all the new features across the site. There’s are loads more in the pipeline and we’ll let you know as soon as they are ready to use.
Be the first in line for Map My Tracks OutFront for Android
Don't wait longer than needed to be told about the official Map My Tracks Android app. Sign up now to get a email alert once the app is ready to download.
We’ve been working on the Android app for some time but it’s close to being ready. To be fair it has taken us longer than we would have liked but we but we wanted to make sure that the Android app was just as good as our iPhone app.
Map My Tracks OutFront for Android will include live and recorded activity tracking, comprehensive stats analysis, activity history, following of friends and much more. The app is tightly synced with a person’s website profile and allows a two way sync to make it easy to keep track of all your workouts.
We still have some features to finish so it won’t be ready for a few weeks but if you’d like to hear from us once it launched sign up now.
Planned maintenance
On Monday April 16 we will be carrying out some planned maintenance to upgrade servers at our data centre.
The maintenance will result in two periods of down time across Monday. The first will be from 00:00 (BST) for no more than one hour. In reality it will probably be for only half an hour while hardware changes to the server infrastructure and made. After this first period all systems will be back online.
The second period of maintenance is planned for 10:00 (BST) and will last for up to four hours.
The website, live tracking and API requests will all be interrupted during these maintenance windows.
We realise that this will caused some inconvenience to our users but this maintenance is necessary in order to cater for our growing number of users and their associated data. The steps that we are taking at this time will ensure that we are able to scale up as new users begin using Map My Tracks.
We will be keeping everyone updated throughout Monday through Twitter.
Improvements to time zone management
To ensure that your activities are logged on the day that they are done we have made some improvements to the way that activity dates are managed. Now it's possible to set your local time zone which controls when your activities are logged in your activity stream, weekly and monthly charts.
If you are based outside the GMT time zone we recommend that you set your local time through your setting preferences.
It’s a small, but useful, change that helps keep your activities in shape.
Ride the March Mile Challenge
It's that time again. Spring is just around the corner it's time to dust off the bike (if you haven't already) and put in some base miles to get in shape for 2012 in the Map My Tracks March Miles Challenge. To help motivate you to get out riding and put in the miles the winner will receive a Team Sky adidas jersey signed by the pro riders and other goodies from Gatorade and Map My Tracks
The challenge is simple: ride hard and ride long in March and be in with a chance to win a Team Sky adidas jersey signed by the pro riders. The winner will be the person that logs the most miles ridden in March here on Map My Tracks.
First prize includes:
Team Sky adidas jersey signed by the riders of the team
One year subscription to Map My Tracks PLUS
Team Sky Gatorade bottle and starter pack
Map My Tracks mobile wallet
The two runners up will receive a one year subscription to Map My Tracks PLUS, Team Sky Gatorade bottle & starter pack and Map My Tracks mobile wallet. Everyone that enters will receive a memento of their efforts with a new badge for their Map My Tracks profile.
This year we are also looking for some photos of you in action. Upload photos to the Map My Tracks Facebook page with details of your rides.
How to participate
To participate in this challenge simply upload evidence of your rides to Map My Tracks and tag them ‘MarchMiles2012’. All tagged rides will be featured on the MarchMiles2012 hub that provides a running total of everyone’s mileage so you’ll be able to keep track on what you need to do to win.
The challenge is free to enter and open to anyone that has a bike and can upload their rides to Map My Tracks. Qualifying rides will be any that are done in March 2012 and tagged with ‘MarchMiles2012’. Rides can be uploaded and tagged directly from a Map My Tracks mobile apps or imported from Garmin devices and any that output a GPX file. You’ll need a free account on Map My Tracks to participate so if you don’t have one already sign up now or log in with your Facebook account to get started.
We’ll be announcing the winner during the first week in April after all the miles have been checked. We’ll be making sure that only cycle rides are taken into account so don’t be tempted to jump in the car instead.
Getting started
To participate make sure you:
- Have a Map My Tracks account. It’s free so sign up now.
- Upload and tag your rides with ‘MarchMiles2012’
- And finally, get the miles in and keep on eye on the March Miles Challenge Hub.
Good luck to everyone. Stay safe on the roads.
London to Paris 2012 training rides
For the last two years Map My Tracks has been providing live tracking for the Hotchillee London to Paris event. June will see hundreds of cyclist enjoy rolling road closures all the way to Paris and in the past Map My Tracks has watched the event from the comfort of Map My Tracks HQ - but not this year. Like all the other riders Team Map My Tracks will be on the road taking part in the event and enjoying the roller coaster ride from London to Paris.
While the event is still some way off the training has kicked in with the first Spring ride taking place on January 29. It’s a great chance for participants to get to know each other and get some base miles in as preparation for the main event in June.
With training now the main priority we thought it would be helpful to showcase how you can use Map My Tracks in the run up to the event to help get yourself in good shape. Here are a couple of the ways that you can stay motivated and keep in touch with fellow riders between each formal training ride.
Spring training rides
Each Spring training ride has been added to the HotChillee Training Ride event on Map My Tracks. The event is open to join and after each training ride it will feature a replay that lets participants compare their performance against others.
To include your ride in the replay first join the event and then upload your ride data to Map My Tracks. It’s possible to upload data from Garmin devices or from the one of the Map My Tracks apps.
General training rides
If you missed the training rider and you venturing out on your own then these too can be added to the L2P2012 hub on Map My Tracks. The L2P2012 Hub is a great way to share your rides, find other nearby riders. Best of all - the Hall of Fame will tally up your training miles!
To include your ride on the L2P2012 Hub simply upload your ride data to Map My Tracks and tag it with ‘L2P2012’. All tagged activities will appear on the hub and be included in the Hall of Fame that tallies each person’s total mileage.
With the event none only five months away it will be important to get the base training in place now so we hope to see some of those miles on Map My Tracks.
If you’re new to Map My Tracks and want upload your rides then register first. Once registered you can upload recorded ride data direct from Garmin devices or as GPX, TCX, FIT CRS and SRM files. If you want to stream, or record, your ride data with a mobile then you can use the Map My Tracks iPhone app OutFront or one of the apps available for other models.
Introducing Map My Tracks Event Tracker at the Tour Down Under
Live tracking is at the heart of everything that Map My Tracks does. It’s where Map My Tracks started some five years ago and the goal has always been to provide sports events with a viable mass tracking solution that is easy to use and engaging for spectators to watch online.
Today Map My Tracks officially launches the Event Tracker. To celebrate the launch the Event Tracker it is being used by UCI WorldTour team GreenEDGE in the Tour Down Under. Online spectators can watch a live stream of biometric data and real-time telemetry from the pro peloton and follow all the latest news from the event. Each rider’s heart rate, power, cadence and speed along with their position in the race all feature in the Event Tracker for online spectators to follow.
Map My Tracks Event Tracker works in conjunction with a range of supported mobile apps for sports tracking. During an event the Map My Tracks iPhone app, OutFront, captures and streams live data from each participant and broadcasts it live to the event tracker for spectators to follow, both online and via the app itself. As the tracking device is a mobile phone is makes using Map My Tracks Event Tracker the only viable tracking solution for mass participations sports events like sportives, marathons and regattas. There’s no need for specialist tracking devices, just a mobile phone with a compatible app from Map My Tracks. Cycling, running or sailing event organisers now have a way of showcasing their event live online while it takes place for online spectators around the world to follow.
Map My Tracks is a social network for sports enthusiasts where people share their training and workouts. As with all of its features there is a strong social theme to the Event Tracker. It’s an open system where event organisers can add their event and races themselves and participants opt in to be a part of the live event. It is as good to use in at professional event like the Tour Down Under or simply for a weekend run or training ride out with friends.
The Map My Tracks team have drawn on their experience of providing custom tracking solutions for Team Sky and sports events like the HotChillee London to Paris and the Cracknell - Walters E2E Record Attempt to provide an online experience that is an asset to participants, event organisers and online spectators.
Live tracking is just one side of it the Event Tracker. Each event can be replayed to provide second-by-second analysis of the action. Detailed statistics of an individual’s performance can be assessed and shared with friends, family or coaches.
The launch of the Event Tracker is timed to coincide with the start of the 2012 cycling, running and sailing season providing sportive, marathon and regatta organisers with a live tracking system that can include all of their participants, not just the elite athletes.
The pro cycling team, GreenEDGE, will be one of the first to use the Map My Tracks Event Tracker in the Tour Down Under. Live tracking is available to watch online during the event from January 17 to January 22. Each race starts at 11:00 local time and a replay of the day’s action is available any time after the race finish.
For more information about the Map My Tracks Event Tracker, or custom event tracking solutions, contact the events team.
Map My Tracks add hashtag and @name support
Map My Tracks now supports the widely accepted standards for linking to other users and tagging content. From today, website users can add '@' links and hashtags to activity notes and comments to automatically link to other people's profiles or to groups of tagged activities.
The introduction of these features make is easy to link to friend’s on Map My Tracks and group activities together from events or training sessions.
They are as easy to use as they are on services like Twitter and work in just the same way. For example the hashtag of #marchmiles links through to a hub featuring all the activities using the tag and also include a distance tally from any user using the tag. Likewise @Nick links through to Nick’s profile page.
At the moment this is only available on the website but the next release of OutFront will include this as well.
It’s a simple but powerful addition to Map My Tracks and one that we hope you like.
Unexpected system outage on Christmas day
Over the Christmas period, Map My Tracks suffered an unfortunate, and embarrassing, bug that rendered the system unable to record telemetry from live or synced tracks. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused and, (to help anyone else who may find themselves in the same position), explain what happened.
“ERROR 1062: Duplicate entry ‘2147483647’ for key 1”
At 6am on Christmas Day 2011, we recorded our 2 billion, 147 million 483 thousand 647th data item. A second later, the 2,147,483,648th data item was received, and the database table charged with storing it was unable to do so. This was because the datatype of the table’s primary key was unable to represent numbers bigger than 2,147,483,647. It was a seemingly minor oversight, made over a year ago, but was to have major ramifications.
A victim of our own success
We strive to offer the best sports tracking service in the marketplace, no matter if it’s lunchtime on a normal business day, or the early hours of Christmas morning. We believe that in order to offer the best tracking service, activities should be recorded as accurately and as granularly as possible. To that end, an activity recorded with Map My Tracks has a granularity of up to 2 seconds and can consist 8 separate metrics. All this data, from our hundreds of thousands of users, adds up to billions of records.
Are my activities lost?
During this outage any activity uploaded to Map My Tracks will not have been stored correctly. If you have tracked using OutFront, then your activity data has been stored locally on your iPhone. You can sync your activities from your phone to the website again to view them online. To do this, navigate to the Activities->History section and tap the (…) button immediately below the activity you want to sync. You will then see an option to “Sync with website”.
If you have uploaded from a Garmin device or GPX file then we recommend that you upload the activity again and delete the old one.
Once again, we are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Having made the changes to get the system back online we can confirm that it’s now good for another 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 data items…
OutFront 2.2 for iphone adds support for ANT+ power devices, zones and more
Every once and while we are able to bring news of some great new features and today is one such occasion. With the latest update of OutFront for iPhone now available to download from the App Store we are pleased to say that cyclists using ANT+ enabled power devices can throw away their old head units and replace them with their OutFront.
Map My Tracks OutFront 2.2 extends the range of ANT+ enabled devices that it is compatible with and adds power in the mix, as well as heart rate, cadence and speed to give cyclists a full set of metrics to monitor and broadcast live on the web.
As the iPhone doesn’t come bundled with its own ANT+ sensors you’ll need to use third-party hardware like the Wahoo Fitness sensors that makes the bridge between the devices on the bike and the iPhone. Once set up they make monitoring the extra data a breeze. If you have not already looked into using heart rate, cadence or power in your workouts then now is a good time to start.
Also bundled into this version of the app are some new features for all users to benefit from. They include:
- Distribution zones for speed, heart rate, cadence and power
- Extended support for ANT+ enabled power devices
- Custom primary display option
- OS map option for user in Britain
- Various iOS5 updates to improve the app
Distribution zones
Available on all speed, heart rate, cadence and power data the distribution zones show your workout intensity.
To view the zones first open all the workout data then tap the side arrow on speed, cadence, heart rate or power data cell and choose distribution.
ANT+ compatibility
ANT+ power devices has been added to the family of third-party hardware that OutFront is compatible with. To connect with ANT+ enabled devices first get hold of the Wahoo Fitness sensors then through the setting pages connect each one to the app. Once it’s done the app stores the connect so you don’t have to do it again.
iOS5 users have the added benefit of the ANT+ sensors continuing to work while the app is running in the background. That’s new to iOS5 so if you are not running that version please remember to keep the app active. It’s fine to out the phone to sleep but make sure the app is not in the background.
Custom primary display
We know it’s handy to be able to scroll through the workout stats during an activity. It’s been possible to do this on the secondary data bar for a while so we added a scroll to the primary display as well. You can set the default to suit your workout in the setting section and then scroll through to other data during the activity.
OS map option
Our users in Britain will be able to switch to OS map tiles. That’s handy when off-road and the detail on the other map options is not as detailed as you’d like. It you’re not in the UK you won’t have that option but you can still switch between street and satellite maps.
Various other fixes and improvements are also included in this release so if you haven’t yet upgraded please do so now. The update is free to existing users.
We hope you like the new features and as ever, please let us know what you think of the update.
Download or update Map My Tracks OutFront for iPhone from the App Store.
