Team Sky add Map My Tracks to their roster of technological partners
Map My Tracks and Team Sky announce new four year partnership to exploit performance GPS tracking. Following the news last month of the launch of OutFront, a comprehensive multi–sport iPhone app for sports enthusiasts, Map My Tracks have today announced a 4-year deal with professional cycling’s newest and highly-publicised team, Team Sky.
The deal will see Map My Tracks and its iPhone app OutFront become part of Team Sky’s racing and training weaponry, and will enable its athletes to be tracked as they train in pursuit of success this year.
Map My Tracks, and its mobile applications provide F1-style performance telemetry enabling its users to measure speed, pace, calories burned, elevation gain or loss and much more. The partnership demonstrates that Team Sky is prepared to leave no stone unturned in its quest to become the world’s best pro cycling team, and to use all available technologies in their pursuit of that excellence.
Speaking about today’s fantastic news Map My Tracks’ Nick Tatt said, “We are delighted with our new partnership with Team Sky. We are looking forward to working closely with the team’s performance coaches and riders to provide real-time performance tracking solutions that will help the team achieve their goal of becoming one of the world’s leading cycling teams. Map My Tracks has been leading the way in performance telemetry for sports enthusiasts and it’s great to partner with a British pro cycling team.”
”We are constantly looking into the technological advantages that could potentially help us to perform better and with this new partnership we have the possibility to both use cutting edge GPS tracking and potentially help develop this technology even further for bike riders”, says Team Sky Principal Dave Brailsford.
The deal takes effect immediately and runs through to the end of 2013 during which time Map My Tracks will develop a range of performance web and mobile apps for the Pro Tour cycling team. The first app, OutFront for the iPhone, is already on the market and will be used in training rides. Visit http://www.mapmytracks.com/outfront for further product information.
New feature: activity comparison
Being able to compare two activities together has been on Map My Tracks for a while now but it was a little tricky to use. We've listened to the feedback from users who had trouble using it and have now rolled out a new and improved way to select and compare any two activities.
Activity comparison is a great way to find out it you’re making progress in your training. It makes is easy to select an activity you may have carried out six months ago and compare it to a more recent one. What’s more you can compare your performance against other peoples’ activities who may have done the same route.
To compare any two activities of your own visit your activity wall then click ‘Compare activities’. Drag and drop the maps of the two activities you want to compare to the edit bar at the bottom and click Compare. You’ll then see both activities presented together. Click the play button in the top of the sidebar and watch a replay. It’s that simple.
If you’re keen to compare your activities against other peoples first add their activity to your Favourites. All favourite activities get listed on your activity wall favourites so you can select and compare any public activity. To compare yours against other people’s you’ll need to make your own activity a favourite as well then simply use the activity comparison tools to view both at the same time.
We hope you enjoy using the activity comparison tools. Please let us know what you think here on the blog, on Twitter or on Facebook.
Enjoy.
MMT Mobile version 1.2 now available
Today we have pushed live a new release of Map My Tracks Mobile (v1.2). In this release we have added 'Where am I?', track tagging and global time together with some UI improvements.
Where Am I?
Show your current position on a map without starting a track. Sometimes it useful to just see where you are without tracking. Where am I? does just this.
View more screenshots
Tag tracks
Organise your tracks by tagging them directly from your phone. Now you can tag your tracks from your phone as you start your activity and have them appear within your tracks on the site. It’s a great way to organise your tracks by activity, location or whatever you find useful.
Global time
We’ve introduced a notion of universal time. No matter where you are in the world, viewing a track in real-time shows correct track information across time zones.
Signed version
We have made available a signed (trusted) version of the Map My Tracks Mobile. For many people, this will help Map My Tracks install and work correctly on their phones.
We hope you enjoy the new improvements
We’re really excited about this round of features. They all help to make Map My Tracks more useful and set the groundwork for some exciting features that are in development. We hope you find the features as useful as we do.
Thanks for your support in Map My Tracks.
Get the latest version by browsing on your mobile to http://www.mapmytracks.com/install.
Do you tweet on Twitter?
For those of you that use Twitter you can follow Map My Tracks and get updates on new version releases, events and news.
For those unaware, Twitter is a free micro-blogging service, where content is delivered to your mobile phone in 140 characters or less. We’ve set up a Map My Tracks account so you’ve got another way to follow the many happenings here at Map My Tracks central.
If you enjoy tweets then start following Map My Tracks to make sure you don’t miss out. If you don’t enjoy tweets don’t worry all our news will still be available here.
Start earning from Map My Tracks
Love Map My Tracks? Have you referred friends, family or training partners to Map My Tracks? If so, sign up to affiliate scheme and start earning cash for each person you refer to us that signs up to a paying plan.
The Map My Tracks affiliate scheme is easy and fast to set up and lets event organisors, sports retailers, blog owners and individuals benefit from referrals made to us.
How does it work
You promote Map My Tracks to your customers, race participants or members. In return we’ll pay you £5 for every customer that signs up to a Map My Tracks standard or pro plan.
You’ll be allocated a unique referrer address, such as http://www.mapmytracks.com/canoe, which you can use when you promote the service. This means we know when people sign up for the service that they have come from your efforts.
If you’d like to sign up to the affiliate scheme send us a email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we’ll get you going, give you some banners and buttons to use and get you earning.
Interest? Check out the affiliate scheme. Existing users will find details of the affiliate plan on your profile page.
Map My Tracks to sponsor Musto Skiff UK Nationals 2008
Map My Tracks is backing this summer's Musto Skiff UK Nationals to launch its live events tracking service. The event will be the first time that live GPS tracking has been used in a non-Olympic dinghy event and is yet another first for the innovative Musto Skiff class and Map My Tracks.
The event, to be held at Whitstable Yacht Club from 12-15 June 2008, will be among the first to benefit from Map My Tracks live event tracking. Map My Tracks was launched in February 2008 and turns most mobile phones into live sports tracking tools, providing map and performance data in real-time to sailors, live tracking on the internet and a range of website track analysis and replay tools.
Map My Tracks works with normal mobile phones with built-in GPS or with external GPS receivers, bringing the technology within reach of amateur sailors worldwide. The service lets spectators watch live race action on the big screen back at race headquarters and provides an easy way to broadcast event progress live on the internet to spectators anywhere. It is ideally suited to sports, such as sailing or distance running, where the action takes place away from the race headquarters.
Relaying live races to a global internet audience is an important part of bringing sailing to new audiences beyond broadcast television. Events like the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta 2007 have demonstrated the potential for live GPS tracking to do this, but have relied on expensive dedicated GPS equipment only available to professional sailors. Map My Tracks works with normal mobile phones with built-in GPS or with external GPS receivers, bringing the technology within reach of amateur sailors worldwide.
As well as enhancing the race experience for spectators onshore and on the internet, Map My Tracks also provides each competitor with a breakdown of their performance and a print-out of their tracks. The website’s analysis tools include being able to compare tracks side-by-side to help see where races are won and lost.
Musto Skiff Class Association Chairman Simon Reynolds said “The Musto Performance Skiff class has innovated in a number of ways in the past and is delighted to continue this through the partnership with Map My Tracks for this event; it represents a first for the class and non-professional sailing to offer such live event tracking”.
About Musto Skiff class
The Musto Performance Skiff is a lightweight one person trapeze dinghy with wings, trapeze and asymmetric spinnaker. The class is sailed in 17 countries world wide by men and women, the boat supports a wide range of bodyweights. The class achieved Full ISAF Status in 2007. The class is marketed world wide by Ovington Boats and there are dealers based in 18 countries. In 2007 the class held its first World Championships, following ISAF ratification, which attracted 86 entries from 13 nations.
Make maps in your area
The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that Map My Tracks Mobile uses map data supplied by Open Street Map. We use OSM maps as the background on the handset to show where you are right now.
One of the interesting things about Open Street Map is that it is a community of members that all contribute GPS data to help build a detailed street-level map of their area. The fact that a street or building is displayed is a direct result of members submitting GPS data and marking up any key features or road names. As more data is submitted the better the maps become adding greater detail and coverage around the world.
The detail displayed on the maps used within Map My Tracks Mobile depends on where you live. For example, the UK has considerable coverage and is nearly fully mapped. In other areas the detail is not as comprehensive but one of the great things about Open Street Map is that they regularly hold mapping parties for members to come together and concentrate their efforts to track specific locations in one go. The results of each mapping party is added into the mix of data and ends up on display in maps.
Contributing tracks to OSM
Given that Map My Tracks generates GPS data we would encourage all our users to get involved and start submitting their tracks to Open Street Map. Doing so is simple: after making a tracking use the export as GPX option on the track page and submit the data at Open Street Map. Having added your data you’ll need to edit and mark up the information before it can be used in the maps. One of the benefits of submitting tracks from your area is that you’ll begin to see the results of your efforts within Map My Tracks Mobile.
If you’re interested in Open Street Map and getting starting have a look at the OSM wiki.
LIVE event and race GPS tracking from Map My Tracks
Bring a new dimension to your event or race with Map My Tracks event tracking. Map My Tracks' event services can entertain your spectators, impress your sponsors and inform your competitors with LIVE event tracking.
Using Map My Tracks GPS tracking at events is an ideal way of bringing race action alive back at race HQ on a big screen or over the web to those that couldn't make. It's ideal for sailing regattas, running and bike races or just about any outdoor race or event. Spectators can watch live action and races are available on the web in real-time or to replay at any time.
Map My Tracks provides a complete event and race tracking service. We provide technical support at the venue, GPS tracking handsets, and projector/screens to make it easy and fun to track your event. We can even build your event website and integrate live tracks for online viewers.
If you are a race director or organiser contact the for more information and a quote to track your event.
New feature - GPS track comparison
Two tracks on one screen, replayed together. Well that's what you asked for so we built it. Track comparison lets you choose any two tracks to replay together and compare their performance. For the first time, this new feature allows you to compare against your own earlier activity or better still have a virtual race against someone else! It's a great way of seeing if you've improved or just to compare against a buddy's tracks.
All the usual speed, distance, course and position are displayed for both tracks with the option to synchronise the starting positions so that you can get an accurate comparison.
Comparing GPS tracks is simple
First choose the two tracks to compare from the explore page and click ‘Compare tracks’ at the top and bottom of the list of tracks. The track comparison page overlays both tracks on one map. Synchronise the starting positions of each tracks by sliding the player controls for both tracks in position. Once synchronised, press play and watch both tracks replay together. As with all the tracks you can speed up the action.
GPS track comparison was a feature request from our users. Keep the requests coming so that we can make Map My Tracks even better.
Map My Tracks at the Dinghy Show
Wow what a weekend at The Dinghy Show. Thanks to all the visitors and exhibitors for taking the time to visit our stand at the show. It was great fun demonstrating what can be done with Map My Tracks.
The Dinghy Show was our first public showing of what Map My Tracks is all about and I’m pleased to say that the response was tremendous. There was a real buzz around the stand that kept Rob, Joe and myself quite busy for the two days demonstrating live tracks at the venue.
With the show now all packed up we are back at base working out how we can get all the great ideas suggested by visitors into the next release! Roll on the next road show!
