M21S (Course 3), 7.4k/215m, 58:13, 7.9mpk, 3rd/58 C3 finishers.
- My writeup.
- My GPS route.
(Is this a UK first for GPS+RG?) - Pictures of some of my errors.
- My previous race at Hindleap in 2004.
Hindleap Warren SAX Regional Event, 3 December
– December 3, 2006Posted in: Events
Paul has made some experiments some time ago.
some SO members have been putting GPS on RG for several months – Paul Frost (www.ecko.org.uk) who runs for both clubs is a real expert and offers a site to help events do RG and with their GPS.
There has been some debate about people carrying GPS while competing – general consensus is that without entering all the controls as waypoints, a GPS would give little advantage but pepole still feel that they must not be visible or usable.
… but I guess it is the first time ever someone was been able to import to RG a route recorded a bluetooth gps and cell phone. I know people who might be interested how you did it and what kind of software and hardware you used – and how expensive those are and how much work you had to do to make it work.
I’m not sure I would call myself an expert! But accepted that some people had problems getting RG to work. So after consulting with the developer of RG I set up RouteGadget UK to help increase the use of this excellent application.
I had tried using an E-Trex Venture GPS to record my route but found the satellite reception not good enough in the forest. Jarkko (the RG developer) told me that he used a Garmin Forerunner and it worked well. So I splashed out and got the Edge 305 (£210) which is the cycling version with a heart rate monitor, it has the advantage of a bigger screen. I have written an article about my use of GPS to record orienteering routes, it is on the EckO website.
What model GPS are you using?
What software?
Thanks Paul/Jagge/Chris. I’ll write a proper how-i-do-it article shortly.
In summary, I’m using a Navi GPS (£80) bought from Storage Depot, with an SD memory card (£15) to log the route.
I download the data as NMEA sentences via a memory card reader and then convert it to GPX with GPS Babel, and then upload it to RouteGadget. I can also convert it to KML for displaying on Google Earth, or use GPS Visualizer to create altitude-coloured images with dots showing each log point.
I’ve also bought a Holox (£35) off eBay; which, when it arrives, and when Nokia fix a bug in Python S60, I’ll be able to use with my mobile phone recording the data that it sends via Bluetooth. Unlike the Navi GPS, the Holox is ultra-sensitive and very fast at acquiring fixes. I have a Nokia N73 phone, I plan to use NMEA Info to record the data, which a friend has written. I’ve learnt a bit of Python so I’ll be able to hopefully add some orienteering-specific features, e.g. a minimalistic “Sports race” mode, or a “Race start/end” button, to the application.
I’m using a Forerunner 305 and, like Paul, use SportTracks to download my routes. For local events I’ve ocassionaly persuaded the planner to send me the OCAD file (preferably with courses), converted it to JPEG and then imported it in to SportTracks to use as the map image. To-date no-one has objected to me wearing it.