How to create a track and reference lap for a road rally

[NickeyZL1001]

Also, what are you getting as a total distance. Seems like I am getting nearly a tenth of a mile over 90 miles and depending on your average speed, that can throw you off by seconds. Boy, I am overwhelmed now. Certainly not your fault, its mine. So much time has gone by between working on this, I've gotten lost. Seems like the order of tasks has me lost too, as I think we skipped some steps. Assuming you are willing to post your final spreadsheet, seems, all I would need to do is change the average speed and be good? Seems like the end user almost has to be a computer programmer to use the product in a way that is actually beneficial.

[devenh]

Yes, the data needs to be metric. Where are you seeing the times rounded?

Take a look at the times shown in this post. They are to the hundredth of a second:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2243&p=12835#p12551

I will post the spreadsheet in the next few days. A few things to clean up and document.

Deven

[devenh]

Also, what are you getting as a total distance. Seems like I am getting nearly a tenth of a mile over 90 miles and depending on your average speed, that can throw you off by seconds. Boy, I am overwhelmed now. Certainly not your fault, its mine. So much time has gone by between working on this, I've gotten lost. Seems like the order of tasks has me lost too, as I think we skipped some steps. Assuming you are willing to post your final spreadsheet, seems, all I would need to do is change the average speed and be good? Seems like the end user almost has to be a computer programmer to use the product in a way that is actually beneficial.

Yes, 90.11 miles. I suspect this is the correct distance. My guess is that the start and finish lines were established 25 years ago. So who do you think is right: a 25 year old measurement or Google?

No, it won't through you off if you are careful. Say you are in the 100mph class. If you use the spreadsheet to hit exactly 100mph average, yes, you'll be off. Instead of targeting the speed, target the elapsed time of 54:00.00

Unfortunately, the spreadsheet is the hard part of this process. While the spreadsheet is fairly automated, it is not completely automated. Yes, you could fairly easily plug in your numbers and crank out a track and lap for HLT, the chances of it working are low unless you've practiced. The way I practice is to create local tracks on nearby highways and drive them. This allows me to check that everything is working. But to do this you have to dive into the spreadsheet

Deven

[devenh]

Update on the distance: Using the same GPS coordinates for the start and finish, MapQuest shows the course to be 90.01 miles and Yahoo 90.08 miles. Interesting. Haven't figured out why there is a difference.

Deven

[devenh]

Finally got the spreadsheet to the point where I feel comfortable publishing it. Certainly still needs some work and I look forward to hearing from anyone trying to use it.

The spreadsheet was written using OpenOffice Calc 4.1.1. I did try exporting the file to .xls format, but the time calculations and formats did not export correctly. As time and demand permits, I will explore fixing this. [Edit: there now is an Excel version -- continue reading this thread]

As new versions are released, I will try to update this message with the latest code. Do read through the thread as this plan may change.

The version uploaded today is 3.0. It contains enough documentation to get you started and I will supplement this with step by step instructions in subsequent posts. For now it would be best to download the file, install OO, read the help page, explore the spreadsheet, and start posting questions.

The file is too big to upload, so you can download it here:

http://www.biglens.com/files/HLT3.01.ods

If this link is broken, it means a new version has been released. Just keep reading this thread.

Deven

[devenh]

Here is some information related to the Silver State Classic Challenge coming up on Sept. 21:

Here is a video of the course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPLYsk7U_vo

And here is a Google map of the course. You can hover over the markers and see the GPS #, distance, & speed. Click on the marker and see the GPS coordinates. As you will see, the GPS points listed in the video correspond to the GPS point on the map. The spreadsheet I uploaded can generate the data required to create this type of map and the GPS locations listed in the video correspond to the locations in the HTL3.0.ods spreadsheet.

http://biglens.com/files/SSCCMap.html

Deven

[NickeyZL1001]

Deven:
Column J on the Lap tab is formatting for elapsed time is MM:SS.SS

This is giving results such as this:

42:57.57
42:59.59
43.12.12

Should it be MM:SS.00 and read as the below?

42:57.37
42:59.08
43:12.00

Also, when running the race, what view are you using?

Lastly, If you look at column AK on the Track tab, the <coordinate> tag part of it for importing to HLT, is in longitude,latitude order. Is it supposed to be latitude,longitude (as it is in column V of the Lap tab).

Thank you. By no means am I questioning you, just making sure I understand and am doing everything correctly.

[devenh]

Deven:
Column J on the Lap tab is formatting for elapsed time is MM:SS.SS

THANKS for pointing that out, that is a big bug.

Also, when running the race, what view are you using?

I run HLT on an iPhone and an iPad in Timer and Speedo view, respectively.

Lastly, If you look at column AK on the Track tab, the <coordinate> tag part of it for importing to HLT, is in longitude,latitude order. Is it supposed to be latitude,longitude (as it is in column V of the Lap tab).

No, I'm very sure I have it correct. Just go to the Track in HLT and click on the map view and the track will display correctly. If I had the order of the long. and lat. wrong, it would not display correctly.

I'll post 3.01 with these fixes pretty soon.

Deven

[devenh]

Made these changes:

3.01 9/2014 Misc. fixes
Filters fixed, TrackFilter named range can be used as filter to create a Track
Track sheet: start triggerType changed to standinggo from go
Track sheet: finish triggerType changed to stop from stop/go
Time format fixed in Columns B and J of the Lap sheet and in HLT.A43
Moved Column V to A in the Lap sheet

http://www.biglens.com/files/HLT3.01.ods

If this link is broken, it means a new version has been released. Just keep reading this thread.

[devenh]

The fixes incorporated into 3.01 solved the compatibility issues with Excel, so now there is .xls version of the spreadsheet.

http://www.biglens.com/files/HLT3.01.xls

I haven't extensively tested this version, but a quick look indicates it is fully functional. Post any issues in this thread.

Deven