Publishing Races to the TackTracker Cloud
Races created in the PC app are stored locally in the Race Library. If you want a race to be available in the TackTracker cloud for others to view, you will need to publish it. The race publish dialog is accessible from a variety of places including:
- Create Races dialog
- Race Editor
- Race Library (right-click menu)
If you don't have a TackTracker licence, only the first option will be available to you.
Before you can publish, you must first sign-in to the TackTracker cloud. The Sign-In button is available on the splash screen and on the top right of the main window. If you haven't signed in, you will be presented with the sign-in dialog before the race publish wizard is shown.
To sign-in, you must have an existing TackTracker Cloud account. If you don't have an account, you can create one for free here.
The first step of the publish wizard is to select whether you wish to publish to a Regatta or a Home page:
- A Regatta is a collection of races listed on the TackTracker Cloud. To publish a race to a Regatta, you must first create the Regatta, which is done in the cloud race management console. If you select Regatta, you will be asked which Regatta you wish to publish to.
- A Home page is a collection of races created by a TackTracker Cloud account. Every account has it's own home page and there is nothing to set up. Access home page races on the Home Pages tab.
After selecting the Regatta or choosing Home Page you have an opportunity to provide additional information about the race.
Some checkboxes may be displayed:
| Checkbox | Meaning if checked |
|---|---|
| Locked | Race is not open for competitors to upload their own tracks. (See Sharing tracks on the TackTracker Cloud below.) |
| Friends Only | Race is visible only to users signed into a TackTracker cloud account which you have added as a "friend". |
| Replace all tracks | Completely replace all tracks in the cloud with the tracks on your PC. Otherwise tracks are merged. |
Once your race is successfully published, it will be visible on the TackTracker cloud.
Live Tracking
The PC player can create and manage races used for live tracking.
With live tracking, viewers can watch the race live as it happens. Track locations are sent by the live trackers directly to the TackTracker cloud service in real time. A race created on your PC must first be published to the TackTracker cloud for it to be available live.
You can use the Create Races dialog to create a race and publish it to the TackTracker cloud. Alternatively, you can create a live-tracked race directly in the TackTracker cloud's race management console and skip the PC app altogether. The choice is up to you.
Setting up a live race requires three steps:
| Step | On the PC App | In the cloud race management console |
|---|---|---|
| Create the race | Create Races dialog |
Add Race button |
| Publish to the TackTracker cloud | Create Races dialog or Race Editor or Track Library menu. |
Not needed - races added in the cloud are already published |
| Schedule trackers for the race | Must be done in the cloud | Use the Trackers dialog on the race tile |
Note that the last step must be done in the cloud, so even if you do create and publish the race in the PC app, you will need to visit the cloud race management console to assign trackers to the race.
Tip
With live tracking is is common to require changes to the race. For example, you may need to adjust the race start time to reflect the actual start time on the day. If you are managing the race from your PC app, you must re-publish after making any changes to push those changes to the cloud. The most convenient place to do this is from the Race Editor, which has a 'Re-Publish' button at the bottom.
Re-publish is a fast-path publish that reuses previous publishing selections so you don't need to work through the wizard each time.
Working with a cloud race from your PC
If you have created a race in the cloud, you can download and modify it from the PC app. Go to the Cloud Races tab and find your published race. Click View to download the race into the PC app.
With the race in the PC app, you can use the Race Editor to make any changes and re-publish the race. You are only allowed to re-publish and overwrite a race that belongs to you.
Sharing tracks on the TackTracker Cloud
Note
Requires a Track Loader, Logged Tracking or Club Regatta license for access to the Track Loader.
The TackTracker Cloud can be used to share and consolidate logged tracks. Imagine five regular competitors at your club each have their own GPS logger. It is probably quite inconvenient to collect all loggers together at one computer after racing to download the tracks and create the race.
Instead, each competitor can upload their individual track to the TackTracker Cloud at home and in their own time.
The Track Loader has a Send button for sending a selected track to the TackTracker Cloud.
This opens a wizard dialog which:
- Checks the cloud for any existing races that match this track. If any are found, the user can confirm the selection and the track will be added to the published race.
- If no matching races are found, the track will still be saved in the cloud in case the race is added later. The wizard will ask if you are happy for the track to be public (may be added to any race at the same time and place, or
Friends Only- only an approved TackTracker cloud account can access the track.)
Each of the competitors uses the Track Loader to Send their track to the cloud. One of the competitors will create the race entry and publish the race. It does not matter if the race is created before or after tracks are sent - the result is the same, the published race will include all tracks!
Tip
Make sure you don't check Locked when publishing the race. This will stop any tracks being subsequently added to it.
Loading Tracks from the Cloud
As well as having TackTracker match tracks to a race as above, you can also fetch tracks from the cloud and add them to the race yourself. To do this, use the Track Loader Load Tracks from Cloud button:
This will launch a search wizard that you can use to specify the specific tracks you are looking for:
If you select all tracks I have access to, you will be asked for location information:
Finally you will be asked for the time period to search:
Loading Tracks into an existing race
There is a short-cut to using the above Get Tracks wizard if you have an existing race defined. The Race Editor Tracks Tab has a button Get cloud tracks matching this race.
This tool searches for tracks that match the race's location and time and adds them directly into the race. When you run the tool, you will see this wizard:
If a competitor schedule is used, the track names may not match the boat names in the race. In this case, check the second checkbox and TackTracker will use your competitor schedule to map track names to the correct name when loading tracks.