Logged Tracking
Note
Logged tracking requires a Logged Tracking or Club Regatta Licence.
With Logged Tracking, the GPS device stores tracks in device memory. After a race event, the devices are collected and track data is downloaded to a computer over a USB cable.
TackTracker has put considerable effort into streamlining this process so you can download a large number of tracks in the shortest possible time.
Tip
If you have more than one or two loggers, we recommend you invest in supported QStarz devices such as the BL-1000ST for which TackTracker can:
- Download tracks directly without intermediate software
- Store a tracker name or id on the device so that no error-prone data entry is needed
- Reset the device, wiping old tracks and making it ready for a new tracking session.
Track Loader
Tracks downloaded from a logger or elsewhere are stored in the Track Loader. With the Track Loader, you can view and manage raw tracks and add them to races. Access by clicking the Track Loader
button at the top of the window:
Across the top of the dialog are three buttons used to load tracks from different sources:
- Load Tracks from GPS will load tracks directly from a connected supported GPS unit, such as a Qstarz BL-1000ST. See Loading Tracks from a GPS.
- Load Tracks from File will load tracks from a file. See Track Import from a File
- Load Tracks from Cloud will load tracks from the TackTracker Cloud. See Loading Tracks from the Cloud
Below the buttons are left and right lists.
- The left hand list shows tracks you have loaded into the Track Loader. You can search this list and also restrict it to just show tracks for a specific date.
- The right hand list shows races that match tracks you have selected. The list box will be empty if there are no races in your Library that match a selected track. Races match a track when:
- The track is in the vicinity of the race location
- The track overlaps the start time of the race
If there are any races matching the selected tracks, you can click the Save
button to save those tracks to the races. If there are no races matching the tracks, you can click the + Create
button to create new races that do.
Below the Loaded Tracks list on the left are four buttons:
Button | Explanation |
---|---|
Select Next | Add the next track in the list to your selection. You can also select multiple tracks by holding down the Shift key. |
Send | Send selected tracks to the TackTracker Cloud. See Sharing tracks on the TackTracker Cloud |
Spanner | Track Tools. See below |
Edit | Edit the selected track, specifying the Name and Details. More information below. |
Tip
When you select a track, you will see that track plotted out in the map window. If you select multiple tracks, all selected tracks are plotted at once. This is useful as a preview of the tracks to ensure you select the correct ones. However it is not a replacement for creating a race as you will not get any analysis.
Track Loader Tools
The Spanner button opens a tools menu:
Tool | Explanation |
---|---|
Join two adjacent, selected Tracks | TackTracker splits tracks when there is a large time gap between points. If this is not what you intend, you may select the two adjacent tracks and join them back into one track with this tool. |
Delete Selected Tracks | Just as it says... |
Delete Duplicate and Short Tracks (less than 10 minutes) | If the tracker has been turned on and off a lot or has taken a while to establish a GPS fix, you may collect a bunch of short "rubbish" tracks in the Track Loader. Use this tool to automatically delete them. |
Delete Old Tracks (Older than 60 days) | If you collect too many tracks in the Track Loader, you can slow it down. Deleting old tracks you won't need again is good housekeeping and is recommended. |
Editing a Track
The Edit button opens the "Identify your track" dialog:
Field | Description |
---|---|
Name | This is the primary identification for the track and appears in the map to label the boat. Examples are boat name, skipper, sail number or bow number |
Details | Supplementary information about the track to complement Name |
Craft | Type of craft and associated avatar. Click on the button to choose from the 9 options. |
Color | Assigned color for the boat and tail on the map. |
Fleet | Name of the fleet to which this track belongs. (Available with a Club Regatta licence.) |
Country | Three letter country code for this competitor, e.g. "AUS". Select from the list. (Available with a Club Regatta licence.) |
In addition, the dialog has a special "Backdate Tool". This can be used to solve a particular situation where a track does not match an intended race because it starts too late. Each click of the Backdate
button will backdate the first track point in the track by 5 minutes, allowing you to backdate the track until it overlaps the race start time.
Loading Tracks from a GPS
To load tracks from a supported GPS logger, connect your logger to the PC via the supplied USB cable and click "Load Tracks from GPS".
The following GPS Loggers are supported:
Logger Type | Special USB Driver required? | On or Off to download Tracks | Supported Models |
---|---|---|---|
USB serial driver | Yes | Switch on to LOG | Qstarz BT-Q1000, BT-Q1000XT, BT-Q1300ST, CR-Q1100P |
USB hard drive | No | Switch OFF | Qstarz BL-1000ST |
TackTracker will search for attached GPS units and attempt to connect. If it can't connect straight away, it may provide a list from which you can select the serial port to connect. On successful connection you will see this dialog:
There are three main sections to this dialog: Identification, Setup and Track Data.
Identification
You can store permanent identification information on the device so that trackee Name and Details information does not need to be entered manually each time. In addition, supplementary information such as boat length and craft type can also be stored. This identification information is stored as a string of characters and some older device types have an extremely limited amount of space (18 characters in total.) As you enter information, watch the character count to ensure you don't exceed the device limit, or it will be truncated.
The most important field is the Name. There are two ways to use this field
- Store the actual text you wish to see on the map labelling this boat in the race.
- Store a tracker nickname and use the Competitor Schedule to map this tracker nickname to a boat name. This option is only available with a Club Regatta licence.
Click Save ID to GPS
when you have entered the data.
Setup
You can configure and reset the GPS. Here you set:
- the GPS tracking interval. Select a short interval for smaller boats and shorter races. Also choose 1 Sec for Navigation Rallies. Longer (all day or overnight) races should use a longer interval.
- whether to stop tracking or overwrite old tracks when the device memory is full
When you press Reset GPS
, the device is configured with the above settings and track data is wiped, ready for next time.
On serial port type devices, the reset operation takes about 22 seconds. You must not unplug or switch off the device until the reset is complete. You will be told when you can unplug.
Track Data
This section shows how many track records (locations) have been recorded and the current tracking interval. Also how much memory is used.
To upload (or download!) this data into the Track Loader, click Uplaod Tracks
.
If you are performing repeated upload and reset operations with many trackers, you may wish to check Reset when upload complete
to perform an upload and reset in one step.
When you are done, you will be returned to the Track Loader and your new tracks should be listed ready for use.
Otherwise, click Disconnect GPS
to disconnect the GPS and return to the Track Loader.
Creating races from logged tracks
With logged tracking, typically the race is created after the tracks are downloaded. Tracks may contain multiple races and you need to "reverse engineer" the tracks to fit the races to them.
Our recommended process is:
Step 1: Create the races
- Select 1 to 3 representative tracks in the Track Loader.
- Click
+ Races
to enter the Create Races wizard. The tracks define the race location, so you are taken straight to the Name and Start time dialog. Set the number of races to match the races covered by your selected tracks. - Select the first race in the start times list. Drag the boat along the timeline to find the first start.
You will learn to recognise the start, where boats cease milling around and all begin heading in the same direction.
Position the timeline at the start and click theSet race 1 start to ...
button to set the start time for race 1.
If you have multiple races, select the next race in the start times list and repeat. Do this for all races.
Click Next
then Save and Close
.
Step 2: Complete the race definitions
- Go to the Library and open the first race.
Open the the Race Editor and refine the start time and set the course. (You will learn how to do this below.)
When satisfied, click theCopy
button on theCourse & Marks
tab to copy this race definition to an internal "clipboard". Save the race. - Return to the Library and open the next race. Open the Race Editor and click the
Paste
button to paste the course definition from race 1 to race 2. Adjust the positions of any marks as needed. - Repeat for subsequent races.
Race Editor
The Race Editor is a tabbed dialog with (at least) four tabs: Start, Course & Marks, Tracks and Options. The most important tabs are Start and Course & Marks.
You will see additional options & features in some Race Editor tabs if you have a Club Regatta Licence. See Club Regatta for details.
Tab | Description |
---|---|
Start | Set the start time and optionally the finish on station time |
Course & Marks | Define and set the course |
Tracks | Edit track definitions (optional) |
Options | Advanced options |
Start Tab
Use the Start tab to set the race start time and duration. You will see the same time-splitter control that appears in the create races dialog showing the race period and start time. Move the right hand flag if you need to adjust the race end time.
You can adjust the start time by typing a time in the text box, or dragging the timeline below the map and clicking the Set to ...
button.
Finish on-station
In some races it is important to set a time when the finish line becomes on-station and available for boats to finish.
One reason for setting this time is when live trackers are used on the finish boat and the finish line can be seen moving randomly around the course before it is time to finish.
You can avoid this distraction by setting an on-station time.
TackTracker will not draw the finish line or record boats as finished before the on-station time.
Course & Marks Tab
This tab is the heart of the Race Editor. Here you define the type of race, the course and lay the marks.
At the top-right is a Copy
button and a Paste
button.
Use Copy
to save a copy of the course definition to an internal clipboard and Paste
to restore the course definition from the clipboard.
There are three main sections to the dialog: Type, Course and Marks.
Event Type
Specify the type of event. The default is "Yacht Race". Options are:
Type | Description |
---|---|
Yacht Race | A conventional yacht race with start boat, start pin and a course. |
Variable Laps Race | A special type of handicap race common in the UK, where all boats sail the same course multiple times and the faster boats sail more laps. |
Multi-purpose Race | Use for any type of race such as cycling, canoeing etc. |
Navigation Rally | For power boat Navigation Rallies. See Navigation Rally. |
Course
Define the marks of the course, in rounding order. Do not include the start or finish.
Separate each mark name with a space. Mark names may comprise one or more characters, but may not have a space or a hyphen '-'.
For example: course "A B C A C" means after the start, boats travel to mark A, then B then C then back to A then C and finish.
You can specify a gate mark using a dash or hyphen '-'.
For example, P1-P2 defines a gate mark with P1 at one end and P2 at the other.
Boats may round either P1 or P2.
TackTracker will remember recent courses you have specified and list them in the drop-down. Select the desired course to avoid the need to type it out.
Click Apply
when you have finished specifying the course and TackTracker will create the necessary marks and place them in the Marks box below.
Check Finish through the start line
, if the start line will also serve as the finish line.
In this case there will be no need for a separate Finish Boat or Finish Pin.
Do not check Finish through the start line
if there is no separate finish boat but there is a separate finish pin.
In this case you will lay the Finish Boat over the Start Boat and the two will merge on the map as a "Start/Fin boat.
Marks
Use this section to put the marks in position. If you are live tracking, you most likely will have trackers on the marks.
This is less common with logged tracking, but you can do it if you wish.
To make a tracker assume the role of the mark, simply name the tracker to match the mark name.
If you don't have trackers on marks, you will need to place them on the map manually.
With logged tracking, this is quite straightforward as you can see the place where boats are rounding from their tracks.
To lay a mark on the map, select the mark in the marks box and move your mouse across onto the map.
You will see the cursor change to indicate the mark being layed.
When your cursor is at the desired position, click the left mouse button to lay.
To cancel a lay (before clicking the mouse button), move the mouse back out of the map window.
In addition to the list of marks, the Marks box has three special controls, Add Hazard
, Mark Lay Tool
and Mark Drag Tool
.
Control | Description |
---|---|
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Add a fixed object of interest, which is not a mark of the course. May indicate a no-go area for example. You will be asked to give your hazard a name and then lay it on the map. |
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Use to re-lay an existing mark. Click Mark Lay Tool then move your mouse to the map and select a mark to re-lay. |
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Use to move a mark at the current point in the timeline. More below. |
Mark Drag Tool
In practice, marks don't always stay in the same spot.
They may drag with the tide, or be intentionally moved to account for a change in wind direction.
Use the Mark Drag Tool
to move a mark to different positions during the race.
Laying the mark after using the drag tool will delete those positions.
The drag tool moves the mark at the current point in the timeline, so take care to adjust the timeline accordingly before using the mark drag tool.
Tip
Dragging a mark to it's new position can be tricky because you want to move the mark before the boats arrive at the mark. With no boats at the mark, it is difficult to identify the exact position to drag the mark to. There is a neat two step way to solve this:
- Drag the mark at the time at which the boats are rounding it to identify the correct new position.
- Wind back the timeline to the point at which you want the mark to move and drag the mark again. The dragged position from step 1 will be visible and can be used to correctly locate the mark.
Tracking Marks
An alternative to the drag tool TackTracker can use a track to locate a mark. Name the track to exactly match the name of the mark and the track will be used to position the mark. This applies to all marks, including start and finish marks such as "StartBoat", "StartPin", "FinishBoat" and "FinishPin".
Using the Mark Drag Tool to limit the travel of a Tracked Mark
You can also use the Mark Drag tool to limit the travel of a tracked mark. Consider an example where you use a tracker to locate the StartBoat - but after the start, the boat up-anchors and drives around the course. This will cause your start line to follow, which could be quite entertaining, but distracting.
You can use the Mark Drag Tool to override the StartBoat track. At the desired point in the timeline, use the tool to select the start boat and locate its fixed position.
A similar situation occurs with the FinishBoat or FinishPin - however in this case it is the track before the finish time which is unwanted. Again, use the mark drag tool, which will fix the position of the FinishBoat up to the current point in the timeline.
Specifying mark coordinates
As an alternative to laying a mark with the mouse, you can type its Lat/Long coordinates. When you select a mark in the mark box, the coordinates of the mark appear below. Type new coordinates and click Apply to move the mark.
Tracks Tab
Use the Tracks tab to edit metadata associated with tracks in the race. This includes the track name, details, color and craft type. If you have a Club Regatta licence, you can also specify the handicap.
Select the track you wish to edit from the Track:
drop down list and make the changes required.
In addition, the Tracks tab has two buttons:
- Get cloud tracks matching this race Find matching tracks in the TackTracker cloud
- Tools a set of track tuning tools for advanced users
Track Tools
Tool | Description |
---|---|
Thin Track | Sometimes a track can have too many track points which can over-consume memory and slow down the player. For example, if you track every second for an overnight race. Use this tool to thin the track points by a factor of two. |
Smooth Track | Some devices can produce a poor quality track that is very jittery. This tool smoothes the track by averaging successive track points. |
Strip POI Marks | A track can contain "Point of Interest" locations which are marked with a number in TackTracker. These can be created by pressing the POI button on many devices. Use this tool to remove the POI marks if they are not wanted. |
Copy Track to Track Loader | This tool copies the track into the Track loader so it can be added to a different race. |
Each of the above tools also has an "All" option allowing you to perform the operation on all tracks at once.
Options Tab
Unless you have a Club Regatta licence, this tab has just two options:
Player Options
Option | Description |
---|---|
Rotate course in Auto replay | Check if you wish the Auto mode to rotate the map so that the wind direction is down the screen. |
Event Metadata
Metadata is currently only used by Race Reports:
Option | Description |
---|---|
Class | Class of boat, such as ILCA. This is printed on each race report header. |
Average Wind Speed | Also printed on each race report header |