- Organizer creates an online reg on Webscorer with "Track racer locations = Yes"

- Organizer specifies the frequency at which the GPS coordinates are sent

- Organizer uploads a GPX file containing the course map

 

 

- Participants register for the event at Webscorer website

- Participants install the (free) Webscorer app to their iPhone or Android phone

- Participants sign in to the app with the same Webscorer account created at registration


ON RACE DAY

 

- Participants must carry their phone during the race

- Participants start the Webscorer app and select “GPS self-tracking”
- Participants tap "My upcoming GPS races" and then tap the race name

- Participants tap “Start GPS tracking” at any time on race day, e.g. 15 minutes before the start

- Participants can then turn the phone screen off and put the phone in their pocket

- The app keeps sending the location at the interval specified in reg setup (e.g. once per minute)

- The GPS tracking page is accessible in multiple ways:
   - Via reg admin page (by organizer only)
   - Via reg confirmation page
   - Via results page (if reg is used to post results during event using Webscorer PRO)
   - Organizer posts the link to the tracking page before the event
      Example: https://www.webscorer.com/racemap/viewracers?pid=1&raceid=326786
- There are two GPS tracking views:
   VIEW #1:  All participants are shown with their most recent location update on the course map
   VIEW #2:  A selected participant's most recent location is shown, including all prior location updates

If you're already using Webscorer online registration and you're collecting entry fees, there's no extra cost for GPS tracking - it is included in the standard reg fee of USD $1 per participant.  If you're creating a registration for the GPS tracking only, then the cost is USD $1 per participant.  You can make the registration free for the participants, and pay the fee after the reg closes.

Q2. If I have my online reg on another platform, can I still use GPS tracking on Webscorer?
Yes, but your participants will effectively have to register twice - once to pay the entry fee on the other reg platform, and then to register for the GPS tracking on Webscorer.  This additional registration is required to uniquely connect each cell phone transmitting the GPS coordinates to a racer.  Racers create a Webscorer account at registration, and type in their first name & last name.  This account is then used to sign in on the app to connect the racer's phone with the event.  The GPS-only registration can be short & simple - you'll need to ask only for first name & last name and the race distance (if it is a multi-distance race).

Q3: Is there a fee for testing this feature?
No.  You can create the online reg for free and test it with up to 5 participants before the fee payment is triggered (in other words, only events with 6 or more registrations require payment).  There is no requirement to have a Webscorer PRO timing subscription - in fact no Webscorer timing is required / assumed for this feature to work.  You can optionally use the free Webscorer app to time the race with up 5 racers if you want to test how the tracking feature is accessible from the LIVE results page.

 

Q4: How can I create a GPX file for the race course?
The Webscorer app has an option to "Create GPX file for course".  You'd take your phone along, tap "Start GPS tracking" at the start line, traverse the course - and then tap "Stop GPS tracking" at the finish.  If your event offers multiple distances, then a separate GPX file is required for each.  Once recorded, you'd transfer the GPX file to your laptop via GPS archive and upload to your event by clicking on the "Course map" menu button in reg setup.  If you already have a GPX file from Strava or similar mapping app, you can use that file instead.

 

Q5. Can I block others from viewing the location tracking page - for privacy reasons?
In reg setup, you can select "Racers on map visibility = Organizer only" which then hides the tracking page menu button from the registration and results pages.  If you want your participants to be able to access the page, but block anyone else searching for your event, use "Event visibility = Private" which then requires knowing the URL of your reg and results pages as well as the tracking page to find your event.

Q6: If someone does not want to carry their phone during the race, will this be a problem?
Not a problem, it simply means that that racer's name will not appear on the tracking page to be selected. The tracking page has a note that it is "Showing racers who use the Webscorer app for GPS tracking on their phone".  In fact, one usage scenario is where only a small subset of racers want to be tracked to allow their support crew know when to expect them at the finish - whereas self-supported racers don't have the same need.

Q7: Why would I set the GPS update interval to once every 15 seconds vs. once every 10 minutes?
This is primarily used to save the battery on the racers' phones.  While the amount of data transmitted by the phone is small, a higher frequency will consume more power.  This is important especially in a longer race.  It is also easier to view the racer's progress on the map with time stamps if they're not clustered too closely together (see Q19 for a counter-argument).  Note that racers cannot alter this frequency themselves, it is set to be the same for all racers by the organizer.  Once the race is underway, the frequency cannot be changed.

 

Q8: What are the requirements for app permissions on the racers' phones?
The racers must allow the Webscorer app to use the phone's precise location.  There's no requirement to enable the Webscorer app to run in the background - but obviously the app must be left running (and not be "swiped up") after starting the tracking.  The phone screen can be turned off / the phone placed in "standby", similar to when using other tracking apps such as Strava.  The phone's "Cellular data" setting must be left on.

Q9: What happens if there's no cell coverage in some sections of the race course?
Obviously, there will be a gap in getting the GPS location from the app during this time.  However, the app keeps recording the locations at the frequency specified, and will send all missed GPS updates when the cell coverage resumes.  The racer does not need to do anything, these steps are fully automated.  If the finish line has no cell coverage and the racer stops tracking right away, the final GPS coordinates may not be sent to the website.  The racer can resend the coordinates by navigating to GPS archive on the app - and tap to repost the tracking data.

Q10: Can the GPS feature be used for self-timing?
Yes, there is an option in reg setup to set "Self-timed race = Yes".  If this is set, when the racer taps "Start GPS tracking" is considered to be the start time for the self-timed race and tapping "Stop GPS tracking" is considered to be the finish time for the self-timed race.  The results will automatically be posted to a new raceid on the Webscorer website - with "self-timed" appended to the end of the race name.  Multiple attempts at the fastest time is allowed - with each attempt shown on the results page by selecting either "Show all results" or "Show best results".

Q11: What if a racer forgets to tap "Stop GPS tracking" at the finish, and leaves the race site?
The GPS map feature will show the latest location of each racer - until the racer taps "Stop GPS tracking" on the app, or kills the app from memory.  We debated whether to automatically cut off the recording at some specified time, but decided that it's better for safety tracking reasons to not do so without organizer action.  There is a tool for the organizer on the tracking page to edit the GPS tracking data - to delete "practice" trackings and to clip off coordinates from the tracking page after a specific time for a given racer.

Q12: If I only have a few who want GPS tracking, how can I prevent the $1 fee to apply to all?
Note that if you're collecting entry fees already through Webscorer, the GPS tracking feature costs you nothing extra.  If your event reg is on another site, you can setup a separate GPS-only registration on Webscorer - and advise that only those who want the GPS tracking to register.

Q13: Will the GPS tracking data be visible / accessible after the race?
Yes, the GPS tracking page will stay visible unless you decide to hide it by clicking on "Edit race info" on the results page and select "Organizer only" for the visibility.  While the "Latest location of all racers" view doesn't make sense after the race is over, it may be interesting to racers to view their own (and their competitors') progress along the course.  The coordinates are shown with time stamps so you can estimate how long each section of the course took for a given racer.

 

Q14: If I am renting GPS devices for tracking my event already, why would I want to use this feature?
Satellite-specific trackers (such as Garmin InReach) have the advantage of working without any requirement for cell signals.  But if you have a large race, the cost of renting and the logistics of handling the devices for all racers may be prohibitive.  Depending on the circumstances, you may consider renting the satellite trackers for the elite racers only - and use the Webscorer GPS tracking as a backup, or a low-cost alternative for the rest of the racers.  The elite racers could carry both the satellite tracker and their cell phone, so you'd still get the full roster shown on the map when there's cell coverage on course.

Q15: Can relay teams use this feature to check when to expect a team member to arrive at exchange?
Yes, the organizer would setup a registration where each team member registers as an individual (Webscorer flexible relay registration works this way).  Each team member would then sign into the app as if they were a solo racer and start the tracking as usual.  Team members can then check the GPS location of their fellow racer while others are resting at the exchange area (and their location is shown to be there).

Q16: Is it practical to use personal phones for tracking in a long race - will the batteries last?
Modern phones consume remarkably little power when in standby mode while still having the location services and cell network active.  According to various independent tests, the battery drain in standby mode is 1-2% per hour, suggesting that a fully charged phone would last 50-100 hours when just used for tracking purposes.  To maximize the battery life in a long race, it's a good idea to close all other apps besides Webscorer - and set the location update frequency in reg setup to once every 10 minutes.

Q17: When is phone-based location tracking not recommended?
If your race course has no cell coverage anywhere, then the only tracking devices that work are pure GPS trackers.  If there are gaps in cell coverage, the pure GPS trackers will have an advantage in updating the locations without interruptions, whereas phone-based tracking will catch up only after the racer's phone regains a cell signal.  GPS-only trackers require a clear view of the sky to connect with a minimum of 3 satellites so that may be a handicap for the GPS-only trackers if the race course is in a wooded area.  Phones can triangulate their location off cell towers - so their location accuracy / availability may be better depending on the terrain and proximity of cell towers.

Q18: Is it possible to embed the GPS registration and GPS tracking pages on my own website?
Yes, you can embed both in an iFrame on your own website without any Webscorer insignia.  Instructions how to do this are included in another article on our BLOG.  Results pages can also be embedded - although there is no requirement to use Webscorer PRO timing & results if you're only interested in the GPS tracking feature.

Q19: Is it practical to follow who's leading the race with the map view "Latest location of all racers"?
Yes with some caveats.  You'll want to set the location update interval to be every 15 seconds (most frequent).  Each racer's app will then send its GPS coordinates to the website once every 15 seconds - but note that these location update times are not synchronized.  This means that a pack of 5 leading racers may get their GPS coordinates sent at different times over the 15 second interval, and it would appear on the map that the 5 racers are not together as their GPS locations may be some distance apart.  However, the map view includes the time stamp when each coordinate was recorded so it's possible to conclude that the 5 racers are in fact, most likely racing as a pack.  The website map will auto-update the locations every 15 seconds (in this case) - so the racer locations will "jump" along accordingly.

 

Q20: Why don't the racers appear to move along the course smoothly in the map view? 
The GPS coordinates are sent by the app at intervals set by the organizer.  The most frequent setting is every 15 seconds.  Most rentable GPS tracking devices send the coordinates once per minute, or less frequently to save in the messaging rates, save the device battery, and to not overload the server receiving the coordinates.  If the racers on the map are moving along (vs. jumping ahead), such tracking sites are estimating the racer's current GPS position based on calculated speed and previous known location - essentially falsifying location data.  The racer may have stopped, veered off course, or even turned around.  Our objective is to present the actual location data vs. attempting to do a race simulation which is prone to errors.

Q21: Can I add GPS tracking to an existing reg if some racers have already registered?
Yes, if your existing reg was setup to require a Webscorer account when registering.  If not, turning on the GPS tracking feature in reg setup will require anyone registering thereafter to sign in / create account - as that's how the tracking data sent by the app will be identified as coming from the signed in racer's phone.  Anyone who registered without an account would need to re-register to gain access to the GPS tracking on the app.


IMAGE 1:  Organizer view of registration setup