The cost for GPS tracking & GPS timing is USD 1 per participant.  If you're already using Webscorer online registration and you're collecting entry fees, there's no extra cost for GPS timing - it is included in the standard reg fee of USD $1 per participant.  If you're creating a registration for the GPS timing 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.  The fee applies to anyone who registers, even if they choose to not start GPS tracking on race day.

Q2. I have my online reg on another platform, can I still use GPS timing 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 timing 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?
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.  

 

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: 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.  On iPhones, 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.  On Android phones, there's a popup when you first tap "Start tracking" that's asking the app to run in the background - this must be allowed.  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.

Q6: 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 timings from the app during this time.  However, as long as the device's location service is providing accurate GPS coordinates to the app, the app keeps recording the coordinates 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 repost the tracking data.

Q7: How does the app determine when the phone reaches the timing point?
The organizer specifies each timing point by dropping two pins on the race course map that form a timing line.  The time is triggered when the participant's phone crosses the line.  This is done by the app obtaining the GPS coordinates from the phone's location service once every second, and doing a trigonometric calculation when the line from the racer's previous position to the racer's last position has crossed the line that's formed by the two edges of the timing line.

Q8: How accurate is GPS timing?
The app receives GPS coordinates and the speed from the device's location service once per second. The app will record the time when the phone crossed the timing line and will then make an adjustment to subtract the amount of time it took for the phone since it crossed the timing line.  By way of example, let's assume a cyclist is traveling at 10 meters per second (36 km/h).  The app received a time of 10:22:44 from the location service for the first coordinate that was past the timing line.  The app will then calculate the distance from this coordinate to the timing line.  Let's assume the distance calculation returns 4.2 meters.  Since the rider's speed is known, the app can calculate that the rider travels 4.2 meters in 0.42 seconds.  The time when the rider crossed the timing line is hence adjusted by subtracting 0.420 seconds, which results in a time of 10:22:43.580.

Q9: How accurate are the GPS coordinates when compared from one phone to another?
While the racer can be placed very precisely on the finish line, the timing accuracy depends on how accurate the GPS coordinates received from the location service are.  Here's ChatGBT's answer when asked "How accurate are the coordinates received from the phone's location service?"

The best way to test the accuracy for your own course is to go run / ride / paddle / drive the course with 2 phones in your pocket, record a GPX file on each and then compare the GPS coordinates recorded at the same second.  Before your test, open a browser on each phone and navigate to https://www.time.gov/ which will tell you how close your phone's internal clock is in sycn with the official time.  Make sure the device clocks are within a few hundredths of a second of each other.



Here's the data from one of our tests using this method.  This test was done riding on a bike path with nothing blocking the sky.  Two phones in the back pocket of the jersey - an older iPhone and a new low-end Android model.  Cell service was turned off so the location data was obtained with GPS satellites only.  The phone screens were off.  For the purposes of the comparison, coordinates recorded at even minutes for a 24-minute stretch were selected. 

We used https://boulter.com/gps/distance/ to calculate the distance between the coordinates.



The average difference was 1.5 meters between the two phones.  For timing purposes, the average is effectively half this distance (0.75 meters) as the two coordinates are in random orientation from one another to the direction of travel.  Worst case was 4 meters and if the two coordinates line up in the direction of travel, the same 4 meters is the worst case accuracy for this test.

How does this translate to timing accuracy?  The short answer is that it depends on your sport.  Sports where the speeds are faster will experience a much higher timing accuracy than slower sports.  Here's a comparison using our test data for different sports at typical speeds.



Modern high-end phones support multi-band GPS which can double the accuracy of the single-band GPS chips.  Starting with iPhone 14, the Pro and Pro Max models have included multi-band GPS.  Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Google Pixel 10 Pro are examples of Android phones with multi-band GPS support.


Q10: Does the racer need to stop the tracking after crossing the finish line?
The GPS tracking will automatically end when the racer crosses the finish line.  The only manual step the racer must do is to tap "Start tracking" anytime before the start of the race.  After that the phone's screen can be turned off, and the phone can be put in a pocket or back pack.  

Q11: Once the race is underway, how can I find the results page?
The results page gets auto-created when the first racer passes through the first timing point.  The results page can be found on Organizers / My results as well as your public Organizer page.  The results are also searchable via the "Find results" page if your registration was set to "Visibility = Public".

Q12: When using GPS timing, will GPS tracking also work?
Yes, the GPS tracking feature is automatically enabled when GPS timing feature is in use.  So you'll get a separate tracking page for the racer locations plus the GPS-timed results page with split times.  Refer to the GPS tracking article https://www.webscorer.com/blog/post/gps-tracking-of-racers for details how to locate the GPS tracking page.

Q13: Is it practical to time a paddling race with GPS timing if the finish line is arbitrarily wide?
The updated GPS timing uses timing point lines which can be any length / width.  Each timing point is defined with two coordinates - edge #1 and edge #2 of the line.  Minimum width for a timing line is 25 meters - there is no maximum.  The paddler can cross the finish line at any point and the crossing point is then used to calculate the finish time.  See Q7 and Q8 for details.

Q14: If the timing data is missing some splits, how can I correct the results afterwards?
You can view all the timing data sent by the app by navigating to the results page, and click on the "Download taps recorded" menu button (you must be signed in as organizer to see this button).  You can also view and download the GPS tracking data for each racer by navigating to the tracking page which includes the the time stamps sent by the racer's phone at each interval specified.  Finally, you can request the racer to send you the GPX file which gets automatically recorded by the racer's phone - and can be located in "GPS self-tracking / My GPS arhive" on the Webscorer app.  This includes the location data recorded every second, as received by the device's location services.

Q15. What race start types are supported with GPS timing?
You have 3 options: mass start, wave start by distance and individual start.  For mass start you will define the start time in reg setup - and the race is started on the app based on this time.  If the start is delayed, you can adjust the start time by navigating to the results page, select "Edit results / Edit race start time".  Similarly for wave start, you'll define the start time for each distance - and the race starts automatically on the app based on the distance the participant has signed up for.  Individual start is best suited for unattended races - where racers may choose their own time to go through the course.  The start time is set by crossing the start line.  Individual start can also be used effectively similarly to "chip start" races where racers are released together but each racer will get their own "GPS start time" after crossing the start line.

Q16: Can I time a race which has untimed transitions, e.g. a multi-stage enduro?
Yes, there's an option in reg setup for this - this example shows 3 timed stages. 





Q17: Does GPS timing support a multi-distance race where not all timing points are the same for each?
Yes, there's an automatic option in reg setup which allows you to select which timing points are included in each distance.


Q18: Can racers do repeats / multiple attempts at best time on the same course?
Yes, here's an example of how the times from the multiple attempts get shown on the results page: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=413068&did=557895.  Racers register just once, but can race the course multiple times during the time window (Event start date & time - Event end date & time) you define in reg setup.  The GPS reg fee of USD 1 per participant covers any number of attempts during the event time period.

Q19: Does the app give the racer any feedback during the GPS timing / tracking?
The app will give an audible beep when the racer crosses the start line (in an individual start) and whenever the racer crosses a timing point line, including each lap and finish.  The app screen itself does not show anything visible as it is assumed that the phone is in a pocket with the screen off during the race.  If the audible beep is not heard, check the volume / silent mode settings on the phone.  Note that this beep comes at a short delay after the timing point line - since the app receives a location update once per second, the beep may sound as much as a second after passing the start line / timing point line / finish line.  The timing of the beep should hence not be confused by the accuracy of the timing - the beep is the time of the first coordinate received after crossing the timing point line, before the time adjustment explained in Q8 is made.

Q20: Do the clocks on each racer's phone need to be in sync?
Yes, this is required if you're using a mass start or wave start - as the start time gets set to be the the same for all on the server.  However, if you're using individual start, then each racer's start time gets set by using the phone's own clock.  And the time from start to each timing point is calculated relative to the start time local to the phone, so the clocks do not need to be in sync across all racers' phones.  Modern cell phones sync their clocks with internet time servers frequently so this is not expected to be an issue with personal phones (which are in frequent use).  See Q9 for an example how to check the time on your phone with https://www.time.gov.