Improved live tracking for the SSA membership?

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 1:59:18 PM UTC-5, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 11:50:58 AM UTC-6, wrote:
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 12:31:05 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Droid app is IGCdroid.

There is a small one time fee for this app but you can try it for free.

Lane

Am I the only one to suspect that our "multiple personalities man" Sean has split again? In addition to recruiting "Wilbur" to promote his position it's now "John Smith" who has been hired on an as-needed basis. This is all a bit too obvious and does not help your cause, my friend(s). Please grow up and spare us all the charade. And no, life tracking is not a priority for me to want the SSA to spend money on.
Herb

Herb,

No, John Smith is a current SSA member, not a figment nor nom de plume.

Frank Whiteley

Thanks Frank and my apologies to John Smith.

On Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 6:54:02 AM UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
Safety and live tracking are two very separate issues. I would be careful about confusing them...

Live tracking may serve both safety and entertainment, and perhaps cheating or teamwork, depending on the rules.

Fortunately we still have FAI contests and rules, and fun.

Thanks Frank and my apologies to John Smith.

No worries, I had to show my drivers lisc. to my wife when we first met.

I haven't been around for years figuring out all the players in this community.

As far as I can tell, the Gliderport.aero works for me to upload a file and replay it. I was't aware there was a cell phone tracking option, nothing came up under SSA. I'm in SoCal so cell coverage is quite extensive. I've just purchased my first plane (Russian AC-4C) and have been outfitting it (transponder, S100, Flarm). it would be nice if the wife and other could track me poking holes in the sky.

John

This is a topic which always kind of surprises me when I read or talk about it. Usually I think it is just me giving more importance to something most pilots think is nice but not critical. I have used or use every means to get tracked.

I have both IGC Droid and In-Reach running on a (2 minutes interval). It works so well now. For me is is very important that my wife feel engaged in my passion - she likes to know where I am, how high and the barograph . I work way too much have so little free time that if she didn't come to the airport I would only get to fly half as much as I do - to sit for hours without knowing where I am , how I am doing or be engaged in the flight, would just be way to boring.

Let's face it - Soaring for people who sit on the ground is not interesting/fun.

If we want to double participation in Soaring get your wife/girl friend/relative engaged - the fastest way to do that is to include non pilots or curious pilots to take a look and watch "what is possible"

Soaring is just more fun for me, when I can include my wife, kids and friends in the next crazy flight I am going to attempt. Just maybe rather than focusing in on the kid or pilots we think is out there to recruit - we need to make sure the kid who is our relative or the friend looking for an interesting thing to do, can watch us fly in real time.

Why keep this Beautiful endeavor to ourselves.

Just my newbie $.02

WH

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 3:27:47 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I'm the developer of IGCDroid.

I would love to create a hybrid tracker system based on GlidePort.aero and my IGCDroid app. Such a system could use cell when it can and satellite when it must. Hopefully this would keep satellite usage (eg service costs) to a minimum.

A hybrid system would give you detailed IGC traces when it can and up to date positions via satellite when cell coverage fails.

Would pilots use this?

Does anybody know of a suitable satellite modem?

Alan

Alan,

Thanks, I've downloaded and Purchased the App. I'll be looking forward to using it.

John

Why spend so much for tracking? If you keep your cell phone turned on,
the NSA knows exactly where you are. Just have your wife file a FOIA
(Freedom of Information Act) request to find out where you are. Note:
The latency may be more than you'd normally expect. :-P

On 4/7/2017 6:12 AM, wrote:
This is a topic which always kind of surprises me when I read or talk about it. Usually I think it is just me giving more importance to something most pilots think is nice but not critical. I have used or use every means to get tracked.

I have both IGC Droid and In-Reach running on a (2 minutes interval). It works so well now. For me is is very important that my wife feel engaged in my passion - she likes to know where I am, how high and the barograph . I work way too much have so little free time that if she didn't come to the airport I would only get to fly half as much as I do - to sit for hours without knowing where I am , how I am doing or be engaged in the flight, would just be way to boring.

Let's face it - Soaring for people who sit on the ground is not interesting/fun.

If we want to double participation in Soaring get your wife/girl friend/relative engaged - the fastest way to do that is to include non pilots or curious pilots to take a look and watch "what is possible"

Soaring is just more fun for me, when I can include my wife, kids and friends in the next crazy flight I am going to attempt. Just maybe rather than focusing in on the kid or pilots we think is out there to recruit - we need to make sure the kid who is our relative or the friend looking for an interesting thing to do, can watch us fly in real time.

Why keep this Beautiful endeavor to ourselves.

Just my newbie $.02

WH

--
Dan, 5J

John, feel free to email me if you need help with anything. Contact details are on Google Play store.

Personally I would like to see GlidePort.aero combine InReach/Spot traces with cell traces into a single flight trace. Users would see a single trace with as much tracking detail as available. Satellite data would replace by cell data as it is received. Much like how zooming in google earth shows a fuzzy image then fills in crisp details as they are downloaded.

The step beyond that is a hybrid system I proposed earlier. A user watching GlidePort.aero would see exactly the same thing, BUT the satellite modem would be smart enough to know it doesn't need to send data in an area with good cell coverage. That MIGHT lower satellite data costs.

Alan

On Friday, April 7, 2017 at 3:18:30 PM UTC-7, wrote:
John, feel free to email me if you need help with anything. Contact details are on Google Play store.

Personally I would like to see GlidePort.aero combine InReach/Spot traces with cell traces into a single flight trace. Users would see a single trace with as much tracking detail as available. Satellite data would replace by cell data as it is received. Much like how zooming in google earth shows a fuzzy image then fills in crisp details as they are downloaded.

The step beyond that is a hybrid system I proposed earlier. A user watching GlidePort.aero would see exactly the same thing, BUT the satellite modem would be smart enough to know it doesn't need to send data in an area with good cell coverage. That MIGHT lower satellite data costs.

Alan

Alan,

So what is needed to make the hybred system?

John

P.S. I have no marketable skills, so my value is limited to useless questions and/or suggestions.

On Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 11:39:46 AM UTC+12, John Smith wrote:
On Friday, April 7, 2017 at 3:18:30 PM UTC-7, wrote:
John, feel free to email me if you need help with anything. Contact details are on Google Play store.

Personally I would like to see GlidePort.aero combine InReach/Spot traces with cell traces into a single flight trace. Users would see a single trace with as much tracking detail as available. Satellite data would replace by cell data as it is received. Much like how zooming in google earth shows a fuzzy image then fills in crisp details as they are downloaded.

The step beyond that is a hybrid system I proposed earlier. A user watching GlidePort.aero would see exactly the same thing, BUT the satellite modem would be smart enough to know it doesn't need to send data in an area with good cell coverage. That MIGHT lower satellite data costs.

Alan

Alan,

So what is needed to make the hybred system?

John

P.S. I have no marketable skills, so my value is limited to useless questions and/or suggestions.

A productized version of this http://www.rock7mobile.com/products-rockblock-9603 connected to your phone.

AND a bunch of software, both in Android(iPhone) and in the Cloud.