SSA sailplane tracker - too complex

Don't use the live sailplane tracker for "emergency" location of a particular pilot. On the SSA website, under "member resources", there's a "*911* Sailplane Locator" option. Enter the pilot's name or contest number, and you have the simple view.

The live tracker is to be used to get the big picture, and many people love the 3D entertainment it provides.

-Tom

On Sunday, July 24, 2016 at 8:55:18 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I want someone else, such as a non-flying non-technical spouse to be able to go to the SSA website and look for me by name or contest number and find what farm field or dry lake in the desert i am in without cell phone service.
Nothing fancy, this is supposed to be a SAFETY system, not some 3D animated entertainment system!
Make the basic safety part work, make the fancy other stuff optional.

Chris

I must wonder if the folks who complain actually spent the time to read instructions and learn how to use this service. It works very well if you just spend few minutes, maybe an hour, to understand how to use it.
You do need Spot or Inreach (Dan, this may be a good reason for you to turn your spot on). The Glidetrack app works as well but only when there is cell reception.
As for tracking flights from the ground, this can easily be done from your computer or from your smart phone. Just ignore the embedded message and run unembedded.

Ramy

Here's what we use in Europe, it tracks all FLARM gliders on the continent. We have an antennae on the largest nearby mountain (it's plugged into the local weather station equipment), and we track all of our club gliders, all of the time.

http://live.glidernet.org/#c=50.98464,7.63795&z=4

Chris Fleming

On Sun, 24 Jul 2016 17:05:33 -0700, Tom Kelley #711 wrote:

NOTE: It sure is in the USA with some folks having current ground
stations with antennas sticking way up in the air! They currently have
60++ miles range.............

.... thanks for the correction, but it appears that none of them are
registered with OGN, which is where I found the country coverage details.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 12:49:13 AM UTC-4, Ramy wrote:
I must wonder if the folks who complain actually spent the time to read instructions and learn how to use this service.

This is the point: if it takes an hour to figure out how to use it, then it's basically designed for time wasting technophiles sitting at computers. That's fine. But there are many other potential users, e.g. the spouse, kid, crew or student at the gliderport. Most of those would be users aren't going to be motivated enough to "spend an hour" climbing the learning curve and more than likely the device available is going to be a phone, not a full on computer.

I'd like to integrate something sort of like this tracker into my club. We have a bunch of guys who routinely fly crewless XC and eventually, one of us is going to park somewhere awkward and find communication really difficult.

Right now, the probability of the glideport aero tracker providing any assistance in that scenario is z e r o, because no one uses it, because it's too damned fussy and complicated. That's not a complaint, that's a review.

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8

On Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 3:50:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can someone explain how you are supposed to use the SSA sailplane tracker?
It seems way overly complex. You should have the option just to zoom and pan to an area of interest and see all the live tracks.

thanks
Chris

Typical of R.A.S. this thread has partly gone off the rails. There are two "legitimate" complaints arising.

1. Platform: The tracker throws an error message when I try to use it on my Android devices (a Kindle running Chrome and my Galaxy S6 also running Chrome). "Oops! Mobile GlidePort cannot run embedded in an iFrame" However, it does display a hyperlink to "Run un-embedded" and that works. It's a mild annoyance, but it's not a show stopper on Android/Chrome. Maybe worse on iOS?

2. UI: As pointed out, it's impossible to find an individual pilot unless you know where they launched (or where GP thinks they launched). You have to drill down from the site to get a list of tracks (leaving out competitions). That's not a big problem for someone like me who usually knows who I'm looking for and where they launched. But it's probably not very user friendly for John Q. Public who might stumble on this site.. "Hey, I know Erik flies gliders, I wonder if he's up today?"

NB: The 911 feature on the SSA Website does let you find an individual pilot by name or contest number. It relies on the pilot to have correctly linked to their individual tracker. In my case, it links to the Delorme page, which has some quirks of its own in terms of easily finding the latest position.

So, I'd fall into the camp of "mildly annoyed" but certainly not "outraged" :-)

P3

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 8:18:35 AM UTC-6, Papa3 wrote:
On Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 3:50:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can someone explain how you are supposed to use the SSA sailplane tracker?
It seems way overly complex. You should have the option just to zoom and pan to an area of interest and see all the live tracks.

thanks
Chris

Typical of R.A.S. this thread has partly gone off the rails. There are two "legitimate" complaints arising.

1. Platform: The tracker throws an error message when I try to use it on my Android devices (a Kindle running Chrome and my Galaxy S6 also running Chrome). "Oops! Mobile GlidePort cannot run embedded in an iFrame" However, it does display a hyperlink to "Run un-embedded" and that works. It's a mild annoyance, but it's not a show stopper on Android/Chrome. Maybe worse on iOS?

2. UI: As pointed out, it's impossible to find an individual pilot unless you know where they launched (or where GP thinks they launched). You have to drill down from the site to get a list of tracks (leaving out competitions). That's not a big problem for someone like me who usually knows who I'm looking for and where they launched. But it's probably not very user friendly for John Q. Public who might stumble on this site.. "Hey, I know Erik flies gliders, I wonder if he's up today?"

NB: The 911 feature on the SSA Website does let you find an individual pilot by name or contest number. It relies on the pilot to have correctly linked to their individual tracker. In my case, it links to the Delorme page, which has some quirks of its own in terms of easily finding the latest position.

So, I'd fall into the camp of "mildly annoyed" but certainly not "outraged" :-)

P3

Did you try the "Search" button at the top left of the screen? Right next to the "Map" button. Allows search by name or ID. You don't even have to know the day of the track.

ZL

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 5:38:35 AM UTC-6, Tango Eight wrote:
On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 12:49:13 AM UTC-4, Ramy wrote:
I must wonder if the folks who complain actually spent the time to read instructions and learn how to use this service.

This is the point: if it takes an hour to figure out how to use it, then it's basically designed for time wasting technophiles sitting at computers. That's fine. But there are many other potential users, e.g. the spouse, kid, crew or student at the gliderport. Most of those would be users aren't going to be motivated enough to "spend an hour" climbing the learning curve and more than likely the device available is going to be a phone, not a full on computer.

I'd like to integrate something sort of like this tracker into my club. We have a bunch of guys who routinely fly crewless XC and eventually, one of us is going to park somewhere awkward and find communication really difficult.

Right now, the probability of the glideport aero tracker providing any assistance in that scenario is z e r o, because no one uses it, because it's too damned fussy and complicated. That's not a complaint, that's a review.

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8

Well, at the 2016 Nationals in Nephi, the developer of Gliderport.Aero, Pedja Bogdanovich, not only gave us a development talk, but I spoke with him over several days(we were gridded right next to each other). The number of pure hits (folks using his site) he sees are very large in numbers and they are from all over the World. When a contest is being held the number of hits rises rapidly. He also sees many, mnay repeated hits.
He also spoke on the development of a small tracker which will be carried giving instance altitude and position. The cost was in the range of mid $200 dollars. Most folks attended(+75 folks) his talk and when asked almost all raised their hand when asked if they would purchase such a tracker for use..
Maybe best to remember he's developing this site for free, its better than we have ever had and as time passes it will offer more features. But only he is doing it, its his passion, it takes time.
Everyone, including the SSA chair, KM, were very pleased with its development. He got a standing ovation for his many, many hours of free work he has put into it.
IMHO, I really don't see anyone needing a hour or so in how to use this site. After Pedja's talk my thoughts are he would be open to hear useful comments.

Best. #711.

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 9:38:55 AM UTC-6, Dave Leonard wrote:
On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 8:18:35 AM UTC-6, Papa3 wrote:
On Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 3:50:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can someone explain how you are supposed to use the SSA sailplane tracker?
It seems way overly complex. You should have the option just to zoom and pan to an area of interest and see all the live tracks.

thanks
Chris

Typical of R.A.S. this thread has partly gone off the rails. There are two "legitimate" complaints arising.

1. Platform: The tracker throws an error message when I try to use it on my Android devices (a Kindle running Chrome and my Galaxy S6 also running Chrome). "Oops! Mobile GlidePort cannot run embedded in an iFrame" However, it does display a hyperlink to "Run un-embedded" and that works. It's a mild annoyance, but it's not a show stopper on Android/Chrome. Maybe worse on iOS?

2. UI: As pointed out, it's impossible to find an individual pilot unless you know where they launched (or where GP thinks they launched). You have to drill down from the site to get a list of tracks (leaving out competitions). That's not a big problem for someone like me who usually knows who I'm looking for and where they launched. But it's probably not very user friendly for John Q. Public who might stumble on this site.. "Hey, I know Erik flies gliders, I wonder if he's up today?"

NB: The 911 feature on the SSA Website does let you find an individual pilot by name or contest number. It relies on the pilot to have correctly linked to their individual tracker. In my case, it links to the Delorme page, which has some quirks of its own in terms of easily finding the latest position.

So, I'd fall into the camp of "mildly annoyed" but certainly not "outraged" :-)

P3

Did you try the "Search" button at the top left of the screen? Right next to the "Map" button. Allows search by name or ID. You don't even have to know the day of the track.

ZL

When you do use search and type in name or ID it also brings up the "past history" as well. Then when you click the blue arrow along side of the "like" box (far right and run your cursor over that line) it will show the track for that particular day.

Thanks Dave for point that out.

Best. #711.

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 9:44:14 AM UTC-7, Tom Kelley #711 wrote:
On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 9:38:55 AM UTC-6, Dave Leonard wrote:
On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 8:18:35 AM UTC-6, Papa3 wrote:
On Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 3:50:03 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can someone explain how you are supposed to use the SSA sailplane tracker?
It seems way overly complex. You should have the option just to zoom and pan to an area of interest and see all the live tracks.

thanks
Chris

Typical of R.A.S. this thread has partly gone off the rails. There are two "legitimate" complaints arising.

1. Platform: The tracker throws an error message when I try to use it on my Android devices (a Kindle running Chrome and my Galaxy S6 also running Chrome). "Oops! Mobile GlidePort cannot run embedded in an iFrame" However, it does display a hyperlink to "Run un-embedded" and that works. It's a mild annoyance, but it's not a show stopper on Android/Chrome. Maybe worse on iOS?

2. UI: As pointed out, it's impossible to find an individual pilot unless you know where they launched (or where GP thinks they launched). You have to drill down from the site to get a list of tracks (leaving out competitions). That's not a big problem for someone like me who usually knows who I'm looking for and where they launched. But it's probably not very user friendly for John Q. Public who might stumble on this site.. "Hey, I know Erik flies gliders, I wonder if he's up today?"

NB: The 911 feature on the SSA Website does let you find an individual pilot by name or contest number. It relies on the pilot to have correctly linked to their individual tracker. In my case, it links to the Delorme page, which has some quirks of its own in terms of easily finding the latest position.

So, I'd fall into the camp of "mildly annoyed" but certainly not "outraged" :-)

P3

Did you try the "Search" button at the top left of the screen? Right next to the "Map" button. Allows search by name or ID. You don't even have to know the day of the track.

ZL

When you do use search and type in name or ID it also brings up the "past history" as well. Then when you click the blue arrow along side of the "like" box (far right and run your cursor over that line) it will show the track for that particular day.

Thanks Dave for point that out.

Best. #711.

And for those who want to track only a particular pilot on a mobile device, try "spot buddy" app. It only cost couple of bucks and can track Spot and Inreach devices. No learning curve, and works very well for spouses etc, although myself I much prefer to use the SSA tracker even on my mobile device..

Ramy