Something new for the Rowing Geeks
Tony Andrews
just released a pair of applications that effectively turn these devices
into rowing/paddling performance monitors. The two applications are:
SpeedCoach Mobile - runs on the iPhone 3G and uses the accelerometer and
GPS to measure stroke rate, distance, speed, etc.
StrokeCoach Mobile - basically the same application but w/o the GPS features
(The SpeedCoach and StrokeCoach names are used through a license
agreement with NK.)
Both applications allow workout data to be saved, uploaded, and viewed
through a companion application on Facebook. More information is
available at http://www.performancephones.com
Regards,
Tony Andrews
saraha...@googlemail.com
Something for the *brave* rowing geeks... if I could afford an iphone/
ipod touch, I'm not sure I'd stick it anywhere near a river... at
least a normal speedcoach is waterproof!
Those applications you can get are brill though for iPhones. I have a
friend who has a clinometer application on his which comes in useful
in the field (he's a geologist!).
Sarah
Tony Andrews
Yes, a waterproof case is essential. Cases are available currently at
http://store.thewaterproofstore.com/blkmp3case.html, and both cases and
mounting solutions will be available soon through NK.
Tony
Sjobber
But little question about the application: can it also show mph or km/
u ? I can not see such a thing in the pictures.
But uh... awesome work, seriously!
Tony Andrews
Yes, it supports the same units options as the NK SpeedCoach products:
meters, kilometers, miles, and nautical miles. Velocity can be displayed
as speed (meters per second, miles per hour...) or pace (time per 500m,
time per mile...).
Tony
quadd...@googlemail.com
So what to you do when someone tries to phone you mid 2k race?
Dave
Mike De Petris
... activate call-transfer?
quadd...@googlemail.com
I've had a look, interesting concept, looks slick! Any bugs? But at
nearly £40 for the app and then having to buy a waterproof cover for
my iphone, i'd be more inclined to stick to my NK Speed Coach proper
(as I have one already).
IMO, one would need to be very geeky to stump up that cash to try it
out and risk destroying an Iphone in the process......and thats coming
from a geek. Will any trials be offered?
magnus....@googlemail.com
iPhone, was to download an app which simply displayed the
accelerometer outputs directly as a moving plot (actually 3 plots, one
for each axis).
It should be very straightforward to produce an app which did
something similar but in such a way that one's own stroke could be
displayed as a plot of boat acceleration in real time. The little
unofficial app I had sampled the accelerometers 40 times per second,
and was quite interesting to use in a car, but I never got around to
using it in my 1x before a new iPhone software version unjailbreaked
it and the app disappeared.
Magnus
Tony Andrews
Yes, you can forward incoming calls directly to voice mail. You can also
turn off alert sounds for voice mail, email, calendar events, etc. The
only thing you can't disable in the current iPhone software is an
incoming text message.
Tony Andrews
Thanks. There aren't any outstanding bugs that I know of, but one of the
advantages of a software-based solution is that I can issue fixes as
necessary (and add features). I use it almost daily with the application
running continuously for over two hours. In the last 6 months or so of
development and testing, I've never seen the application crash or hang.
Apple doesn't currently have a good facility for supporting trial
periods, but the new software release coming out this summer may help.
It allows "in application" payments, so I could make a version that's
cheap to install (say $5, maybe), works for some period of time (say 30
days) and then requires a payment to continue working indefinitely.
Mike De Petris
so if you know someone is using it, you can be quite annoying just
having his number and sending sms?
btw it can't be used at races due to FISA rules
Tony Andrews
Actually, the 2009 FISA rules of racing have some interesting changes.
Instead of prohibiting certain classes of devices, they prohibit the
undesired behavior directly. The applicable rule appears to be:
Rule 74 – Coaching during racing
It is prohibited to give any instructions, advice or directions to
rowers or crews that are racing with any electric, electronic or other
technical device, either directly or indirectly.
I couldn't find any prohibition on electronic devices themselves. The
Rowing Canada rules follow the FISA wording, but US Rowing still has the
broad prohibition on devices that can communicate electronically. I'm
hopeful that they'll move toward the FISA language, though.
Mike De Petris
good news, thank you
freeheelfunhog
> If you have an iPhone 3G or iPod Touch, you may be interested in this. I
> just released a pair of applications that effectively turn these devices
> into rowing/paddling performance monitors. The two applications are:
>
> SpeedCoach Mobile - runs on the iPhone 3G and uses the accelerometer and
> GPS to measure stroke rate, distance, speed, etc.
>
> StrokeCoach Mobile - basically the same application but w/o the GPS features
If you're rowing in moving water, is the speed and distance always
relative to the unmoving land? In other words, if I am sitting (oars
not moving) on a current of 2 knots, will the speed reflect that in
comparable 500m pace? If so, is there anyway around this?
Also, will the StrokeCoach Mobile work without ATT services and with a
1G phone? I have an older, cracked screen phone that still works quite
well.
I think these applications are super cool. And what an awesome phone.
>
> (The SpeedCoach and StrokeCoach names are used through a license
> agreement with NK.)
>
> Both applications allow workout data to be saved, uploaded, and viewed
> through a companion application on Facebook. More information is
freeheelfunhog
> just released a pair of applications that effectively turn these devices
> into rowing/paddling performance monitors. The two applications are:
>
from the waterproof case as recommended in your manuals seems a bit
dubious.
For some boats, a bicycle-type mount would work. See:
http://www.mountguys.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RAP-274-AP6&click=21
> SpeedCoach Mobile - runs on the iPhone 3G and uses the accelerometer and
> GPS to measure stroke rate, distance, speed, etc.
>
> StrokeCoach Mobile - basically the same application but w/o the GPS features
>
> (The SpeedCoach and StrokeCoach names are used through a license
> agreement with NK.)
>
> Both applications allow workout data to be saved, uploaded, and viewed
> through a companion application on Facebook. More information is
Tony Andrews
> On Apr 14, 9:25 am, Tony Andrews <crewn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> If you have an iPhone 3G or iPod Touch, you may be interested in this. I
>> just released a pair of applications that effectively turn these devices
>> into rowing/paddling performance monitors. The two applications are:
>>
>> SpeedCoach Mobile - runs on the iPhone 3G and uses the accelerometer and
>> GPS to measure stroke rate, distance, speed, etc.
>>
>> StrokeCoach Mobile - basically the same application but w/o the GPS features
>
> If you're rowing in moving water, is the speed and distance always
> relative to the unmoving land? In other words, if I am sitting (oars
> not moving) on a current of 2 knots, will the speed reflect that in
> comparable 500m pace? If so, is there anyway around this?
>
> Also, will the StrokeCoach Mobile work without ATT services and with a
> 1G phone? I have an older, cracked screen phone that still works quite
> well.
>
> I think these applications are super cool. And what an awesome phone.
>
Yes, your assumption is correct. This is always the drawback with any
GPS-based solution. An impeller-based product will always have two
primary advantages: 1) speed is relative to the water, and 2) fast
response to changes in speed. Virtually all GPS products use some kind
of speed smoothing so there's always a lag in reporting speed changes.
I've tuned my app to minimize this, but some lag is unavoidable. But
we're all familiar with the drawbacks of an impeller too.
ATT service isn't required for either application, but uploads require
an internet connection of some kind (wifi is fine). 1G phones should
work with the StrokeCoach Mobile app. I've tested this with the iPod
Touch and the 3G phone, but the 1G should be fine too.
Tony Andrews
> Someway of mounting the iphone would be handy too. Using the lanyard
> from the waterproof case as recommended in your manuals seems a bit
> dubious.
>
> For some boats, a bicycle-type mount would work. See:
> http://www.mountguys.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RAP-274-AP6&click=21
>
As part of my licensing agreement with them, NK will actually be selling
the waterproof cases and a better mounting solution. I'll have more
details on this soon.
Dave Sill
>
> Yes, your assumption is correct. This is always the drawback with any
> GPS-based solution. An impeller-based product will always have two
> primary advantages: 1) speed is relative to the water, and 2) fast
> response to changes in speed.
Can't you use the accelerometers to do the equivalent?
Nice app, BTW. Almost makes me wish I had an iPhone. I'll wait for the
Android version, though. :-)
-Dave
Tony Andrews
I get that question a lot, and it seems like it ought to be possible. In
practice, though, I think the problem is pretty complicated. There are a
lot of movements going on and you can't align the phone in the boat with
absolute precision. The technique that I'm using allows the iPhone to be
tilted back at any angle for optimum viewing of the screen, but it
assumes that the phone points more or less directly toward the bow or
stern. I can separate vertical from horizontal acceleration, but I don't
think it will ever be possible to calculate speed with sufficient
accuracy to be useful.
I *am* working on a new feature that will give a measure of check on
each stroke based on relative changes in speed through the stroke. But
for that it isn't necessary for me to know your absolute speed - only
the amount of variation through the stroke.
I'm working on figuring out a plan for Android. It would be helpful if I
could clone myself :)
davidmc...@gmail.com
> just released a pair of applications that effectively turn these devices
> into rowing/paddling performance monitors. The two applications are:
>
> SpeedCoach Mobile - runs on the iPhone 3G and uses theaccelerometerand
> GPS to measure stroke rate, distance, speed, etc.
>
> StrokeCoach Mobile - basically the same application but w/o the GPS features
>
> (The SpeedCoach and StrokeCoach names are used through a license
> agreement with NK.)
>
> Both applications allow workout data to be saved, uploaded, and viewed
> through a companion application on Facebook. More information is
"Accelerometer Data Pro" will log accelerometer data for later
download. No good for realtime data but handy of analysis afterwards
when imported into Excel etc... It is £5 from the Apps store.
Simon
blades in the water and allowing the boat to drift, then once at a
steady speed set this as a base pace, could you then minimise the
effects of the water speed on the readout simply by selecting upstream
or downstream as appropriate? Obviously not completely accurate as the
speed the river is flowing at might vary a bit but better than no
adjustment I think..
kda...@kidare.com
I have a Garmin Forerunner which I use in the boat. Before the outing,
I throw a stick in the water, then walk alongside it to get a
judgement on river speed. Then add to / subtract from displayed speed
to get on-water speed.
However, having seen how much drag from gusts of wind can affect
instantaneous speed, I believe that speed measurements are to be taken
with a large handful of salt and can really only be treated as vaguely
accurate in flat-calm conditions.
Kit
Tony Andrews
I agree. I could certainly provide some kind of adjustment, but I'm
afraid it might just make people take the numbers too seriously. I'm not
a river rower, but I imagine the current varies a lot from one area to
another or between the inside & outside of turns, and so on.
I think the speed/pace numbers are best used to compare pieces within a
single workout when the various influencing factors are less likely to
vary so significantly.
One nice thing about viewing a workout in Google Maps (via my Facebook
app) is that for any given piece, you can see exactly where you were and
know whether the piece was upstream, downstream, etc.
Tony
richard...@googlemail.com
I have this app, and it is amazing -- a wireless, totally portable,
instantly installable SpeedCoach.
The problem with current adjustments is that you also need to adjust
for wind as well, right?
And if you are doing pieces upstream and upwind, and then downstream
and downwind, then you have to indicate that too.
My only suggestions concern the case, which I think needs to be a bit
bigger, and the mounting options, which I deal with using duct tape at
the moment.
Before I bought this app, I wondered if it really would work... and it
does. It is simpler to use and easier to see that a cox box, and it is
within 1/2 stroke
of the cox box rate always, and within 5m (worst case) on distances at
Mercer Lake with 5 GPS bars.