AlpineReplay

[VTKilarney]

Also, I was wondering if any of you had suggestions for similar apps that could be used for mountain biking (mainly cross-country singletrack). I got the feeling that Strava is only for road biking so I haven't downloaded it

I use Road Bike by the same people who make Runtastic. They have an app called Mountain Bike as well. Strava is really geared toward people who want to prove that their d*ck is bigger than the next guys. Road Bike doesn't have any of the leaderboard crap that Strava has. I find that it is reasonable on the battery too as long as you turn the screen off while using it.

 

[VTKilarney]

Agreed. If I'm running it I try to put the phone on airplane mode and then turn on GPS. Most mts have crappy cell service. I find that is a real battery drain.

I thought that airplane mode was all or nothing including the GPS.

 

[VTKilarney]

Is there an iOS ski app yet that takes advantage of the barometer built into the iPhone 6?

 

[moresnow]

I thought that airplane mode was all or nothing including the GPS.

Airplane mode should turn off WiFi, data, gps, etc. And then on my phone I am able manually turn on GPS.

I could turn off data, wifi, and all that individually, but it's easier and faster to go airplane mode + gps.

 

[dlokshin]

Hi All,

I'm one of the founders of AlpineReplay (now Trace Snow). I used to pop in here from time to time to answer questions, but somehow I stopped getting alerts. Either way, I love the feedback you guys have been posting in here (it's hard to find raw, critical feedback) and I thought I'd answer a few nagging questions. Also, feel free to send us an email at support@traceup.com if you ever have questions.

-------
Jumps
-------

The jumps algorithm works pretty well, and when it doesn't work, it's usually because we've identified a false positive (so it over reports, not underreports). We've confirmed the algorithm visually through video, and have a lot of confidence in it. When you're getting less jumps than what you think you should be getting, one of the following things is happening:

* Your phone is not collecting accelerometer data at the rate we need. We run the acc in a background thread for various reasons, and from time to time your phone whether Android or iPhone might throttle this down depending on what else is going on in the background. When the Hz goes too low, we don't run our filters on the data and don't search for jumps.

* When you use Trace Snow and not Trace the device, what you're actually measuring is the phone's movement, not your own. In a lose pocket, your phone can actually "catch air" while your skis or board is firmly on the ground.

* Your jumps aren't big enough--they have to be at least 250ms for us to count it as a jump

----------------
Name Change
----------------

The name AlpineReplay was giving us a bunch of problems. For starters, most people don't pronounce it correctly (they pronounce it without the 'p' for Alpine Relay). We were on CNBC two weeks ago and despite correcting the anchor, she continued to refer to us as Alpine Relay. Alpine Relay is actually searched for more than Alpine Replay. It was a mess. The other piece that had become very frustrating is setting up business deals with suppliers, brands, etc. How does Trace the device relate to AlpineReplay and ActiveReplay? Who owns the joint venture (answer: there is no joint venture). Instead of focusing on building the business, we had to focus on explaining all of this business nonsense that had nothing to do with the company.


At the same time, we launched a Kickstarter for Trace, and people have been using the name interchangeably ever since. It feels like a pretty natural transition.

----------------
Real time data
----------------

This used to be premium, but is now part of the free app. If you upgrade to the latest version on iPhone, you'll get all of these stats in realtime for free. We run much more powerful filters on the data once it gets submitted to our servers, so the data might be slightly different, but it'll give you a good idea in real time.

----------------
Speed accuracy
----------------

We've been working on this for three years, and it's why you'll see that the speed that registers is usually more believable and more accurate than other apps. The basic problem is that sensors have to be calibrated to the activity that you're measuring. The GPS on Trace has more than a dozen different settings on it that we can tweak depending on what you are doing. The GPS in your phone is calibrated 100% for driving. There are a lot of assumptions being made as a result of this. We post-process the data to back calculate speed if we identify a segment of data that we know your GPS likely applied hand-wavy magic too.

Whew! That was long and I apologize if this is an unwelcome post. Excited to see you guys using the app this winter. We're in the process of tweaking the app to give you a better sense of performance and your improvement--if you want to start testing it in a couple of months or so, please email me (or call me).

David Lokshin
david@traceup.com
949-436-4789

 

[Cannonball]

^great info! Thanks for posting all that.

One question: you made reference to "Trace the device", what is that? (I did some googling and didn't find it, but there's a lot of noise on those search terms so it's tough). Do you have a dedicated device?

 

[Mariovntr]

Great info David! I just picked up the Samsung S5 (used to have the S3). I hope the accelerometer is better on this phone for logging jumps.

Cannonball - www.traceup.com

 

[dlokshin]

@Mariovntr Nice! Shoot us an email if it's still laggy and we'll take a look

@Cannonball Yes, we have a physical device and you can learn more at www.traceup.com. The top three reasons why you might use a physical device over your phone:
* More accurate data and richer feature set
* Auto-edits your video footage (GoPro, iPhone, Android, Sony)
* Doesn't use your phone's battery
* Multiple sport (waterproof, rugged, shockproof)

Great info David! I just picked up the Samsung S5 (used to have the S3). I hope the accelerometer is better on this phone for logging jumps.

Cannonball - www.traceup.com

 

[skiNEwhere]

Hey David,

I sent you an email as well, but I would GREATLY appreciate it if you added functionality to block users from following you, or make some ski days not show up to certain friends.

One of my followers is also my co-worker and I'd hate for them to think I was skiing when I was supposed to be sick or snowed in.

Even if I wasn't following them, they could still follow me.

 

[VTKilarney]

David,

Is there any integration with the iPhone 6's barometer?

 

[gmcunni]

The top three reasons why you might use a physical device over your phone:
* More accurate data and richer feature set
* Auto-edits your video footage (GoPro, iPhone, Android, Sony)
* Doesn't use your phone's battery
* Multiple sport (waterproof, rugged, shockproof)

that's 4...

 

[dlokshin]

This is kind of tricky. In theory, the altitude form the location services comes from the barometer. But if you want to query the barometer, the screen actually has to be on, the app has to be open, and all you get is the delta difference from the first query.

David,

Is there any integration with the iPhone 6's barometer?

 

[Madroch]

Wow... Great info.. Gotta update my phone for real time...

 

[gmcunni]

bump....

$200 seems high BUT ...

a. i kind of like the app and data it produces
b. i can get by a full day with my phone if i take precautions and don't use it for anything else
c. thought of having a problem late in the day and finding my battery dead/low does worry me.

Anyone pick up the physical Trace device yet?


http://www.traceup.com/trace-for-snow


on coldest days my phone battery won't last. i carried a charging stick and plug it in at lunch or on breaks. works ok but annoying (to some degree, not sure if that degree exceeds $200)

 

[gmcunni]

also, sorry but i don't like the new name.. i still call it alpinereplay and if anyone asks me how to get it only then do i mention the real (new) name.

 

[jimmywilson69]

I have a fairly new Galaxy S5 (new 9/14) and I can listen to music and track with Alpine Relay (Trace) all day and it doesn't fully kill my battery.

Most of m "Sessions" are at a local place and only last 2 hours, but when I'm skiing all day in Vermont, this is what I've experienced.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I have a fairly new Galaxy S5

Slightly OT, but do you carry that thing in your front/back pocket? I'm still clinging to the SII, only because I hate how ginormous phones have become in the last 3 years, like holding a tablet to your face in some instances. But my SII is becoming outdated and near capacity, and when I use Phresheez on it for ski tracking, it will kill my battery in 1/2 a day.

 

[VTKilarney]

What am I doing wrong? The "news" screen that is the first screen to pop up never has any content. Is there a way to have the app open up into the "subscribed" section?

 

[jimmywilson69]

Slightly OT, but do you carry that thing in your front/back pocket? I'm still clinging to the SII, only because I hate how ginormous phones have become in the last 3 years, like holding a tablet to your face in some instances. But my SII is becoming outdated and near capacity, and when I use Phresheez on it for ski tracking, it will kill my battery in 1/2 a day.

I put it in the pocket in my vest (down or windbock depending on temp) that I wear under my shell. Come Spring I'll probably just put it in my chest pocket of my shell if it is 35 or above.

 

[dlague]

What am I doing wrong? The "news" screen that is the first screen to pop up never has any content. Is there a way to have the app open up into the "subscribed" section?

I had that problem on the iPhone but not with the Android.