# Ski Tracks - iPhone app that is EPIC



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

Ok, so This app is absolutely amazing. My friend out in Breck has been looking for something that could track his speed and he came across this app for his iPhone called 'Ski Tracks'. It tracks everything from vert ft, speed, distance traversed, EVERYTHING!! The most awesome part is that it can be uploaded into google earth. Check out the movie below. 

Check out the link, its a full review of it. So far I tracked myself at just under 45mph, and my friends who told me about the app is tracked at just under 67 mph 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qor_xrbigUE


----------



## WasatchMan (Aug 30, 2011)

neutralmlkhotel said:


>



there ya go

put everything after the "*=*" in the youtube /youtube box


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

WasatchMan said:


> there ya go
> 
> put everything after the "*=*" in the youtube /youtube box



Thanks buddy


----------



## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

wish they had something even remotely comparable for Blackberry... gotta upgrade the phone ASAP!


----------



## ju87 (Mar 9, 2011)

i highly recommend this app :thumbsup:


----------



## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

Dunno if that is free or not, but My Tracks from Google is, which I use with great ease and success.


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

howeh said:


> I also highly recommend Ski Tracks. He's a SS from a day last season when I jumped backed on skis for a day: http://i.imgur.com/VteLe.jpg
> 
> Yes, I was shitting it.


GOD DAMN!!!! 72.8 MPH!!


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

snowklinger said:


> Dunno if that is free or not, but My Tracks from Google is, which I use with great ease and success.


Its $1, and def worth the ability to listen to your iPod, able to analyze each run individually and to take pics with geo-tags to where on the mountain they were taken. 

I'm not sure the features on 'My Tracks' but this app is designed by Core Coders Ltd who specifically design apps like this. I was reading a review a few weeks back and found they this app took years to create and make accurate since the grade of the slope is given to improve accuracy of sleep and location.


----------



## volboy23 (Nov 30, 2010)

The app is definitely a lot of fun to play with and there is plenty of data to get out of it. I like how many runs you make as well as the mileage and what not. I question the speed at times though. I have it as well as a couple of friends and we have been flying down black runs that say we are going slower than when we are on green runs. We question whether or not it is taking into account the degree on the hill as well as the horizontal distance you are covering. Either way, we have plenty of fun with it.


----------



## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Check out the Rossignol app too. It's free and good as well.


----------



## Bowa41 (Mar 17, 2011)

I've been using ski tracks this season and it's definitely my favorite tracking app. My only issue with it is that Google earth doesn't seem to have any winter images for the UT resorts, so I'm stuck looking at the tracks over greenery instead of snow.


----------



## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Gps can not accurately track speed with a steep slope involved in the equation, it gets fairly close on green runs though.... Blue less accurate and blacks not so close....


----------



## sabatoa (Jan 18, 2011)

I've had ski tracks since last year. Lots of good features.:thumbsup:


----------



## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Argo said:


> Gps can not accurately track speed with a steep slope involved in the equation, it gets fairly close on green runs though.... Blue less accurate and blacks not so close....


Not sure I understand why this is? Could you elaborate?


----------



## sabatoa (Jan 18, 2011)

Leo said:


> Not sure I understand why this is? Could you elaborate?


My understanding is that your directional movement along the mountain appears to be less on a steep than on a mellow run.

Imagine a view looking straight down from the sky onto a slope. A person running a steep would look like they're not traveling very far in a forward motion because so much of the progress is down rather than forward.

I saw someone draw a diagram on here once...


----------



## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Yea well, that's logical an all, but the apps account for slope and even tells you the angle.


----------



## sabatoa (Jan 18, 2011)

Leo said:


> Yea well, that's logical an all, but the apps account for slope and even tells you the angle.


Yezzir.

I don't know how accurate his opinion is, I was just trying to clarify it for you.


----------



## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

A good test would be for someone to drop the phone with app on from a building. Now, the problem will be ensuring the phone doesn't break as you'd have to let the phone drop for a good time so it can catch the speed.

But I mean, cameras and goggles have this gps tech as well and they all record speed and slope angle too.


----------



## sabatoa (Jan 18, 2011)

Leo said:


> A good test would be for someone to drop the phone with app on from a building.


Let's do this the next time I'm in the SE. We'll use your phone with the fancy case.


----------



## Lunchball (Jan 2, 2012)

sabatoa said:


> My understanding is that your directional movement along the mountain appears to be less on a steep than on a mellow run.
> 
> Imagine a view looking straight down from the sky onto a slope. A person running a steep would look like they're not traveling very far in a forward motion because so much of the progress is down rather than forward.
> 
> I saw someone draw a diagram on here once...


I guess I don't understand, but the gps should know your x,y, and z coordinates at all times and therefore should be able to calculate fairly accurately. Seems like it would be stupid if it only got x's and y's.


----------



## SnowRock (Feb 28, 2011)

I cosign Ski Tracks... works great and seems to be one of the few GPS oriented apps that doesn't kill your battery. Had a 5 hour+ session with it on tracking, while listening to tunes with the occasional email check for work and was still north of 55% battery. 

I have noticed some "wonkiness" with speed a few times, mostly under the scenarios described... faster speed tracked on a mellow angle run versus a pretty steep run where I thought I was cranking. But overall the thing works great.


----------



## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

GPS is only accurate speeds that are sustains for more than a few seconds.


----------



## Lunchball (Jan 2, 2012)

I believe "purple bandits" answer the most, in that units have all the info, but only report the speed with the x's and y's, and therefore would read incorrect on slopes.

Can GPS devices calculate vertical speed? - Yahoo! Answers


----------



## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Lunchball said:


> I believe "purple bandits" answer the most, in that units have all the info, but only report the speed with the x's and y's, and therefore would read incorrect on slopes.
> 
> Can GPS devices calculate vertical speed? - Yahoo! Answers


He says slight error. I mean, I already take that into account anyway with these speeds. I think of it as about -3 or +3 mph than what it reads. That's a pretty good margin I think.


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

From my understanding in how they developed this app is that they compiled Topographical maps and geographical maps, the combination of the two plus the rate of ascended/descended altitude you are able to calculate the velocity traveled. In order to get accurate positioning you must have amazing cellular service and who actually has amazing cell service when they are on the slopes. 

Those that question how accurate the speed is; keep in mind air resistance, It will make you feel as if you are moving faster than you are or it might accelerate how fast you are actually moving. 


BTW thank you guys for making me think about newtons laws.


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

one last point stated on the developers website 

"Track statistics such as Max Speed, Slope Angle are calculated on good quality location data over approximately 100 meters (300 feet). Our tests have shown that the accuracy is about ±5% depending on location.


With regard to Ski Distance, Ski Vertical these are accurate to around ±5% again depending on location.


Lat / Lon displays are relatively accurate to between 5-50 meters."


----------



## Raines (May 1, 2011)

for android too?


----------



## hawaiinboarder (Mar 4, 2011)

That app is GREAT just used it yesterday.


----------



## supham (Feb 14, 2011)

I tried this app at Mt Holly the other day. Worked fairly well, except it reports my number of runs at Zero. with a Vert of 300 ft I believe it thinks I'm on a flat...


----------



## destroy (Dec 16, 2012)

neutralmlkhotel said:


> From my understanding in how they developed this app is that they compiled Topographical maps and geographical maps, the combination of the two plus the rate of ascended/descended altitude you are able to calculate the velocity traveled. In order to get accurate positioning you must have amazing cellular service and who actually has amazing cell service when they are on the slopes.
> 
> Those that question how accurate the speed is; keep in mind air resistance, It will make you feel as if you are moving faster than you are or it might accelerate how fast you are actually moving.
> 
> ...



Some good points, but a few things maybe overlooked...

The GPS on the iPhone works independent of the cellular antenna. It's the same reason it can still track you when there's no service at all, whether it's your TomTom app or a backwoods GPS app. Most places I ride have great service most of the time, even at that. Either way, good app.

Oh yeah, and that windspeed stuff is all just mental and only somewhat related, of course.


----------



## redlude97 (Jan 9, 2008)

topological mapping is hardly accurate, especially over such short distances where "max speed" might be calculated. Just do the math on the geometry and see how much +/- 10ft in elevation will affect speed.


----------



## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

I DL'ed this a couple yrs ago when it was free but have never bothered to use it to this day. Guess I should fire it up one of these days.


----------



## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

I've compared these apps to a proper GPS watch and there's no comparison. I used the apps for years (wanting to not have ANOTHER thing to purchase), but when I finally tried a watch I was amazed. I'll ride with an app running next time and upload both to garmin connect so you guys can see.

The apps are really fun for tracking your runs and total distance, and they're a great way of pushing yourself to go further, but the data isn't very accurate at all. At one point it said my max speed for the day was 654 km/h!!! :yahoo:


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

destroy said:


> Some good points, but a few things maybe overlooked...
> 
> The GPS on the iPhone works independent of the cellular antenna. It's the same reason it can still track you when there's no service at all, whether it's your TomTom app or a backwoods GPS app. Most places I ride have great service most of the time, even at that. Either way, good app.
> 
> Oh yeah, and that windspeed stuff is all just mental and only somewhat related, of course.


Its interesting how they app works, check out the user guide on Core Coders, LTD, it uses cellular triangulation which is how the first Map app was on the iPhone. I read up awhile ago on all the technology of the app itself and how they built the maps and resort info and what not

I do agree on the mental part of it, and thats what I was trying to convey. (my works get the best of me sometimes....science geek right here).


----------



## neutralmlkhotel (Sep 5, 2011)

poutanen said:


> The apps are really fun for tracking your runs and total distance, and they're a great way of pushing yourself to go further, but the data isn't very accurate at all. At one point it said my max speed for the day was 654 km/h!!! :yahoo:


 Compared to GPS watch is a given but $1 to a few hundred is a big difference.

BTW Do you gotta have some jet turbines attached to your bindings or something?


----------

