More Newbie questions (might as well get them out of the way)

I am using TrackAddict solely for autocross on a Nexus 6P Google phone, in case it matters.

1. AFter tapping "Set with GPA or Map" to establish a start line or finish line, the next screen shows a satellite view and the instruction says "Use current location" which when tapped is followed by a screen with "Set Point Here" and speaks to being as close to the track surface as possible. During the pre-run course walk I can stand right on the track itself in line with the timing boxes - is that what is asked for? Once pressed, the program reverts to the "Use current location" satellite view screen. I assume we don't press that again, but exit to the "edit track" main screen?

2. The Start Line, Sector Split, and Finish Line set up sections have "Tolerance" choices. Did I miss the discussion of those in the Online documentation? Default appears to be "Standard".

3. What does "heading" do in setting the start or finish lines or sectors?

4. Is it possible to have the voice announce the segment time, similar to announcing the lap time?

I apologize for all the newbie questions and thanks in advance for the help! My goal is to get TrackAddict set up properly and then add OBD and lastly my 360fly camera once I have everything else sorted.

Bill

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Originally Posted by bbain

I am using TrackAddict solely for autocross on a Nexus 6P Google phone, in case it matters.

1. AFter tapping "Set with GPA or Map" to establish a start line or finish line, the next screen shows a satellite view and the instruction says "Use current location" which when tapped is followed by a screen with "Set Point Here" and speaks to being as close to the track surface as possible. During the pre-run course walk I can stand right on the track itself in line with the timing boxes - is that what is asked for? Once pressed, the program reverts to the "Use current location" satellite view screen. I assume we don't press that again, but exit to the "edit track" main screen?

That's correct. Once you tap "Set Point Here", it will show you that point on a satellite view map, and it is saved at that point, so unless you want to change it, just exit out of that screen and you're done.

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2. The Start Line, Sector Split, and Finish Line set up sections have "Tolerance" choices. Did I miss the discussion of those in the Online documentation? Default appears to be "Standard".

The tolerances are +/- 20m (Narrow), 35m (Standard), or 50m (Wide). This should be set at least wide enough to span the width of the track at that point (the distance from the point you set to the furthest edge of the track), plus any GPS error (best case is about 3m, and any reception issues can greatly increase that), but also not so wide that it could cause a false trigger while you're driving on another nearby part of the course. If you're using a 1 Hz GPS (typical phone GPS), these also mean we might not always get a GPS trigger if you are going faster than 89 mph (Narrow), 156 mph (Standard), or 223 mph (Wide).

That's likely more that you'll ever really need to know... In actual practice, it's usually good to set the point on a straight piece of track and set the tolerance as wide as it can be without that spilling over into any other parts of the course. For AutoX, I usually go with Narrow because the speeds are definitely low enough, and the courses are tighter so I don't want it to prematurely trigger on another part of the course.

When people have a problem where the GPS points aren't triggering reliably, I typically recommend that they improve their phone's mounting position to optimize its GPS reception, and then also set the Tolerance wider if possible (this will help make the best of a problematic GPS situation).

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3. What does "heading" do in setting the start or finish lines or sectors?

This is not often needed, but it is one approach to eliminating the possibility of false triggers when a timing point is set with a tolerance that also covers other nearby parts of the track... When set, that timing point would only trigger when the vehicle's direction of travel is within 30 degrees or so of the heading value you had set (0 = North, 90 = East, 180 = South, 270 = West). When there is another part of a course close enough to be within the tolerance area, you almost always have a different direction of travel on it, so this option can work quite well to only trigger at the right spot. Having this set also eliminates the minimum speed requirement that's in place when in auto-heading mode, although that's already so low that you're not likely to run into an issue there unless you're on foot or a bicycle.

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4. Is it possible to have the voice announce the segment time, similar to announcing the lap time?

Not at this time. We don't presently have anything in place for live feedback of segment times, although the data obviously exists behind-the-scenes, and is the basis for the Target lap time displayed when in Circuit mode.

I apologize for this late "thank you" for answering my questions so completely. The technology is amazing. I can't wait to try it out at the next event!