strava for iphone precision?

joec@aracnet.com

2012-05-07

You were able to get Crap! MyRide! to work? I dumped that boat anchor
after 1 week.

On Mon, 7 May 2012 10:41:01 -0700, Paul Souders
wrote:

> Until late last year these calculations were always way off,
> ironically probably because their terrain data was too precise. I
> compared directly with MapMyRide using the same ride data:
>
> http://www.axoplasm.com/node/624
>


Paul Souders

2012-05-07

I use it and have some opinions. If you're too cheap to buy real hardware (that would be me...) it's acceptable. But it will disappoint you sometimes.

Any iPhone app will be limited by the quality of its GPS capabilities, as Greg notes. 1st Gen iPhones need 3G to approximate geolocation, but later models have real GPS hardware.

For a long time the Strava app had a few stability issues; last summer it crashed on me several times, dumping my data in the process. They updated the app and website late last year and I haven't noticed this since. Although more than once I've thought I was recording when in fact I wasn't (so I lost a whole ride in the process). Now I make sure to watch the app for a few seconds to make sure it's recording.

The iPhone has no barometer (that I know of) so an app will have to approximate elevation changes using mapping data. Strava does this AFAICT on the server side. You'll notice a ride's total elevation gain will appear to change if you visit the ride page several times, I assume because the server is doing some voodoo on it.

Until late last year these calculations were always way off, ironically probably because their terrain data was too precise. I compared directly with MapMyRide using the same ride data:

http://www.axoplasm.com/node/624

I think they've improved this in the past six months however. I rode the RondePDX with my buddy using the iPhone app. He rode with a Garmin 500 and uploaded the data to Strava. In the end we had similar mileage but I was showing 199' more feet. (him: 7343', me: 7542'). For a device without a barometer, over a wacky route like that, 3% off is not a bad approximation.

And despite the fact that iPhones can theoretically access ANT+ hardware I don't know of any way to incorporate heart rate or cadence data so that's a serious limitation.

Paul

On May 7, 2012, at 10:09 AM, Greg Shepherd wrote:

> It's no better or worse than the other cycling apps for the iPhone.
> The biggest weakness I've found is that the sample rate is too low.
> For the open road it's fine. I wanted to map some single track but I
> just end up with a very rough polygon through the trees. :p
>
> Greg
>
> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Ryan Francesconi wrote:
>> I used the strava app (for the iphone) for the first time yesterday.
>> Anyone have experience with the iphone version and it's precision? I'm
>> not sure of it's accuracy. Seemed off to me.
>>
>> Thanks, Ryan
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Ryan Francesconi

2012-05-07

Yeah for the plumlee strava climb yesterday at montinore it didn't map it accurately nor did my best time coincide with someone I finished near. Oh well.

On May 7, 2012, at 10:09, Greg Shepherd wrote:

> It's no better or worse than the other cycling apps for the iPhone.
> The biggest weakness I've found is that the sample rate is too low.
> For the open road it's fine. I wanted to map some single track but I
> just end up with a very rough polygon through the trees. :p
>
> Greg
>
> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Ryan Francesconi wrote:
>> I used the strava app (for the iphone) for the first time yesterday.
>> Anyone have experience with the iphone version and it's precision? I'm
>> not sure of it's accuracy. Seemed off to me.
>>
>> Thanks, Ryan
>> _______________________________________________
>> OBRA mailing list
>> obra@list.obra.org
>> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
>> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org


matt Savage

2012-05-07

Your elevation profile will be way off. At best you're +/- 200'-300'
vertically at the start, then all over the place from there. Horizontally,
if you have good 3G service when you start the app, you'll be relatively
close, +/- 100' or so and it will continue to track you relatively well.

The best thing to do, is open your google maps app, pinpoint your location,
then start Strava. Strava will recognize your current location from the
phones background data. If you start a mapping app and you don't have 3G
service, then it will take forever to get a correct fix on your location
and the tracking will be waaaay off. The iphone doesn't have a truly
dedicated GPS antenna, it takes corrections from cell towers.

-Matt

On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Ryan Francesconi wrote:

> I used the strava app (for the iphone) for the first time yesterday.
> Anyone have experience with the iphone version and it's precision? I'm
> not sure of it's accuracy. Seemed off to me.
>
> Thanks, Ryan
> _______________________________________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org
>


Greg Shepherd

2012-05-07

It's no better or worse than the other cycling apps for the iPhone.
The biggest weakness I've found is that the sample rate is too low.
For the open road it's fine. I wanted to map some single track but I
just end up with a very rough polygon through the trees. :p

Greg

On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM, Ryan Francesconi wrote:
> I used the strava app (for the iphone) for the first time yesterday.
> Anyone have experience with the iphone version and it's precision? I'm
> not sure of it's accuracy. Seemed off to me.
>
> Thanks, Ryan
> _______________________________________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org


Ryan Francesconi

2012-05-07

I used the strava app (for the iphone) for the first time yesterday.
Anyone have experience with the iphone version and it's precision? I'm
not sure of it's accuracy. Seemed off to me.

Thanks, Ryan