A new Running App

comer_97

Hi Everyone,

I've created a new Android App for running as part of my MSc. in web technologies.

It allows you to compete against other runners giving you audio feedback at each split.

If anyone would be interested in evaluating it check out www.collegerunnr.com

if anyone has any questions or suggestions get in touch!

thanks

YFlyer

comer_97 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

It allows you to compete against other runners giving you audio feedback at each split.

It will give you an audio feedback of your competitors splits if they have the app as well?

comer_97

it currently gives you your split time and your position in the race between you and the people you are competing with and it tells you how far behind or ahead you are.

It's not practical to give all the splits if there are a large number in the race but I could put it in for 1 on 1 races or mabye in races of 3 people.

what would you think?

YFlyer

Yes that would be interesting.

There would need to be a feature so that you can have your splits available to some but not to others.

comer_97

so you can be private so only friends can race you or public which means everyone can race you

YFlyer

comer_97 wrote: »

so you can be private so only friends can race you or public which means everyone can race you

Yes you should be selective.

Gringo78

comer_97 wrote: »

so you can be private so only friends can race you or public which means everyone can race you

As a training tool, it might be useful for an interval session if it could handle it? i.e 2 friends in different locations decide to do 6x1km at 3:30 per km with 2min recoveries. App would tell after each rep whether they are ahead or behind target and also how their buddy did on that rep. A session like that would work if each rep was 3:30 long regardless of the distance and so how far or behind you are your buddy would be given in cumulative metres but the reps would remain synchronised. That'd be something that would keep me motivated alright to complete an interval session at the target pace if someone I knew was doing it a tthe same time and could see how I was doing. Different runners could put in different target paces for the interval and the app could work out handicaps then so people of different abilities could compete against each other.

comer_97

handicapping is in the pipeline, it means you can train against friends who are at a higher level.

I want to do intervals too where you can set the interval yourself and then your friend can run against them at the same time or at a different time. I'm also working on telling you what distance you are behind or ahead as well as time.

Timmaay

Very interesting project comer! I use the GPS in android phones to measure vehicle driving patterns in my PhD so have an interest in it from that side also. How do you find the accuracy of android GPS? Does the 1Hz sampling rate cause any problems?

comer_97

Timmaay wrote: »

Very interesting project comer! I use the GPS in android phones to measure vehicle driving patterns in my PhD so have an interest in it from that side also. How do you find the accuracy of android GPS? Does the 1Hz sampling rate cause any problems?

the accuracy is fine for what I am doing but the location API uses location change events so if you are running in a small circle it tends to miss some of your movement. I have set the accuracy to high too.

I've compared it to Runkeeper and Endomondo so it is inline with that.

From looking at the data and mapping it on a google map there don't seem to be many anomolies. I was expecting some points to be way out but so far so good.

AntiVirus

comer_97 wrote: »

I've compared it to Runkeeper and Endomondo so it is inline with that.

It's not Endomondo or Runkeeper you have to worry about for GPS accuracy, its the device your app is running on. 2 different phones running the same app can give you 2 different readings and they can be out by a good bit.

comer_97

AntiVirus wrote: »

It's not Endomondo or Runkeeper you have to worry about for GPS accuracy, its the device your app is running on. 2 different phones running the same app can give you 2 different readings and they can be out by a good bit.

I know, it's basically down to the phone's hardware, but my tests on HTC Desire, HTC Hero and Samsung Galaxy S have all worked out pretty well.

AntiVirus

comer_97 wrote: »

AntiVirus wrote: »

It's not Endomondo or Runkeeper you have to worry about for GPS accuracy, its the device your app is running on. 2 different phones running the same app can give you 2 different readings and they can be out by a good bit.

I know, it's basically down to the phone's hardware, but my tests on HTC Desire, HTC Hero and Samsung Galaxy S have all worked out pretty well.

Good to hear you're testing different phones at the same time. I think your idea is very good and it would add some good fun in races. Another idea would be to add in an option to race against yourself or setup a virtual runner for training.

Unfortunately I'm using a Windows Phone so I can't help with testing. Good luck with your project, I hope you do well

comer_97

AntiVirus wrote: »

Good to hear you're testing different phones at the same time. I think your idea is very good and it would add some good fun in races. Another idea would be to add in an option to race against yourself or setup a virtual runner for training.

Unfortunately I'm using a Windows Phone so I can't help with testing. Good luck with your project, I hope you do well

You can race against yourself and I will be putting in a virtual partner feature too. Shame you can't test it out!