parkrun thread
2 lurkers |
488 watchers
Nov 2017
2:29pm, 22 Nov 2017
50 posts
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Spideog
Touchscreens are not a reliable way to record times, you need a physically clickable button. And smartphones with other apps running in the background that may popup and take focus away from the timer app are not a reliable device to use for it either. |
Nov 2017
2:34pm, 22 Nov 2017
40 posts
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option_Richard
" wasn't there something about using the volume control instead of tapping on the screen?" & the volume buttons on phones are tiny |
Nov 2017
2:43pm, 22 Nov 2017
1,211 posts
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CumbriAndy
We need to wait and see how everything pans out before leaping to judgement but the concerns I have with the scanning App are the potential increase in lost finish tokens and abuse of the system. As I understand it, the idea is that anybody with an iPhone can scan a barcode and a token then submit the output by email for automatic inclusion in the results. If that’s wrong tell me to shut up and ignore the rest of this post. Assuming I have the intent more or less correct, if I’m an iPhone user and I forget my barcode one week, what’s stopping me taking my finish token home so that I can add myself into the results later? By simple extension, if I can do that then why should I wait around in a queue in the rain waiting to be scanned if I can do it in comfort myself once I'm warm and dry back home? Or why not do the whole family set at the dining table once we’re back home? And once I’ve figured that out, why bother turning up at all if all I actually need to do to get myself on the results somewhere is download a set of barcodes from the Wiki and scan one I fancy before sending it to a parkrun I like the look of? For the record, I don’t understand why anybody would want to do any of that either but it seems to me that the App has potential unintended consequences leading to lost finish tokens, reduced interactions between parkrun participants and increased challenges for parkrun teams as they try to resolve ‘real’ results in conflict with ‘fake’ ones. I should probably also note that I am an App-phobic Android user who only ever uses his ‘phone for calls, texts and email checking by wifi; my intentional lifetime mobile data usage is zero. |
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Nov 2017
2:47pm, 22 Nov 2017
41 posts
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option_Richard
"As I understand it, the idea is that anybody with an iPhone can scan a barcode and a token then submit the output by email for automatic inclusion in the results." the app is for the existing Barcode Scanner volunteers to use the data file then has to be emailed to the events mailbox, so the results processor can upload them to WebFMS. There is no connection from the app to WebFMS. |
Nov 2017
2:49pm, 22 Nov 2017
3,389 posts
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larkim
Don't think the intent was to self-serve the results CA - though you'd be right to think that that was feasible at least in theory to scan your own and mail it through as the app is freely available.
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Nov 2017
3:19pm, 22 Nov 2017
349 posts
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Arjin
...and no RD in their right mind would add that result until the finish token was returned. And quite possibly not even then.
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Nov 2017
3:19pm, 22 Nov 2017
1,212 posts
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CumbriAndy
Thanks both - so not quite the free-for-all I feared at this stage but reliant on results processors refusing to accept data files on any given week from anywhere other than known/agreed/appointed/named/official sources. As I said, lets wait and see how it pans out.
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Nov 2017
3:24pm, 22 Nov 2017
1,213 posts
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CumbriAndy
Cross post - make that 'Thanks all'
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Nov 2017
3:34pm, 22 Nov 2017
18,733 posts
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fetcheveryone
It's worth remembering the cost of the equipment currently supplied, and thinking about what we'd all do if faced with the goal of rolling out endless parkruns to the entire world. I've just looked up the price of the standard ERS scanners - they are £96+VAT each. The JUNSD timers are about £30 each. The netbook for results processing is around £200 I think. In Bedford we have four scanners, three timers and a laptop - so that's about £780 to shell out for a 500 runner event. It's all a bit of a long way off, but I can imagine a time in the future when timekeepers and barcode scanners all have cheap Android devices (and you can already pick up a basic Android tablet for less than 30 quid). Timers time, scanners scan, and the results find their way to the HQ database when the devices next find Wifi - without the need for a dedicated laptop either. It's what I'd do. Getting there is another thing 
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Nov 2017
3:39pm, 22 Nov 2017
932 posts
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CharlieP
On the other hand, while I'm dead against replacing the dedicated stopwatches, I do think a smartphone app could be better than the scanners, as it could give much better feedback to the operator as to when a barcode of either variety has been scanned successfully (or not). I've had two or three occasions where I've been Unknown on the results, and an email to the event team has revealed that only finish position or barcode number has been in the scanning file, even though everything seemed OK at time of scanning.
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