TrailRunner 3.6 — Mac OS X 10.6 only
17.07.11 11:51 Filed in: Features
As I described before, it is my long term goal to make TrailRunner mini more or less feature complete, migrate as much as possible into TrailRunner 3.6 and eventually start working on TrailRunner 4. That all is still distant but things will happen step by step.
And as I am writing this, thanks everyone for your continued support and trust.
TrailRunner 3.3 builds will not automatically update into TrailRunner 3.6 as I cannot determine Mac OS X version you are running and for OS X 10.5 the updated version would not run. Therefore please manually update to TrailRunner 3.6 or wait until your version times out and you are forced anyway to do something.
You can download the latest build here: Download TrailRunner 3.6 for Mac OS X 10.6 and above.
RaceBunny 4 -- Plan and Follow a route
27.05.11 13:11 Filed in: Features
- Record activities and send them to TrailRunner for analysis and journaling in the diary.
- Plan a route in TrailRunner, send the track to RaceBunny and follow the course.
- Select between different background map types like Google Satellite, Google Terrain, OpenStreetMap and OpenCycleMap
- GPS location recoding is being done using multitasking resulting in high resolution recoding data.
- On devices supporting app switching with multitasking, GPS recoding keeps running even when RaceBunny is running in the background.
To use RaceBunny, follow these steps in TrailRunner:
- Go to Preferences > Synchronize and set RaceBunny as the iPhone partner application.
To send routes to RaceBunny
- In the main document window, click the iPhone icon and in the left pane select the send-tab.
- Start RaceBunny on the iPhone.
- Select a route in TrailRunner and click the send button.
- The selected route is being transferred to RaceBunny and is added to the list of routes.
To receive completed activities from RaceBunny
- In the main document window, press the iPhone icon and in the left pane select the import-tab.
- In RaceBunny tap on the tracks button, select an activity and tap on the Send button.
- TrailRunner will open the import pane. Add additional comments and import the activity to your diary.
Additional notes
- To exchange data between TrailRunner and RaceBunny a domestic WiFi connection is being required.
- RaceBunny keeps recording your GPS location in the background. This works only on devices with multitasking support and this may also increase your battery consumption.
Download RaceBunny for free from the app store:
How to help out translating TrailRunner to your language
20.05.11 22:04 Filed in: Features
With the fabulous help of many users, TrailRunner is localized to German, Swedish, Italian, traditional Chinese (Taiwan), French, Dutch and Japanese. To everyone who had completed the original translations or improved them by their comments, thank you very much!
[Updated] Japanese: Takashi, Toshimi, Norihisa
Czech: Marek
Français: Raphael, Xavier, Olivier, David
Italiano: Cesare, Oskar, Pierino
Español: Oscar, Juan, Javier
Taiwanese: Nitoc
Dutch: Steven, Bart
Swedish: Henrik
Simplified Chinese: Myckel
If you like to translate TrailRunner to your language or if you would like to supplement an existing translation, please contact me and use the following application I wrote:
- Download the Localizer Application: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1963886/Localizer.zip
- Drag the TrailRunner.binary Database onto the application icon.
- In the top search bar, select Language and search for you target language, e.g. fr for French
- The table below now shows all strings known to TrailRunner with the original language in english and a localization below each entry.
- In the button bar below the table, click on the button Next (Command-1) to go to the next untranslated entry.
- To translate the original text in english to a common word being used by standard Apple Apps (like File, Copy, Delete, Clipboard, etc) use the Lookup button. It may not produce any result as I may already have done that. If the lookup was unsuccessful, choose the next step:
- Either click on Translate (Command-3) to translate the whole string using translate.google.com or select a fragment in the Localized String edit field and click on Translate Selection (lower right button) to translate only the selection. You may also select a word and click on Suggestions to view previous translations of that word.
- Accept removes the marker NEW or CHANGED. These are set if the original had changed or was added. Accept if the translation is still ok. The marker is used for the Next button to jump to the next location were work is being required.
- Update resets the translation to the original for that you can redo your work.
- Please never edit the refactoring fields for Key or the Table.
- The buttons Import and Export are exclusive to me, you do not require them.
- When you feel like enough work has been put into the translation by your side, save the document and send me the TrailRunner.binary file.
- Please note that for TrailRunner mini and RaceBunny a second Database with the name TrailRunnerMini_RaceBunny.binary exists. For updating that one the same as above applies.
Please let me know how it goes, free registration waiting as an award ;-)
TrailRunner 3.1, TrailRunner mini and the Mac App Store
08.02.11 16:37 Filed in: Features
So it's done. TrailRunner got a small brother called TrailRunner mini and the little is available in the Mac App Store.
So this raises some questions and I'll try to give answers to these:
What is the difference between TrailRunner 3 and TrailRunner mini
If you are accustomed to TrailRunner 3, TrailRunner mini is the routes mode with the streets network editor only. In addition TrailRunner mini can automatically publish routes to your iPhone (or to be more precise: RaceBunny for iOS).
Why TrailRunner mini?
The idea and benefit behind TrailRunner mini is the following:
For users: Have a simple route planner that is not as feature bloated as TrailRunner 3.
For me: TrailRunner 3 is huge. Too huge to migrate into more modern technologies at once. So I require a smaller project that includes all core technologies and aspects but not in as many different application modes. And, TrailRunner mini and RaceBunny for the iOS share the same foundation. Something that is impossible with TrailRunner 3 technology.
What will TrailRunner 4 be like
TrailRunner mini teaches me some tricks I can apply to TrailRunner 3 as soon as they are mature. This will be the moment when the migration to TrailRunner 4 will occur. The two brothers together lay the groundwork for a future sibling.
Should I buy both versions?
No, you should not. If you consider yourself an expert routing freak with a GPS on your wrist, use TrailRunner 3 and support me as you can. If TrailRunner 3 is too complicated for your partner, make a gift to her/him with a TrailRunner mini license.
As both applications can import/export fully contained GPX files (with some extensions for TR3 still in the pipeline but not far away), everything is interchangeable — or should be.
But please note: This all is work in progress so I hope for your understanding and notes — should something not work as you expect. But you may know me and hopefully you also know that I try my best to keep you up and running.
And please consider: TrailRunner mini has no diary! No GPS activities import. No heart-rate and body metrics display. It's a simple routing App.
But I am still interested in TrailRunner mini
Well, watch what the little can do: Video
So this raises some questions and I'll try to give answers to these:
What is the difference between TrailRunner 3 and TrailRunner mini
If you are accustomed to TrailRunner 3, TrailRunner mini is the routes mode with the streets network editor only. In addition TrailRunner mini can automatically publish routes to your iPhone (or to be more precise: RaceBunny for iOS).
Why TrailRunner mini?
The idea and benefit behind TrailRunner mini is the following:
For users: Have a simple route planner that is not as feature bloated as TrailRunner 3.
For me: TrailRunner 3 is huge. Too huge to migrate into more modern technologies at once. So I require a smaller project that includes all core technologies and aspects but not in as many different application modes. And, TrailRunner mini and RaceBunny for the iOS share the same foundation. Something that is impossible with TrailRunner 3 technology.
What will TrailRunner 4 be like
TrailRunner mini teaches me some tricks I can apply to TrailRunner 3 as soon as they are mature. This will be the moment when the migration to TrailRunner 4 will occur. The two brothers together lay the groundwork for a future sibling.
No, you should not. If you consider yourself an expert routing freak with a GPS on your wrist, use TrailRunner 3 and support me as you can. If TrailRunner 3 is too complicated for your partner, make a gift to her/him with a TrailRunner mini license.
As both applications can import/export fully contained GPX files (with some extensions for TR3 still in the pipeline but not far away), everything is interchangeable — or should be.
But please note: This all is work in progress so I hope for your understanding and notes — should something not work as you expect. But you may know me and hopefully you also know that I try my best to keep you up and running.
And please consider: TrailRunner mini has no diary! No GPS activities import. No heart-rate and body metrics display. It's a simple routing App.
But I am still interested in TrailRunner mini
Well, watch what the little can do: Video
Press Reviews of TrailRunner and RaceBunny
03.12.10 09:37 Filed in: Gossip
November 30, 2010; review of TrailRunner and RaceBunny at WarriorWomen.co.uk: I think I’ve arrived late to the party but I’ve just stumbled upon a brilliant piece of software that can actually give Sporttracks a run for it’s money. Article Link
TrailRunner and Nike+ GPS app for iPhone
02.11.10 19:46 Filed in: Features
The Nike+GPS importer has the following features:
- Import all your stored workout sessions from your nikeplus.com account into your TrailRunner diary
- Import the recorded GPS track
- Import additional notes taken in the "How was your run" section of the app.
- Compare your sessions using the advanced tools in TrailRunner.
> Read more about how to use The Nike+GPS app with TrailRunner
Use TrailRunner with Suunto Devices
14.10.10 19:14 Filed in: Features
I added an importer for Suunto devices that works with the Suunto Movescount online service and the Suunto Moveslink interface. 
Moveslink is an application that connects your Suunto device to Movescount. Moveslink is always running when you start your computer so you can plug in your device any time.
Set TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > Helper Application to Suunto Moveslink.
In TrailRunner click on the import from device button in the main application toolbar.
The Suunto MovesLink application will start, automatically downloading your fitness data from your device and uploading the data to Movescount.
Quit the MovesLink application and follow the screen instructions in TrailRunner.
Please note that with all other device data, TrailRunner can only display fitness data that also contains distance information. In this case you should always wear a foot-pod.
> About Suunto Movescount
> About Suunto Moveslink
> Download Suunto Moveslink for Mac OS X
Moveslink is an application that connects your Suunto device to Movescount. Moveslink is always running when you start your computer so you can plug in your device any time.
Set TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > Helper Application to Suunto Moveslink.
In TrailRunner click on the import from device button in the main application toolbar.
The Suunto MovesLink application will start, automatically downloading your fitness data from your device and uploading the data to Movescount.
Quit the MovesLink application and follow the screen instructions in TrailRunner.
Please note that with all other device data, TrailRunner can only display fitness data that also contains distance information. In this case you should always wear a foot-pod.
> About Suunto Movescount
> About Suunto Moveslink
> Download Suunto Moveslink for Mac OS X
TrailRunner 3.1 -- Follow your routes
12.10.10 15:54 Filed in: Features
TrailRunner is the perfect tool to create new routes. Now how could you take these with you?
iPhone with Nike+GPS
[Update] Nike+GPS is available in the app store.
Download and install Nike+GPS app from the AppStore.
Register a nikeplus.com account at nikeplus.com
Make a new recoding with the Nike+GPS app and synchronize your data with nikeplus.com
Set TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > Apple + Nike to nikeplus.com
In the TrailRunner toolbar of the main application window, click on the Nike+Apple Icon.
In TrailRunner, login with your nikeplus.com account data.
TrailRunner will read your workout sessions from your nikeplus.com account
Import selected workouts.
TrailRunner will also import any additional notes taken within the iPhone app.
iPhone with Trails 4
Trails 4.0 is available in the app store.
Download and install Trails from the AppStore.
Set Trails as your helper application in TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > iPhone.
Trails can send routes to TrailRunner, and Trails can receive routes from TrailRunner
To send routes to Trails:
ForeRunner
To send a route to your ForeRunner you first need to download the Helper Application LoadMyTracks.
Then select a route in TrailRunner and click the Send toolbar button in the main document toolbar.
Click the Export route button and LoadMyTracks will launch and transfer the course to your GPS device.
iPhone with RaceBunny
Download and install RaceBunny from the AppStore.
Set RaceBunny as your helper application in TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > iPhone.
Follow the instructions as described here: Using RaceBunny with TrailRunner
iPhone with 321run
321Run is an iPhone coach for running that can send recorded track to TrailRunner.
Download and install 321run from the AppStore.
Set 321run as your helper application in TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > iPhone.
Read more here: Using 321run with TrailRunner.
iPhone with Motion-X GPS
Download and install MotionX-GPS from the AppStore.
Create a Route in TrailRunner and export the Route as a GPX-track.
Send the GPX file via Mail.app to gpsimport@motionx.com
A Mail message will be returned to you. Open this Mail Message on your iPhone and import the track into Motion-X.
Are you an iPhone App developer interested in the TrailRunner Wifi API?
iPhone with Nike+GPS
Download and install Nike+GPS app from the AppStore.
Register a nikeplus.com account at nikeplus.com
Make a new recoding with the Nike+GPS app and synchronize your data with nikeplus.com
Set TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > Apple + Nike to nikeplus.com
In the TrailRunner toolbar of the main application window, click on the Nike+Apple Icon.
In TrailRunner, login with your nikeplus.com account data.
TrailRunner will read your workout sessions from your nikeplus.com account
Import selected workouts.
TrailRunner will also import any additional notes taken within the iPhone app.
iPhone with Trails 4
Download and install Trails from the AppStore.
Set Trails as your helper application in TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > iPhone.
Trails can send routes to TrailRunner, and Trails can receive routes from TrailRunner
To send routes to Trails:
- In the main document window, click the iPhone icon and in the left pane select the send-tab.
- Start Trails on the iPhone.
- Select a route in TrailRunner and click the send button.
- The selected route is being transferred to Trails and is added to the list of imported tracks.
ForeRunner
Then select a route in TrailRunner and click the Send toolbar button in the main document toolbar.
Click the Export route button and LoadMyTracks will launch and transfer the course to your GPS device.
iPhone with RaceBunny
Set RaceBunny as your helper application in TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > iPhone.
Follow the instructions as described here: Using RaceBunny with TrailRunner
iPhone with 321run
Download and install 321run from the AppStore.
Set 321run as your helper application in TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > iPhone.
Read more here: Using 321run with TrailRunner.
iPhone with Motion-X GPS
Create a Route in TrailRunner and export the Route as a GPX-track.
Send the GPX file via Mail.app to gpsimport@motionx.com
A Mail message will be returned to you. Open this Mail Message on your iPhone and import the track into Motion-X.
Are you an iPhone App developer interested in the TrailRunner Wifi API?
Import FIT files from Garmin Edge 500
17.09.10 18:19 Filed in: Features
Added Support for the Garmin FIT file format. This is the new data storage format for the Garmin Edge 500 and newer devices.
To synchronize your Edge data with TrailRunner follow these steps:
- Set TrailRunner > Preferences > Synchronize > Helper Application to Garmin USB Mass Storage
- In the Main document toolbar, click on the Import from device icon.
- An import pane should now open on the left, decoding and displaying your stored activities.
A beta version of TrailRunner is available to test the new importer:
> Download TrailRunner 3.2 beta 01
Synchronizing your diary
13.09.10 17:12 Filed in: Features
The reason I write this blog entry is that many user request a possibility to sync the diary between two computers.
As you might already know, TrailRunner stores all vital information within your home directories Application Support folder
To do so, follow these steps:
- Download and install Dropbox.
- By default, the Dropbox application creates a new folder in your home directory called Dropbox.
- Open this folder and make sure that a folder named Documents exists within. If not, create it with the exact spelling.
- Now go to: [yourhome]/Library/Application Support/
- Within, find the folder named TrailRunner and move this into the aforementioned Documents folder.
Next time you start up TrailRunner, the application will check on if your home directory contains the following folder:
[yourhome]/Dropbox/Documents/TrailRunner/
If that's the case, TrailRunner will access this location instead of the default Library/Application Support location
Sidenote: To make this practical, TrailRunner will move your local cached map tiles out of the Library/Application Support folder into the Library/Caches folder. This heavily reduces the load on your 2GB free storage at dropbox.com
> www.dropbox.com
Import directions from maps.google
14.08.10 20:06 Filed in: Technology
If you want to import a route planned with maps.google.com into TrailRunner, follow these steps:
Goto maps.google.com and use the Get Directions tab to plan your course.
Click the Link to this page link.
In the Paste link in email or IM edit field, append &output=kml to the end of the url (with no blank inbetween)
Copy the whole URL and paste it into the address bar. Press the return key.
A kml file will now download. Drag the maps.kml file onto TrailRunner or the main window. The course importer will open.
More convenient alternatives:
Convert Google Maps Data to GPX
> GMapToGPX
> GMapToGPX (German)
Goto maps.google.com and use the Get Directions tab to plan your course.
Click the Link to this page link.
In the Paste link in email or IM edit field, append &output=kml to the end of the url (with no blank inbetween)
Copy the whole URL and paste it into the address bar. Press the return key.
A kml file will now download. Drag the maps.kml file onto TrailRunner or the main window. The course importer will open.
More convenient alternatives:
Convert Google Maps Data to GPX
> GMapToGPX
> GMapToGPX (German)
Sharing GPS Trails
13.05.10 08:29 Filed in: Routes
The internet and the community behind are a great resource. You already know that. The following community sites are a selection where you can upload share and download running, hiking or biking courses:
With GPSies you can view and download tracks which have been recorded by a GPS device. Whether you are searching for running courses or Mountain Bike Tracks, with GPSies you can see what Tracks others have recorded. And you can download all the Tracks and put them onto your GPS device so you won`t lose your way.
http://www.gpsies.com
EveryTrail is a mobile travel companion that enables travelers to Track, Share and Search Trips. EveryTrail also offers apps for iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms.
www.everytrail.com
[Update] Route sharing website based and focusing on the UK.
www.anyonefor.com
Bikely helps cyclists share knowledge of good bicycle routes.
http://www.bikely.com
WikiLoc is a free web app that lets you share GPS tracklogs and waypoints on the web in an easy way
http://www.wikiloc.com
German: Hier findest du kostenlose Touren mit GPS Tracks zu Outdoor Aktivitäten in beliebten Kategorien wie Mountainbiken, Wandern, Reiten, Ski etc.
http://www.gps-tour.info
With GPSies you can view and download tracks which have been recorded by a GPS device. Whether you are searching for running courses or Mountain Bike Tracks, with GPSies you can see what Tracks others have recorded. And you can download all the Tracks and put them onto your GPS device so you won`t lose your way.
http://www.gpsies.com
EveryTrail is a mobile travel companion that enables travelers to Track, Share and Search Trips. EveryTrail also offers apps for iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms.
www.everytrail.com
[Update] Route sharing website based and focusing on the UK.
www.anyonefor.com
Bikely helps cyclists share knowledge of good bicycle routes.
http://www.bikely.com
WikiLoc is a free web app that lets you share GPS tracklogs and waypoints on the web in an easy way
http://www.wikiloc.com
German: Hier findest du kostenlose Touren mit GPS Tracks zu Outdoor Aktivitäten in beliebten Kategorien wie Mountainbiken, Wandern, Reiten, Ski etc.
http://www.gps-tour.info
Screencast for TrailRunner (spanish)
07.05.10 14:56 Filed in: Features
The guys over at slooping.net did a great review of TrailRunner including a 21 minute screencast explaining almost every feature of TrailRunner.
Si usted puede entender español, echa un vistazo:
> TrailRunner: Gestión de tracks y entrenos (incluye screencast detallado)
Si usted puede entender español, echa un vistazo:
> TrailRunner: Gestión de tracks y entrenos (incluye screencast detallado)
Special mentions in media
06.05.10 22:34 Filed in: Gossip
TrailRunner 3.1 has been picked as the editor’s choice on Softonic.
TrailRunner has been granted the "Excellent" certificate at FindMySoft.com
I am not sure what it's worth, but mac.softpedia.com found TrailRunner to be free of any malicious code like spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.
What's more interesting is the fact that softpedia published some screenshots of TrailRunner depicting a map snapshot of a region in Romania near the river Prut. Looks like globalization also caught the software review industry…
> mac.softpedia.com
> Softpedia Screenshot
> Wikipedia Prut
TrailRunner has been granted the "Excellent" certificate at FindMySoft.com
What's more interesting is the fact that softpedia published some screenshots of TrailRunner depicting a map snapshot of a region in Romania near the river Prut. Looks like globalization also caught the software review industry…
> mac.softpedia.com
> Softpedia Screenshot
> Wikipedia Prut
TrailRunner -- Live Performance
14.03.10 22:05 Filed in: Gossip
My first competition this year will be Sunday, March 21st for "Auf die Platte-fertig-los", Wiesbaden, Germany.
As every year this is the first of a series of up-hill races I do. Roughly 8 km with 450 m of ascent.
I wish all of you a successful season!
Take care,
- berbie.
> Get your own…
TrailRunner 3.0 -- Improvements on the way
12.03.10 17:03 Filed in: Features
A quick overview on that has changed in TrailRunner 3.0:
Reworked UI and wording
To better meet the vocabulary being used in other applications, TrailRunner will no longer speak about workouts but activities.
Also activities, routes and your network of tracks are displayed in a better UI.
All application modes now come with their own dedicated toolbar at the bottom end of the window making the UI much more clearer.
New Network of tracks editor
The new editor makes managing your network of tracks much easier. Drag selection and shift click extent selection lets you select more than one element
Operations on the action toolbar give you the toolset to effectively remove duplicate tracks and waypoints.
A list of modified tracks on the left helps you in finding out what was newly added to your network and may contain duplications to be merged into your network of tracks.
WayPoint Perimeters
As you know, tracks can be spitted by a waypoint nearby. In previous versions of TrailRunner the maximum distance from a way-point to track to make this happen was a fixed value of 10 meters.
In the new network of tracks editor, you now see this perimeter range around selected waypoints and you can drag the border to extend the range.
This is especially useful when you have locations where great chaos lies within because many routes start and end somewhere around this spot. Now you can just increase the perimeter of one representative for this location and TrailRunner will then be able to better consolidate new elements within this area.
Better OpenStreetMap Source
Changed the Background Map to CloudMade openStreetMap Fine Line with a contour overlay.
To effectively reload all map tiles, remove the
Improved Integration with EveryTrail
The community routes browser and importer now supports an improved API version for finding routes nearby on everytrail.com. Additionally TrailRunner hilights not only the location of routes nearby but also displays the tracks. So you now easily can view what courses the routes have.
Improved Diary
The diary window now displays a map and more statistical information on the selected activity.
Simplified process of localization
Over the years, the number of strings requiring localization grew to a huge number. A new database based application now helps localizers manage and update the localizations with a very easy interface that also contains a ToDo list and automatic pre-translation provided by translate.google.com
If you would like to help out with an updated or even new localization, please contact me.
QuickGuide for TrailRunner 3.0
The QuickGuide shows you all main features of the application. Great for testing everything out:
> QuickGuide
Reworked UI and wording
To better meet the vocabulary being used in other applications, TrailRunner will no longer speak about workouts but activities.
Also activities, routes and your network of tracks are displayed in a better UI.
All application modes now come with their own dedicated toolbar at the bottom end of the window making the UI much more clearer.
New Network of tracks editor
The new editor makes managing your network of tracks much easier. Drag selection and shift click extent selection lets you select more than one element
Operations on the action toolbar give you the toolset to effectively remove duplicate tracks and waypoints.
A list of modified tracks on the left helps you in finding out what was newly added to your network and may contain duplications to be merged into your network of tracks.
WayPoint Perimeters
In the new network of tracks editor, you now see this perimeter range around selected waypoints and you can drag the border to extend the range.
This is especially useful when you have locations where great chaos lies within because many routes start and end somewhere around this spot. Now you can just increase the perimeter of one representative for this location and TrailRunner will then be able to better consolidate new elements within this area.
Better OpenStreetMap Source
Changed the Background Map to CloudMade openStreetMap Fine Line with a contour overlay.
To effectively reload all map tiles, remove the
Improved Integration with EveryTrail
Improved Diary
The diary window now displays a map and more statistical information on the selected activity.
Simplified process of localization
Over the years, the number of strings requiring localization grew to a huge number. A new database based application now helps localizers manage and update the localizations with a very easy interface that also contains a ToDo list and automatic pre-translation provided by translate.google.com
If you would like to help out with an updated or even new localization, please contact me.
QuickGuide for TrailRunner 3.0
The QuickGuide shows you all main features of the application. Great for testing everything out:
> QuickGuide
Supported Fitness Devices
18.02.10 09:57 Filed in: Technology
TrailRunner directly and indirectly supports several workout recording devices. As it’s very time consuming to directly support fitness devices, I decided to interface with dedicated helper applications that do a much better job than I could do on my own. Go to the TrailRunner application preferences to set the synchonisation for your supported fitness device.
> FAQ Entry on supported fitness devices, GPS receivers and file formats.
> FAQ Entry on supported fitness devices, GPS receivers and file formats.
Testbericht auf Frosthelm.de [de]
25.01.10 15:38 Filed in: Gossip
Die Trails werden mit Action-Videos, Anfahrtsbeschreibung und GPS Daten vorgestellt. Gerade wegen der GPS Daten ist Frosthelm eine guter Fundus für TrailRunner aus dem MTB Bereich.
> Testbericht
> frosthelm.de
Weitere Testberichte
TrailRunner macht Bock aufs Laufen: MACazin.de, 1.1.2008
iTrail und Trailrunner im Test: getfitter.de, 26.01.2009
Dueling Y-Axes
25.01.10 14:49 Filed in: Conceptual
An interesting reading about fanciness and pointlessness of displaying data.
The team at OmniGraphSketcher wrote about the display of multiple y-scales overlaid on the same graph, to make it possible to plot several different types of related data on the same chart. I do this too in TrailRunner but my solution targets the middle of what they call a bad idea and what they suggest as a realistic solution.
The main conclusion of the OmniGraphSketcher team is that overlaying data with disparate scales saves space, but it makes the data significantly harder to interpret. The dual axes “duel” for your attention. So instead of overlaying scales, [they] recommend using a set of multiple graphs, aligned along their common axis.
> Omnimouth blogpost
> Read their Article
The team at OmniGraphSketcher wrote about the display of multiple y-scales overlaid on the same graph, to make it possible to plot several different types of related data on the same chart. I do this too in TrailRunner but my solution targets the middle of what they call a bad idea and what they suggest as a realistic solution.
The main conclusion of the OmniGraphSketcher team is that overlaying data with disparate scales saves space, but it makes the data significantly harder to interpret. The dual axes “duel” for your attention. So instead of overlaying scales, [they] recommend using a set of multiple graphs, aligned along their common axis.
> Omnimouth blogpost
> Read their Article
TrailRunner 2.1v468 -- Topographic maps for Norway
10.12.09 22:00 Filed in: Maps
As you can see in the depicted screenshots, the quality is phenomenal.
The Map data goes from a National Map scale down to a very detailed map with properties, buildings and roads.
To view the map data, switch to the openStreetMap source and then zoom in somewhere in Norway, TrailRunner will automatically select the new source and display the background map.
> Norwegian Mapping Authority
> TrailRunner 2.1v468
TopOSM -- topografic maps for Massachusetts, USA
03.10.09 10:19 Filed in: Technology
Vidar pointed me to this beautiful map source that — unfortuanetly — is limited to Massachusetts, USA. The map is an interesting montage of several layers and data sources Lars Ahlzen has accomplished.
If you choose the openStreetMap as your background map in TrailRunner and view the area covered by this map server, TrailRunner now uses this source.
Read more about this project:
> What is TopOSM
> TopOSM online viever
iPhone on the hike -- Battery Extender
23.09.09 00:16 Filed in: Gossip
> Mophie Juice Pack Case…
Tracks, Trails, Routes, Workouts, Laps, Courses, WTF
15.09.09 18:21 Filed in: Conceptual
„TrailRunner is powerful but at the same time can be confusing for first time users.”
This is what I hear from many users. The typical learning curve goes from prejudices on how things should work to misunderstandings on what is actually going on to understanding and loving TrailRunner or bailing out for something else.
This all rotates around the difference between a track, workout, diary entry, route and the network of tracks.
And to be honest, I know this problem and I am constantly trying to make things easier to understand.
In fact TrailRunner is three applications in one. TrailRunner is
- an activity journal
- a mapping application to maintain a network of tracks
- a route planning application
So whenever you import something into TrailRunner, your intentions might go into either direction. And interestingly this even shifts over time — as new users with new devices stumble upon TrailRunner.
Probably the following "glossary" might help understanding what TrailRunner is about and what the application can do for you — whenever you drop data into it:
Track
A track is a list of geographic points with GPS coordinates. Within the real world a track describes the path from e.g. one sign-post of a hiking trail to the next. Each sign-post representing a crossing that connects to other tracks. Within the context of such a way or street, a track contains no timing or heartrate information. It's only where, not when and how.
Network of Tracks
One big feature in TrailRunner is to build and maintain a network of tracks. That is much like the lines of streets, roads, ways, trails and pathes printed on maps. The difference is that your network of tracks is your personal collection. A collection that represents the paths you actually run or cycle on, masking everything else out that you dislike or haven't strolled along yet.
Route
Within this network of tracks you have routes. A route is more or less a sequence of tracks. One important thing is that within a route, if you go back and forth a track, this track is part of the route twice. This is the most problematic part as simple GPS recordings never have this kind of conceptual differentiation. So I reject the idea that a route and a track should be the same thing. They could appear as — in the degenerate case where a route is being made of one track being used only once within the route. But that is just a special case — although typical in activity tracking applications that just import GPS data points and visualize them.
Workout
The biggest similarity between what others call a track is what I call in TrailRunner a workout. Garmin calls this an activity but I dislike this term as it fits better to being a diary entry. But back to the difference between tracks and workouts: If a recording contains data points with values like heart-rate, cadence and calories, it's not a track. It's a sequence of training session data-points and therefore it is a workout. For this reason TrailRunner generally distinguishes between routes and workouts. Routes belong to geographic data, workouts belong to performance over time or distance. A workout and a route can be connected to each other if they follow the same geographic course, but must not.
TrailRunner even offers features to merge a workout with the course of a route. That's important for training devices that can track distances but not GPS locations (e.g. the Apple Nike+ iPod Sensor)
Summary: The different faces of a track
To sum this all up, a track can have the following faces:
If the track contains a series of geographic points without timing information, then it's a track within your network of tracks.
If the track contains additional timing information, then it's the course of a route containing the single track or a sequence of tracks.
If the track contains timing information and values like heartrate, cadence etc., then it's a workout.
Import of a track
Whenever you import a track into TrailRunner, the importer shows you the course of the track in the map part of the main window. Then in the lower part of the importer you can decide if the workout face of the track should be attached to a new diary entry.
Then below that you have options to add a route to your list of routes that is based on the course face of the track. If you choose the option to import as one piece then one long track is added to your network of tracks along with a new route that contains this single track as it's course. If you choose any of the other options, TrailRunner will merge the track into the network of tracks, splitting the track into smaller tracks and joining all similar sub-tracks with existing tracks. One important fact now is that the resulting route will be made of a sequence of tracks that describe the almost identical course as the original recording but complementing your network of tracks.
But most importand of all is: your imported track can go a split way. If you choose the diary and the merge way, you actually have two items deriving from one source but being independent after the import:
- The workout became an immutable one-time recording being stored in the diary.
- The route and your extensions to your network of tracks are mutable.
On tracks you can apply operations like move, split and join affecting the routes that use these within their sequence.
On routes you can change the sequence of tracks they should follow during their course.
But in the end you can create and modify routes to match your plans and use an exported course as a basis for your orientation — while taking your gear out and burning some calories. What you then record can be imported as a new workout into TrailRunner.
Map
To complement this all, a map within TrailRunner is just pixels. A background image you see beneath your network of tracks and a hint for your orientation and manual creation of new tracks. The lines drawn on a map are not part of your network of tracks unless you add them by re-drawing them using the track-tool or by adding GPS recordings that followed the same geographic course of the "line".
The only difference comes with openStreetMap. The openStreetMap map source is a pixel representation of the openStreetMap track network. For this reason it is recommended that when you are using openStreetMap for routing (streets tab) you should also use the openStreetMap map source as your backound maps. As both then perfectly match.
Further Reading
After reading the above, please revisit the following tutorials.
> About TrailRunner feature slide-show
> Import and Edit Tracks Tutorial
> Mastering Track Merge Tutorial
If you still have questions, remarks or suggestions — I do listen! Just write me. Either here, in the forum, on twitter or classic email.
This is what I hear from many users. The typical learning curve goes from prejudices on how things should work to misunderstandings on what is actually going on to understanding and loving TrailRunner or bailing out for something else.
This all rotates around the difference between a track, workout, diary entry, route and the network of tracks.
And to be honest, I know this problem and I am constantly trying to make things easier to understand.
In fact TrailRunner is three applications in one. TrailRunner is
- an activity journal
- a mapping application to maintain a network of tracks
- a route planning application
So whenever you import something into TrailRunner, your intentions might go into either direction. And interestingly this even shifts over time — as new users with new devices stumble upon TrailRunner.
Probably the following "glossary" might help understanding what TrailRunner is about and what the application can do for you — whenever you drop data into it:
Track
A track is a list of geographic points with GPS coordinates. Within the real world a track describes the path from e.g. one sign-post of a hiking trail to the next. Each sign-post representing a crossing that connects to other tracks. Within the context of such a way or street, a track contains no timing or heartrate information. It's only where, not when and how.
Network of Tracks
One big feature in TrailRunner is to build and maintain a network of tracks. That is much like the lines of streets, roads, ways, trails and pathes printed on maps. The difference is that your network of tracks is your personal collection. A collection that represents the paths you actually run or cycle on, masking everything else out that you dislike or haven't strolled along yet.
Route
Within this network of tracks you have routes. A route is more or less a sequence of tracks. One important thing is that within a route, if you go back and forth a track, this track is part of the route twice. This is the most problematic part as simple GPS recordings never have this kind of conceptual differentiation. So I reject the idea that a route and a track should be the same thing. They could appear as — in the degenerate case where a route is being made of one track being used only once within the route. But that is just a special case — although typical in activity tracking applications that just import GPS data points and visualize them.
Workout
The biggest similarity between what others call a track is what I call in TrailRunner a workout. Garmin calls this an activity but I dislike this term as it fits better to being a diary entry. But back to the difference between tracks and workouts: If a recording contains data points with values like heart-rate, cadence and calories, it's not a track. It's a sequence of training session data-points and therefore it is a workout. For this reason TrailRunner generally distinguishes between routes and workouts. Routes belong to geographic data, workouts belong to performance over time or distance. A workout and a route can be connected to each other if they follow the same geographic course, but must not.
TrailRunner even offers features to merge a workout with the course of a route. That's important for training devices that can track distances but not GPS locations (e.g. the Apple Nike+ iPod Sensor)
Summary: The different faces of a track
To sum this all up, a track can have the following faces:
If the track contains a series of geographic points without timing information, then it's a track within your network of tracks.
If the track contains additional timing information, then it's the course of a route containing the single track or a sequence of tracks.
If the track contains timing information and values like heartrate, cadence etc., then it's a workout.
Import of a track
Whenever you import a track into TrailRunner, the importer shows you the course of the track in the map part of the main window. Then in the lower part of the importer you can decide if the workout face of the track should be attached to a new diary entry.
Then below that you have options to add a route to your list of routes that is based on the course face of the track. If you choose the option to import as one piece then one long track is added to your network of tracks along with a new route that contains this single track as it's course. If you choose any of the other options, TrailRunner will merge the track into the network of tracks, splitting the track into smaller tracks and joining all similar sub-tracks with existing tracks. One important fact now is that the resulting route will be made of a sequence of tracks that describe the almost identical course as the original recording but complementing your network of tracks.
But most importand of all is: your imported track can go a split way. If you choose the diary and the merge way, you actually have two items deriving from one source but being independent after the import:
- The workout became an immutable one-time recording being stored in the diary.
- The route and your extensions to your network of tracks are mutable.
On tracks you can apply operations like move, split and join affecting the routes that use these within their sequence.
On routes you can change the sequence of tracks they should follow during their course.
But in the end you can create and modify routes to match your plans and use an exported course as a basis for your orientation — while taking your gear out and burning some calories. What you then record can be imported as a new workout into TrailRunner.
Map
To complement this all, a map within TrailRunner is just pixels. A background image you see beneath your network of tracks and a hint for your orientation and manual creation of new tracks. The lines drawn on a map are not part of your network of tracks unless you add them by re-drawing them using the track-tool or by adding GPS recordings that followed the same geographic course of the "line".
The only difference comes with openStreetMap. The openStreetMap map source is a pixel representation of the openStreetMap track network. For this reason it is recommended that when you are using openStreetMap for routing (streets tab) you should also use the openStreetMap map source as your backound maps. As both then perfectly match.
Further Reading
After reading the above, please revisit the following tutorials.
> About TrailRunner feature slide-show
> Import and Edit Tracks Tutorial
> Mastering Track Merge Tutorial
If you still have questions, remarks or suggestions — I do listen! Just write me. Either here, in the forum, on twitter or classic email.
TrailRunner 2.1 -- Diary, Trim and iPhone
11.09.09 14:12 Filed in: Features
From my pont of view, TrailRunner 2.1 is done. The new release migrates your diary into a modern database format, fixes several bugs and adds compatibility to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Below the most important changes and extensions:
Diary
For better performance and for future extensions I rewrote the diary storage. Diaries are now based on a sport kind like running or biking.
So in future versions diaries can have different parameters for calculations.
TrailRunner 2.1 will already honor speed units like distance per hour or minutes per distance for sport kinds and also will calculate calories with a different formula.
This migration should solve many startup performance problems and will keep your mac responsive even with very large diaries.
Trimming workouts and Tracks
I do not know why I did not add this earlier but you can now trim workouts to be imported and routes within the map. Trimming means that everything from the edge up to and including the selection will be removed.
The screenshot shows a workout to be imported. You can either select something in the graph and then hit the backspace key or you open the track editor and use the Trim Selection command.
Update: You can now even remove data points in the middle of a track. There’s a new tutorial available explaining all operations available (Tutorials > Import and edit Tracks)
Improved Importers
TrailRunner 2.1 can now import Lap information from LoadMyTracks gpx files. Also GPX files are being loaded much faster due to an asynchronous decoding. Same goes for large tcx files you drag onto the TrailRunner application icon or main window.
The workout importer for non GPS workouts (the one that shows a list of routes below) now also displays a target diary selection menu.
Improved Map Speed
Though I highly recommend to remove any duplicate tracks within your map by following the instructions in the Mastering Track Merge tutorial, performance can be pretty bad with many long tracks on your map. In TrailRunner 2.1 I am testing a new display caching approach and have found results to be very good. Scrolling on my machine went up from 24fps to up to 60fps. But in most cases you should get 2x.
Other Improvements
Workout Graph: Added a Preferences option to change the interval resolution for the graph view. (TrailRunner > Preferences > Advanced)
General UI: Added a two finger zoom gesture for modern MacBook trackpads.
Local Route Editor: Added a drag over track to be included rerouting where there was only a drag to way-point rerouting before.
Streets Route Editor: Improved the OSM routing for very long route calculations.
Route Import: Added EveryTrail.com as an import source
Weblog publish: I removed the private and public comment approach as it caused some trouble in the past. When you publish your weblog, all notes will be published.
Export preserves timing: When you export tracks in TrailRunner, the original timing information will be preserved. This makes it posible to read data from your device and then later use an export for geo-tagging.
Route Filtering: The main window search field now filters for routes that contain the given search string in either their name or in the name of any way-point they come across. For example: say a route has a name of biking and goes over a waypoint called ruin, then a search term of ru will find this route. To filter on way-point names only, whith this example just enter wp:ru into the search field. To filter on route-names only, enter rte:ru into the search field.
Before you install TrailRunner 2.1
As TrailRunner uses a new diary store, you should better make a backup of your old.
All data in TrailRunner is being stored within the following folder on your Mac:
< yourhome >/Library/Application Support/TrailRunner/
You old diary was stored in RunLog.xml
When the new version starts up, it will migrate your old diary entries into the new diary. The new file is named ActivityStore.sqlite
A backup of your old diary will be copied to Archive/RunLog;4.xml for if there’s a problem with the migration. You can always move this file back and rename it to RunLog.xml
Please note that even after the migration was done, a much smaller RunLog.xml will stay in place, as it still contains some legacy data. So should you require to migrate back, just delete this file.
Important note: You can not use TrailRunner 2.0 at the same time as TrailRunner 2.1 as after the migration the diary will appear to be be empty on 2.0
Jump on the TrailRunner 2.1 track
TrailRunner 2.1 has its own app-cast so if you download the version below, you will be notified on updates.
> Download TrailRunner 2.1
> Import and Edit Tracks Tutorial
> Mastering Track Merge Tutorial
Please give feedback in case you have any trouble with the migration or other stuff.
Have fun,
- berbie.
Diary
So in future versions diaries can have different parameters for calculations.
TrailRunner 2.1 will already honor speed units like distance per hour or minutes per distance for sport kinds and also will calculate calories with a different formula.
This migration should solve many startup performance problems and will keep your mac responsive even with very large diaries.
Trimming workouts and Tracks
I do not know why I did not add this earlier but you can now trim workouts to be imported and routes within the map. Trimming means that everything from the edge up to and including the selection will be removed.
The screenshot shows a workout to be imported. You can either select something in the graph and then hit the backspace key or you open the track editor and use the Trim Selection command.
Update: You can now even remove data points in the middle of a track. There’s a new tutorial available explaining all operations available (Tutorials > Import and edit Tracks)
Improved Importers
TrailRunner 2.1 can now import Lap information from LoadMyTracks gpx files. Also GPX files are being loaded much faster due to an asynchronous decoding. Same goes for large tcx files you drag onto the TrailRunner application icon or main window.
The workout importer for non GPS workouts (the one that shows a list of routes below) now also displays a target diary selection menu.
Improved Map Speed
Though I highly recommend to remove any duplicate tracks within your map by following the instructions in the Mastering Track Merge tutorial, performance can be pretty bad with many long tracks on your map. In TrailRunner 2.1 I am testing a new display caching approach and have found results to be very good. Scrolling on my machine went up from 24fps to up to 60fps. But in most cases you should get 2x.
Other Improvements
General UI: Added a two finger zoom gesture for modern MacBook trackpads.
Local Route Editor: Added a drag over track to be included rerouting where there was only a drag to way-point rerouting before.
Streets Route Editor: Improved the OSM routing for very long route calculations.
Route Import: Added EveryTrail.com as an import source
Weblog publish: I removed the private and public comment approach as it caused some trouble in the past. When you publish your weblog, all notes will be published.
Export preserves timing: When you export tracks in TrailRunner, the original timing information will be preserved. This makes it posible to read data from your device and then later use an export for geo-tagging.
Route Filtering: The main window search field now filters for routes that contain the given search string in either their name or in the name of any way-point they come across. For example: say a route has a name of biking and goes over a waypoint called ruin, then a search term of ru will find this route. To filter on way-point names only, whith this example just enter wp:ru into the search field. To filter on route-names only, enter rte:ru into the search field.
Before you install TrailRunner 2.1
As TrailRunner uses a new diary store, you should better make a backup of your old.
All data in TrailRunner is being stored within the following folder on your Mac:
< yourhome >/Library/Application Support/TrailRunner/
You old diary was stored in RunLog.xml
When the new version starts up, it will migrate your old diary entries into the new diary. The new file is named ActivityStore.sqlite
A backup of your old diary will be copied to Archive/RunLog;4.xml for if there’s a problem with the migration. You can always move this file back and rename it to RunLog.xml
Please note that even after the migration was done, a much smaller RunLog.xml will stay in place, as it still contains some legacy data. So should you require to migrate back, just delete this file.
Important note: You can not use TrailRunner 2.0 at the same time as TrailRunner 2.1 as after the migration the diary will appear to be be empty on 2.0
Jump on the TrailRunner 2.1 track
TrailRunner 2.1 has its own app-cast so if you download the version below, you will be notified on updates.
> Download TrailRunner 2.1
> Import and Edit Tracks Tutorial
> Mastering Track Merge Tutorial
Please give feedback in case you have any trouble with the migration or other stuff.
Have fun,
- berbie.
Where do TrailRunners live?
08.09.09 22:26 Filed in: Gossip
As one might expect, the TrailRunner community is very international. Thanks to google, I can present you a Geo Map Overlay for TrailRunners, a graphical representation of the volume of visitors coming from locations around the world. The darkest spots indicate locations driving the most visitors to the TrailRunner website.
Interestingly most of my visitors come from Europe, but why is that so? Americans, put your shoes on…!