Originally Posted by DrIsotope (Post 19932823)

The GPS chips in phones have gotten really good at fixing a static position-- most new phones can get within a few meters. And their refresh or polling rate is 1hz, just like pretty much every consumer GPS device there is (there are some devices out there with 5Hz up to 20Hz rates) so they have the capability to be every bit as accurate as a dedicated GPS device. But the power requirements of GPS is one of the highest drains in a phone-- just behind the screen-- so the programming (and sometimes the hardware itself) quite literally cuts corners in an effort to balance GPS use and battery life. Depending on conditions, reported position can fall to the minimum accuracy of the chip-- 300m. This is why GPS is not great at determining speed. Even on a bike at 30mph, the GPS refresh is occurring once every 44 feet. So if a segment is a scant 0.2 miles long and the phone user gets the start/finish positioning "bonus," he will cover 8% (or more) "less distance" on that effort. The start/finish of a segment might happen to fall in the middle of a refresh for the GPS chip, so the rider is a full second (or more, based on the accuracy of the position correction) into the segment before the phone records that he's there. This is (in my estimation) why I see segment efforts with an average speed higher than the max speed.

Apps like Strava can't override the phone's OS instructions for the GPS, so you get inaccuracy. I've seen some files with insane zig-zags that cross over entire neighborhoods, and pick up segment PRs / KOMs on parallel streets to what the ride was actually on. This isn't as good, but it shows the less precise position correction of a phone GPS compared to a dedicated device. Strava Android App on the top, my 520 on the bottom:

https://i.imgur.com/yAlskh1.png?1
https://i.imgur.com/Tx9cU8Y.png?1

Originally Posted by kbarch (Post 19934490)

Thanks for the elaboration!
So it seems one could luck into a good time, so to speak, when using a phone app to record, but it could work the other way too, couldn't it? So perhaps select results are not so reliable, but on the whole they are reasonable indications of ones placement if one consistently obtains the same time. That's good enough for me. It's not like I'm going to capture a KoM on anything that matters.

Originally Posted by seau grateau (Post 19934378)

+1 to this, especially solo/group. Makes such a big difference.

Originally Posted by f4rrest (Post 19934691)

The funny thing is that you might capture a short segment without even trying.

...

Originally Posted by Doge (Post 19934735)

Maybe some working dad's only KOM as he strives to support those he loves and robbing him of all Strava joy.

Originally Posted by Scarbo (Post 19924538)

+1

I don't think Doge has the authority to designate this thread as being "official." He is clearly overstepping his authority, here, as primus inter pares.

I won't believe it until Billy says so.

Originally Posted by Doge (Post 19936178)

Tap out?

Originally Posted by Scarbo (Post 19936186)

Pardon? You got your arse kicked in the Power/Watts thread and now you're taking it out on me? :lol:

Originally Posted by Doge (Post 19936339)

I had know idea. I'm hear to impart knowledge. So didn't really pay attention.

Originally Posted by Scarbo (Post 19936341)

Attention, you say? I'd pay some attention to your spelling, young man. :D

Originally Posted by Doge (Post 19936342)

Yea - I can't spell. On the other hand - I didn't type that. Too many technologies helping me.
And always some double entendre, but mostly bad spelling.

It could also be I tend to post after drinking fine wine. But you know what I mean.

Originally Posted by GuitarBob (Post 19936352)

Your spelling is perfect, it's just that you're spelling the wrong words!

know = no, hear = here ;)

I thought you did it on purpose (porpoise!), so I chuckled.

Originally Posted by Scarbo (Post 19936361)

Well, it is all neither hear nor their. So let's get back to the business at hand, shall we?

Originally Posted by Doge (Post 19936364)

Strava is a sport.

Originally Posted by DrIsotope (Post 19936399)

If drone racing and MLG can be legitimate, sponsored events, Strava can absolutely be a sport. If it doesn't fit inside your current definition, you may need to redefine. Saying that because Strava isn't risk-filled, shoulder-to-shoulder racing makes it no less legitimate than TTs or Tris. I mean, at the end of the day Crossfit is a competitive sport, and it's just a bunch of people working out wrong.

Originally Posted by Scarbo (Post 19936368)

i know that you say that and have said it before. But, I don't view it the same way. Racing is a complex thing. It involves more than pure speed; it is about tactics and psychology; it is visceral because you race at close quarters against other riders. In real racing, you have skin in the game--literally--and, sometimes, blood on the pavement. You can get hurt racing (I have). I know you know all of this even better than I do. Strava "racing" is sterile to me, by comparison.

Originally Posted by Scarbo (Post 19936405)

Golf is a sport, too. I know this.

Originally Posted by Doge (Post 19936439)

Strava is all that. You talk smack on social media, get all the big kids out there and spank them with someone with a camera recording it.

It is an art. You just have to no how to do it.
https://vimeo.com/106442187

Originally Posted by TimothyH (Post 19936262)

I like the new page format. Love to see larger photos and not little postage stamps.