The Strava Thread
10-17-17, 05:03 AM
#126
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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:
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:
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.
10-17-17, 07:36 AM
#127
Farmer tan
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.
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.
There's a popular half block slightly uphill on my commute where the KOM was around 30 mph in 20 sec.
A school girl captured it on her hybrid and iphone from all the serious riders without trying.
Of course someone flagged it eventually.
10-17-17, 11:22 AM
#130
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10-17-17, 06:47 PM
#131
Non omnino gravis
Well, they done did it again-- the Strava Dashboard page is now revamped, but all other pages unchanged. Everything on the dashboard moved from the right margin to the left margin, and I don't know how much I care for it... seeing as everything else is still on the right. Also, that same disconcerting font change is there. Who updates a UI like this?
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10-17-17, 08:14 PM
#134
- Soli Deo Gloria -
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I like the new page format. Love to see larger photos and not little postage stamps.
10-17-17, 08:59 PM
#137
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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.
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.
Last edited by Doge; 10-17-17 at 09:04 PM.
10-17-17, 09:02 PM
#138
Kit doesn't match
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.
know = no, hear = here
I thought you did it on purpose (porpoise!), so I chuckled.
10-17-17, 09:05 PM
#140
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Hear was a mistake. Know was not. I corrected it anyway as I'm self conscience and it didn't work.
10-17-17, 09:10 PM
#143
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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.
I make a good living for a guy my age working in tech. I should love Strava. But, I don't.
Last edited by Scarbo; 10-17-17 at 09:21 PM.
10-17-17, 09:32 PM
#144
Non omnino gravis
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.
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10-17-17, 09:41 PM
#146
Farmer tan
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.
10-17-17, 10:11 PM
#147
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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.
It is an art. You just have to no how to do it.
https://vimeo.com/106442187
10-18-17, 07:01 AM
#149
Erik the Inveigler
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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
It is an art. You just have to no how to do it.
https://vimeo.com/106442187
Oh yes. Social media. How could I forget? And, this being just another tool we use to inculcate narcissism in our lives. Like we need such a thing. Technology is a double-sided sword, my friend.
. . . vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
10-18-17, 07:20 AM
#150
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