The Strava Thread
10-17-17 | 05:03 AM
#126
Senior Member
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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
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 7,985
Likes: 30
From: Burbank, CA
Bikes: Allez, SuperSix Evo
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 | 07:53 AM
#128
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Joined: Jan 2014
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From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
10-17-17 | 07:56 AM
#129
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,588
Likes: 427
From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
10-17-17 | 11:22 AM
#130
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 164
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From: Northern IL
Bikes: Specialized Roubaix SL4 Disc SRAM eTap
10-17-17 | 06:47 PM
#131
Non omnino gravis
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,552
Likes: 1,739
From: SoCal, USA!
Bikes: Nekobasu, Pandicorn, Lakitu
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 | 07:08 PM
#132
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,588
Likes: 427
From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
10-17-17 | 08:14 PM
#134
- Soli Deo Gloria -
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 14,779
Likes: 743
From: Northwest Georgia
Bikes: 2018 Rodriguez Custom Fixed Gear, 2017 Niner RLT 9 RDO, 2015 Bianchi Pista, 2002 Fuji Robaix
I like the new page format. Love to see larger photos and not little postage stamps.
10-17-17 | 08:58 PM
#135
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,588
Likes: 427
From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
10-17-17 | 08:59 PM
#137
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,588
Likes: 427
From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
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 | 09:05 PM
#139
Erik the Inveigler
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2,303
Likes: 4
From: The California Alps
10-17-17 | 09:05 PM
#140
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,588
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From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
Hear was a mistake. Know was not. I corrected it anyway as I'm self conscience and it didn't work.
10-17-17 | 09:08 PM
#142
Thread Starter
Senior Member
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From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
10-17-17 | 09:10 PM
#143
Erik the Inveigler
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2,303
Likes: 4
From: The California Alps
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
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,552
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From: SoCal, USA!
Bikes: Nekobasu, Pandicorn, Lakitu
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
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 7,985
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From: Burbank, CA
Bikes: Allez, SuperSix Evo
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
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,588
Likes: 427
From: Southern California, USA
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
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
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 2,303
Likes: 4
From: The California Alps
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
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 39,726
Likes: 9,738
From: TC, MN
Bikes: R3 Disc, Haanjo