Converged|Media

Resources for the modern journalist. From Loose Wire

Sports Tracker Recording Your Movements With GPS

What you need:

This will allow you to track your movements using GPS which you can then upload and view in Google Earth.

Go outside and open the Sportstracker application.

Screenshot0058

Start a new workout:

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Choose walking:

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Your phone will now start looking for satellites. It may take a few minutes. Make sure you’re not obstructed by trees and tall buildings from the sky.

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Once you have a fix, the yellow GPS button will turn to green (not easy to see in bright sunlight):

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The blue dot is you. It will move once you do. Press Start and start moving around, still with clear access to the sky.

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You can zoom in if you’re not moving very far by using the 5 key. To zoom out hit the 0 key:

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Once you’ve recorded some movement, hit Options and then Stop:

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Once back at the main Sports Tracker menu, select Training day:

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You’ll see a calendar with a little blue mark in the left hand corner of today’s date:

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Press the centre button and you’ll see an entry to the walk you’ve just recorded:

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Click on that and you’ll see it in detail:

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To move it from your phone to your computer, hit Select and then Export.

Then from the submenu select Export to Google Earth:

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Select OK from the next menu:

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And save it to the phone memory:

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… and the root folder:

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Give the file a name you’ll recognise:

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The file is saved in a format that Google Earth will recognise (what’s called a KML file).

Now connect your phone to the computer and choose the File Manager application. A window like this will appear:

image

Click on the Phone memory icon and you should see your file with the KML suffix behind it:

image

Double click on the file and it will launch Google Earth on your computer.

Google Earth will zoom into where you have been and place a yellow trail tracing (more or less) where you’ve been:

image

Remember the accuracy is not as good as it could be, and the other information (lowest point etc) is pretty useless. But you’ve married your cellphone, software, GPS, your computer and Google Earth.

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