OK, thanks for the extensive beta-testing of the ka72.com site.
I have now facelifted the site, and re-published it. Go to www.ka72.com/ to take a look. I have removed all previously uploaded files from the site, and replaced them with four of Kellie's (Astrid to her fans, and yes the domain name is her sail number) files for others to see how the View function works.
The version now live allows you to upload and analyse a file, and also to run analysis on other uploaded files. It does not allow you to download any other files, but it does show you the file names of the other files.
I am confident enough to recommend to people that they could use the site to analyse their data files with enough certainty to post the results in the team challenge, with the proviso that you should probably mention in the GPSTC comments that the results come from a Beta5 release of the site engine.
The analysis engine is unchanged from Beta5. My algorithm for detecting "runs" in the 5x10 remains different from that used in other packages. It is good, but not identical, to the others. Basically, I define a run end solely in terms of average angle of the run, whereas RealSpeed also takes into account speed drops. So if you slow down (under 7 kts) and speed up again, Realspeed treats that as two runs, whereas I don't. There are probably other subtle differences. Stay tuned for updates.
All my other caveats remain, if you want to compare the ka72 results with Realspeed, make sure you are using doppler settings and using the default.rsp for the GPS Team Challenge.
Here are the results for my latest session (Realspeed figures in brackets):
2 Second Peak: 31.07 (31.067)
5x10 Average: 29.56 (29.564)
1 Hr: 23.18 (23.17)
Alpha 500: 26.29 (19.82)
Nautical Mile: 26.34 (26.344)
Total Dist: 237.01 (236.936)
Please note the alpha figure. Realspeed gave me a heap of bogus alphas as well, and the only way to figure out my correct alpha number was to look at the track of each gybe individually.
I do not recommend that GPS Team Challenge users use the KA72 speed reader software, until this discrepancy is ironed out.
For the KA72 reader to be accepted for use by the GPS Team Challenge, it must give results that agree with RealSpeed (within 5%) for at least 20 files of my choosing. Once this happens I'm quite happy to recommend it for use by other sailors. Until that happens I think that people should view it as an educational tool, but not a substitute for a recommended program.
Thanks for the emphatic caveat, Ben.
Once you get me those 20 files, I will start fine-tuning.
I would also emphasise that the present B5 version has no filtering apart from the 200 second slow point, and that, as with any other software, all results are subject to verification.
Hopefully B6 will be online by the end of the weekend, with improved filtering and slightly tighter calcs.
I am very hopeful that I will be able to do a better job of detecting and filtering out anomolous alphas. There is no filtering at all at present.
I plan to opensource the engine code once it's out of beta, but if anyone would like to have a look at it in the meantime (it's C#.NET 2008) please drop me a line via the site.
I pressed on through the night, and implemented some advanced filtering on Alpha scores. Beta 6 is now online, and here are the differences using Ben's file from above. Note that both Alpha and Total Distance are affected by the change.
Before:
After:
Wow, that's dedication!
Excellent work Dylan, I bet that the Red Bull share price just bounced up a couple of points ![]()
I'll put together some test files and send them over tonight (got to go to work now).
Dylan,
Fabulous work - just uploaded file and everything matches with Realspeed results bar the Alpha 500. Realspeed shows 21.248kn (trackpoint) and KA72 SR shows 20.82kn. No real problem my end just thought you may like to know.
Thanks Dylan,
Processed my GT-11 results and all good.
This will help slackers like me "get around" to posting our results.
Thanks, yes that is the idea. Kellie's got a team mate that is having trouble processing gpx files, so I'm working on that next. Just got to find some spare time!!!