Smart-phone Measurement Data Sheet

If you can upload to an iPhone, I'm interested!

The Dataviz Website has the app for iPhones. I don't have one of those fancy, "in" phones, though, but it should work just as well as on my Android T-Mobile phone. Just install the app, get the upgrade key, and load the spreadsheet (from my site) onto your phone.

I tried to do this, using DataViz, with a Palm M515 a few years ago.

The problem I ran into is that the spreadsheet needs to be loaded at your computer, but you never really know what you're going to run into until you reach the race course. At the time, all I had at my disposal was a desktop computer.

You don't know whether it makes more sense to measure the course backward or forward. You don't know whether there's going to be a turnaround point or not.

I suspect you could keep adding spreadsheets to account for various scenarios, but it just seemed that the whole thing was of marginal value. Another issue with the Palm was remembering to turn it off after referring to it, as the screen used the battery pretty seriously, and if I remember correctly it ran it all the way down over a long course.

I did use it on a validation ride of the Chicago Marathon course, and it was quite slick how it calculated the split points in a flash once I put in the calibration data and the starting counts. So there's no question I see the value in a robust solution. I just haven't been able to make it work.

Maybe it's time to revisit it with a notebook computer...

Jay, I look at this as a good way to not have to take my laptop to a measurement.

I look at all courses on MapMyRun.com before I do anything. Once I look at it, I know which way I will measure it, whether I need a turnaround, or not, and all the variables. So it is no problem to make an adjusted sheet on my desktop, and put an updated worksheet on the phone.

The point is not to remove all need for another computer. Rather, the point is to load a spreadsheet onto my phone for use in the field. If I have to customize the pared-down spreadsheet, I do that at home.

I also don't keep it on the whole time. I put my start clicks into the spreadsheet, and then I copy to a note pad my splits I need. If I had a mount for the phone, I could keep in on, but what's the point? Maybe a transposition error, but I copy from my laptop onto a note pad, anyway.

For an iPhone I use the Quickoffice Pro App, one can load your MS Office templates and adjust in the field. Although I have the capability I only use a MacBook, laptop.

Personally I have tried small devices with mixed results, netbooks failed at the wrong time, iPad worked until I had changes in colder weather. I find a laptop the best option. They all can work, it's a personal choice, without a keyboard it can be a challenge.